Writing Playlists

Music. It expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo said that. It's kinda funny that his major works would go on to become these huge famous musicals, and even more so when you consider that the original texts were like 1000 pages long.

I'm the kind of person who needs background noise, no matter what I'm doing. Driving? Radio's on. Lab work? Listening to a podcast. Trying to sleep? Got my white noise machine. So, when I'm writing, it's the same thing - I need something in the background. And that something is music.

When I work on a new manuscript, the first draft is usually accompanied by ambient music, like movie soundtracks or video game music. (Skyrim and The Lord of the Rings are particularly good at this stage.) Once I have a good sense of the tone of the manuscript and the overall feel, I absolutely have to put together a playlist. It's impossible for me to focus without that specific list of songs organized in a very precise manner. I can't say what it is - maybe I just hate silence.

Usually, I have one or two songs in mind that really speak to the manuscript. I start by adding those to a new Spotify playlist, and then I try to branch out to similar songs. I give the playlist ebb and flow - as much as I'd love to fill an entire playlist with total bangers, that's more likely to distract me than inspire me - and see where it takes me. Sometimes it's easy, with the songs popping into my head, and other times it's a half-day project. However long it takes me, I always end up with a playlist that's at least an hour long, filled with music that is this manuscript.

For example, GIRLS BREAK THINGS is a lot of female-fronted heavy metal (since it's a manuscript about badass girls and combat robots, badum-tss), while my new fantasy manuscript is more Love Never Dies meets Billie Eilish. Some of my writer friends absolutely cannot write to music with lyrics, and others have to have that pop ballad. Whatever your jam, writing to a playlist that accompanies your manuscript can be a great way to get inspired. Check out one of my playlists below!


Do you have a writing playlist? What's in it? Drop a link in the comments!

Rejection Recovery Playlist

I love putting together playlists for projects, but also for inspiration and encouragement. I've shared a few on my personal blog, but I thought it was time I shared some here. This is my Get Back Up playlist for use after rejections, bad reviews, harsh critiques, and anything else you need encouragement for. This is a varied mix of mellow sounds and dance music, including David Bowie, Imagine Dragons, and PSY. There are a couple geeky fanvids in there too (such as Farscape and Doctor Who). I hope you like it!

What are your favorite feel good songs?

What's your writing playlist?

TGIF, Chez Awesome! And it can't come soon enough, MY GOODNESS. I am absolutely slammed, both at the day job and with writing things, so I apologize for the shorter post today - I've used up all my coherency on this manuscript. I've got lots more writing where that came from this weekend (my deadlines may be self-imposed at the moment, but they are deadlines nonetheless!) and in preparation, I've had my writing playlist on a loop.

I'm sure there are writers out there who don't rely on music for their plotting sessions, but I don't actually know any of them. My playlists tend to be pretty eclectic - some songs fit really, really well, and some just have the right tone, or have one lyric that's absolutely perfect . Just taking a quick look at my playlist, here are some of the songs on high rotation:

- Florence and the Machine everything (but especially Howl, Rabbit Heart, Seven Devils, No Light No Light, and Drumming Song)
- Haunted, by Poe
- The Funeral, by Band of Horses
- Paradise Circus, by Massive Attack
- King and Lionheart, by Of Monsters and Men
- Apres Moi, by Regina Spektor
- Bones, by MS MR

And now that I'm writing it out like this, I can see a slight tendency toward the dramatic in most of these... but high drama totally works for a writing soundtrack :)

How about you guys? What's on your writing playlist right now? (And more importantly, can I steal it? What can I say, I'm always on the hunt.)