Music While You Write?

I usually use a complete soundtrack to listen to when I write (no vocals unless it's opera-ish). The music's usually on shuffle unless I've hit the sweet spot between writing and the music being a complete inspiration.

The past two years I've been using the Blood+ OST (an anime) without the opening and ending credits. Am thinking of using another OST for a change of pace, but I've yet to find another soundtrack which can capture the feel of the hunt with pensive moments like Blood+. Any suggestions?

Also, I can't bear to write in complete silence. If I do, my imagination takes over and I find myself frozen with fear (yes my imagination is overly active).

I usually write in complete silence. But from my experiences, I can write in a Pasar-esque classroom, I can write with hard rock and I can write while chatting. So any music doesn't matter, as long I like it. I only have the musics I like in my playlist.

Left hand is for Frisbee. Right hand is for other major activities.

I love classical and soul, but it mostly depends on what I want to write. And the mood- that's particular important. Writing with music accompanying the background can be inspirational to some- I'm one of them. My iTunes is filled to the brim with soundtracks of my preference, and there's a huge whole list of tracks that I bunch out when I'm writing.

Naoko_Kensaku mentioned using animes OST. I do that too, and quite often! I definitely recommend listening to FictionJunction songs or Yuki Kajiura. There's also Akiko Shikata and the Pandora Hearts soundtrack that I've been replaying quite often, along with the super-fabulous Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections and drammatica, which is by Yoko Shimomura.

-At the end of the day, I am still me.-

I can write without music, but I usually listens to music from indie/doujin games or from Newgrounds, especially the ones by paragonX9, Reasoner, Extrier and Cyber_Rainforce. Come to think about it, anime songs are my favorite as well when I write, especially the ones that burns my spirit like Pride by High And Mighty Color, Be Somewhere by Buzy and Heart of Sword by T.M. Revolution.

http://murazrai.xanga.com and http://cyber-murazrai.xanga.com
Chaos Fighters...the fantasy of scientific magic.

NaNoWriMo 2009: Chaos Fighters II-Cyberion Strike
Read the novel (starting November 1) at:
http://murazrai-for-nanowrimo.xanga.com

I generally just have to options: pure silence + the sounds of the keyboard OR whatever music that fits the character's current situation or feelings.

But most of the time, I prefer silence since music can most likely distract me and such. If not, believe it or not, I have character playlists'. I'm a big RP-er, and I take my characters really seriously because they'd most likely end up in a novel or two or mine. Technically, RP-ing is just my playground to test characters and such, and of course, develop them. If I understand them well enough, then they'll make a debut on my novels. I generally write literary fiction. I like my drama, lol. So any kind of music fits. Just I don't listen to much instrumental. But other than that, I'm into everything from rock to the blues. Just any song with the perfect lyrics for my character, it's a definite YES on my playlist as I write (:

Music is great; music with words, not so.

I put on earphones and play Bohren & Der Club of Gore, a dark jazz German band, whenever I'm writing. Volume is always at 15%. It's a peculiar ritual, but it works.

I like hats.

Various, vocals and non-vocal. Although the music I listen to are pre-selected, I let them pave the moods for me. I even have a "Writing" playlist in iTunes with classical, ambient, electronic and post-rock, and it doesn't matter with vocals or otherwise. Here are some of the songs I'd like to share:

Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan (rock)
Heavy Water by Grouper (alternative)
Vanished by Crystal Castles (electronica)
Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Gorecki (classical)
Kettering by The Antlers (post-rock)
Mono No Aware by Hammock (ambient)

Cheers! :)

I realised I didn't completely answer my own question. For this Nano, this is what I'll be playing.

Movie soundtrack to:

Lord of the Rings (the whole trilogy)
Pirates of the Caribbean (the whole trilogy)
Transformers 1 and 2
300

Also, there is this awesome orchestral company called Two Steps From Hell. They perform tracks for movie trailers, but most of their work is relatively awesome too. Here are some of the music for them to download and sample if you like:

False King
Tristan

"The world didn't end with a whimper. It ended in a sea of screams, blood and torn flesh. It would have been delicious if it wasn't so sickening."

- Excerpt from "The Bloody Long Walk" (NaNoWriMo 2009)

Given my usual listening fodder includes Christian rock and pop and classical music, I usually don't handle writing and listening at the same time very well. For the pop, I'll be busy analysing the lyrics; for the rock, the chords and riffs and what-have-yous; for the classical music, the motifs, the sequences...

So unless it's a song that's simple -- say, just guitar and vocals -- it's out of the question. On another note (haha) I found myself sitting with my earphones plugged into my ears for two hours writing yesterday, with nothing playing. The bliss of silence.

I'm more of the 'Oh man, this scene is emotional, I need emo songs!! WHERE ARE MY EMO SONGS?!!' kinda person. I can write in total silence, but I take a while to really get going.

So yeah! Music ftw!!

My soundtrack:

Secret Garden Disc 1 and 2 <-- Kinda suits the mood of the story...
Walking Away - Craig David
The Way I Are(Remix) - Timbaland

...
Actually, you know what, I'm probably going to listen to all my songs on my iTunes. XD

Evil beware... we have waffles