Hey Everyone,
I'm new to Nano this year, and I'm looking for just ideas on how to apply my music to my writing.
I personally listen to anything epic that gets my heart-rate going. For years (and this is going to sound weird), I have been a daydreamer, but not in the normal way, not in the sense that I would stare off into space thinking (though I do that too), but rather, actually tell my dream, role playing with myself while I'm alone. For instance, I'll be listening to some music, and suddenly the pace quickens making my heart rate go, and suddenly I'm in a mental fight scene, or chase scene, this usually inspires a story in my mind with each individual character, cast by me. I'll speak, changing my voice and accent accordingly (I draw the line at imitating female voices, can't do it, won't try). For those who are maybe wondering by now, no I am not insane or have a personality disorder, I just really get my body involved with my imagination.
My point to all that is this: How to I find a good setting to listen to my music so that my pen enacts my fantasy and not my body?
You don't necessarily have to answer my questions directly, but just, if you don't mind, share your experience, and your method of listening to your unique playlists.
thanks
----------
Nathan
"Not all who wander are lost."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
22,425 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 23 01
Take your headphones off/Put your headphones on.
If you /always/ listen to music with head phones on, take them off. If you never listen with head phones on, try it. It'll change how you write as well.
I experience music in much the same way you do and I found that if I want to find some kind of broad inspiration for an idea, a plot line I listen without headphones. But if I want some seriously deep and (emotional/actiony) focused writing, the headphones go on and bam, in my own little world.
Closing your eyes and typing while your scene is playing out is another good way. Just sort of ... start typing. Don't force it and don't correct it until you've finished whatever the song has brought to mind.
...
Yeah, so now I sound even more bizarre than what you think you sound like. Music is my main form of writing inspiration. I have to acquire all new stuff each NaNo or I get "stale".
If you still have difficulty getting the story onto paper/computer, try changing the genre of music. Different genres inspire different kinds of writing for the most part. Jazz is good for dances and usually on the computer because of the pace. Instrumental generally feels more natural handwritten for a lot of people I know. Pop, is, well, I'm mostly in denial about pop but a lot of my muses love boy bands so I have to listen to it.
Yeah, so that's my pretty rambling reply. Let me know what you find works for you! I'm always looking for new ways to experience music.
21,460 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2009 - 10 00
Thanks a lot, I'll try that!
And no, you don't sound weirder ha ha :)
----------Nathan
"Not all who wander are lost."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
13,644 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 22 25
Wow, I'm so much the same way.
If an idea hasn't fully formed yet though, I need silence.
Once it's formed, music begins to stand out to me that reflects a specific setting/character/scene/theme, etc.
Also, I find it *fascinating* that you won't imitate female voices, because I imitate male voices all the time. In my English class we were just talking about how women **seem to** write male protagonists more often then men write females. Makes me wonder why?
----------31,137 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 12 48
Wow, suddenly I don't feel so crazy lol. You do the exact same thing that I do! Really, I found it odd what kinds of music inspires me. Sometimes, I hear a song and the lyrics make me think of a character, I end up seeing the character in the situation the song dictates, then end up changing it to how they would go about things. So really, when it comes to my zoning out or day dreaming, sometimes it's a movie soundtrack with no lyrics, othertimes it's Nine Inch Nails or Foo Fighters lol.
It's hard for me to recommend music, since I have trouble finding good songs myself. Listen to the radio, watch a few movies and listen to the soundtrack in that background... Or listen in at write-in's and see what other people are listening to XP
----------Death Toll: 70
21,460 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 18 27
I'm happy I started this thread because I know how it feels sometimes to think you're the weird one. But as for the fascination with me not imitating female voices, it's mostly because I can't get the right tone, I can't go high enough some times and I can't legit sound like a female. As for the writing female protagonists, I barely understand my sister so I don't how I could possibly make a personalized female protagonist that was a convincing picture. I feel like the character would get picked apart a lot to find that the character is actually more like a guy. I dunno, I've just never thought hard about trying it.
