So, I have a blog located at http://theexclamationpoint.blogspot.com and one of my regular features is something I call "Ten Songs On A Thought" in which I write down the first ten songs that come to mind on a particular theme without worrying about editing for placement or spending ten hours agonizing about the perfect answer. And in addition to blogging about Nanowrimo this week to get the word out, this week's theme was "Ten Songs For Writing A Novel In Thirty Days."
1. Pass This On - The Knife
2. Cast A Hook - Laura Veirs
3. Heartless - Kanye West
4. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie
5. How Low - Jose Gonzalez
6. The Wrote & The Writ - Johnny Flynn
7. Horse & I - Bat For Lashes
8. There There - Radiohead
9. Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain
10. Swansea - Joanna Newsom
Note: I can't contextually explain the Kanye either, but according to iTunes, I've listened to it four times since beginning this process. And iTunes never lies.
Anyway, the link to the actual post is here if you wanted to add your voice to the discussion, which I would really, really love: http://theexclamationpoint.blogspot.com/2009/11/ten-songs-on-thought-nan...
But I also thought it would be really cool if we discussed some music here. So what are you guys listening to during this process? Remember, first ten that come to mind, no editing...just like with your novel!
----------
"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others."
— Albert Camus
53,705 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 03 32
I generally don't listen to music while writing, which is crazy because I LOVE music and am always listening to it otherwise, but I find that it distracts me from the writing process. If I do listen to something, it has to be void of lyrics, so it's usually bebop jazz or classical music.
So:
Miles Davis
Herbie Hancock
Thelonius Monk
Frank Zappa (his instrumental work)
Ludwig Beethoven
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sebastian Bach
Chopin
etc.
Man, the classical composers, and some of the bebop musicians, have the most amazing names.
----------“For man, maximum excitement is the confrontation of death and the skillful defiance of it by watching others fed to it as he survives transfixed with rapture.” -Ernest Becker
42,099 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 06 04
I also generally don't listen to music while writing; I tend to prefer the natural ambiance of the coffee shop or the trickling water of the fish tank at my house. (Of course, often the coffee shop includes music in the background, which I tend not to notice for the most part, or lump it in with the overall coffee shop sounds.)
That being said, sometimes I will, but I just listen to one of my mellower, rhythmic Pandora stations which may include Delerium, Conjure One, Claude Challe, Banco de Gaia, etc.
----------"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats." -- H. L. Mencken
82,187 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 09 29
I have to fit the music to the scene i am writing, so oddly enough i found my self listening to Disney's pocahontas soundtrack because of the song savages. It was perfect for writing a lynching scene in my novel.
----------Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow
25,504 / 50,000
nov. 6, 2009 - 11 29
I've found myself listening to the Star Wars soundtracks a lot lately. Not sure why, though I am now seeing the connection with my Sci-Fi novel...ha ha.
----------Mandy//Fizzingwhizbee