25 Comments
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I can only handle silence. I'm boring like that.

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SAME

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I usually put on lofi or classical piano when I'm writing. It does help with focus. I can't use music that has lyrics cause I'll sing along and get distracted. Music with lyrics is ok for sewing though!

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Nay. But I do edit to a soundtrack which I create specifically for each story. It plays very quietly in the background.

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Yes… usually background music of nature or for meditation. It helps to place me in my ‘zone.’

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I can write to both, but it depends on my mood. When I first started writing, it was the summer of 1987, and I had the radio playing in the basement where I'd set up my little "office." Some of those songs instantly bring me back to that halcyon time when I could write without worrying about the inner editor, or publishing, or marketing, or any of that. So a few years ago, I decided to make a Spotify playlist of those songs to try and trick my brain into letting go of all the "dreck" and just write.

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Lyrics throw me off. I do best with silence, which is sometimes hard to come by!

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Yes. And both.

Music has been a major influence on my writing. Not only listening to it by writing, but in borrowing concepts and phrases heard in the lyrics. From them, I have gained character names, title ideas and story ideas, for example.

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May 27Author

I do this too! Or am emotion.

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No to lyrics but yes to music. My husband has a huge collection of film scores which are amazingly inspiring as background music. Ryuichi Sakamoto, Thomas Newman, Rachel Portman...

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May 27Author

I’ve done this in cafes when you need something on the AirPods bc people are, say, having a really fascinating ie distracting convo nearby! Using a film score that suits the work can actually be helpful. I know people who swear by it

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It definitely helps.

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All wordplay is musical from just expressing information to incredible lyrics expressing pain and joy that comes with the human condition. Be that as it may not all music is conclusive to the work of writing. If it is non intrusive low level background music when I'm on a roll a thunderstorm wouldn't bother me.

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Yes, and prefer to, actually. But the music does need to be either very familiar or without lyrics. I go in phases - writing to The Eagles for a while, 80s Chill Pill, Yacht Rock, a playlist on my iTunes, a lyric-less soundtrack like Somewhere in Time. All depends on my mood and the season. (I write nonfiction, but if I was writing fiction, I would absolutely create a playlist for that fiction book and write with it!)

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I like listening to music when doing my usual chores (like laundry). If I am reading or writing, I usually prefer silence or the sounds of nature.

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Only silence.

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Yes music. Absolutely definitely no lyrics.

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I write much better with music! My favorite is downtempo / instrumental hip-hop, and sometimes piano and/or guitar music. Definitely no lyrics because my brain will latch onto them. :)

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I wish!

I find myself getting too distracted by cool melodies and funky basslines.

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Yes to background music. The type of music has to match the mood of what I'm writing. No to lyrics No elevator music!

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Usually no music, but if music no lyrics, unless I'm writing in a cafe in which case I can write to whatever is on.

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Only if I'm trying to drown out the sound of loud neighbors or construction noise (constant in my neighborhood).

In college I often wrote academic papers while listening to music. Counting Crows and Jacob Dillon got me through my 100-page senior thesis! ;)

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I find music a distraction. When I write, I listen to the cadence and pacing in my head. I hear the voice of each character like it has its own musical qualities -tone, timbre, volume, mood, etc. Listening to music at the same time competes with all that.

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I can if it’s really low volume but typically prefer no music!

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I don't understand exactly what you are talking about.

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