As for the music, I am the same as Nikkular, I really don't know what to recommend to people, I usually don't find a good song until about a year after it comes out, and most of the soundtrack music I like is slow and instrumental, which a lot of people don't get as into.
----------Nathan
"Not all who wander are lost."
-J.R.R. Tolkien
22,425 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 20 05
For finding random and sort of "themed" music, "FST"s on Livejournal are /really/ good. At least half of my (incredibly expansive -_-) music collection is from those. I think the community is just FST? Also, looking up fan videos on youtube is a decent way to get bizarre music if you're feeling procrastinate-y and delve deep enough into the archives :P
38,724 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 04 14
I am opening up iTunes right now and starting a nanowrimo playlist :)
P.S. I am very open to suggestions!
----------Rachel Celeste
http://rachelcopland.wordpress.com
2008: 50,219 words
2007: 25,524 words
2006: <1,000 words
2005: 15,034 words
2004: 11,093 words
2,732 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 09 25
Have you ever listened to Raga, a form of Indian classical/traditional music? If not, you'll know it when you hear it, it has been used in hundreds of movies to evoke strange vistas...I love it for that quality but it is not overwhelming and yet, emotionally satisfying, at least for me!
40,749 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 01 35
I have a huge collection of soundtrack record albums from movies, and some of the best are assembled on audio cassettes If you have a variety of actual soundtrack music, it is wonderful to play in the background, so long as it matches the scene, because really good soundtracks don't interfere with brain function or plotting. Generally speaking, you should not be aware of the soundtrack the first time you see a movie.
Unless it's a musical (or "My Best Friend's Wedding) the only song in your head on leaving the theatre should be the title track. Good soundtrack music weaves a mood, which is great for writing to, especially for those annoying thinking parts where being forced to sing along is a liability.
Unfortunately I no longer have a working tape deck or record player, so all of my sountrack music is useless. (*sigh*) So basically I've been picking appropriate background music as I go. I find it best to have music that I know so well that I can tune it out. But yeah, matching the emotive quality of the music to the scene,
Re: characters:
I think that women have an easier time writing male characters in general, maybe because we've encountered so many more male characters in our reading. Books written by men may have the odd female character. But on the whole, men will tag a movie "chick flick" or "chick-lit" and then never watch and read them. Which puts them at a huge disadvantage for writing female characters.
That said, I'm mostly into the mystery genre which has seen an explosion of female protagonists in the last decade or too. I guess since that's the in thing male writers are tending to lewad off with female heroes. Which is kind of cool. A couple of my favourite female characters were written by men, so it can be done.
The thing is, if you can write a character who isn't you, you probably have enough imagination to write for characters of different ages or genders. Not everyone can. (Example of a successful novelist: John D. McDonald wrote one character, all his characters are him, good guys, bad guys, men, women. Yet the stories work unless you try to read two in a row.) My biggest problem with "The Book of Negroes" was that I found the female lead never came alive. I think he made her a her so that more bad stuff could happen to her, but he just never got inside her skin.
If a man writes a coming of age story, they call it a novel, if a woman does they call it chick-lit. There are a lot of really good novels written by women. And I have to tell all you males out there, chick-lit is NOT only harlequin romances. (Many of which are written by men who are very very well off) It wasn't that long ago when I found out one of my favorite "classic" novels was written by a woman (Harper Lee). Novels don't get much better than "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" or The Joy Luck Club.
The thing to remember is that you want to be able to bring all your characters to life, whether your hero is a rabbit (watership down) or an alien, or a robot, or a girl. You have to be able to think of all of your characters as people..
BUT:
You're in NaNoWriMo
Don't worry about learning how to write effective female characters just now. Do it in December.
In the meantime just work on getting though the month.
----------regards,
laurel l. russwurm
http://laurelrusswurm.wordpress.com/
http://stopusagebasedbilling.wordpress.com/
http://russwurm.org