NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

I listen to hard Alternative rock when I write. Stuff like Union Underground, and Drowning Pool. Rocking out makes the ideas come faster, and when I've hit a writers' block, I turn on 'Addicted' by Saving Abel, or 'Animals' by Nickleback, and suddenly I can write!

My latest favorite is Yael Naim's "New Soul." They used it, apparently, in the commercial for the new apple ultraportable laptop, but I haven't seen it and wouldn't know. Anyway, Yael Naim is fantastic, and the song is pretty incredible too. It makes me feel all inspired and stuff.

Oddly when reading I like purely instrumental or world music (i.e. non-english/french lyrics).

When writing though, I want descriptive words with a simple melody. In a word traditional folk music. It puts me in the right mood and gets my mind thinking descriptively. It is especially important when I first sit down to write. If I'm having agood writing session I gradually tune out the music entirely.

I am an engineer by training and I remember like fast paced music like New Order or hip hop when I was doing math problems in high school and university.

I like music that is kind of repetitive. Lately i've been listening to some of the decemberists songs. Sons and daughters is kind of repetitive. The island is 11 minutes long.

While John Wayne Gacy, jr. might not be *the song* to listen to while writing for me, I did spend fifteen months writing a novel inspired by retelling the essence of Sufjan's song in an entirely different context. So that impresses me that it takes me 60,000 words to retell what Sufjan tells in 150.

(Can I also like Riders on the storm as writing mood music?)

I like the song "Pandemonium" from the soundtrack to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It just gets me going.

For a long time, R.E.M.'s "Orange Crush" was my writing song. It's so repetitive I just get into a groove. I also like "Deep" by Nine Inch Nails.

This year, my book has a soundtrack, and each of my characters has his/her own playlist. So at one minute, my lineman may be listening to Dwight Yoakum while my girl hero is listening to Oasis. It's really, odd.

I usually start every day playing "Talking in Your Sleep" by The Romantics, "Gold Lion" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Steady as She Goes" by the Raconteurs, and "What More Do You Want?" by the Plain White T's.

Probably the overarching theme though is the theme to "Footloose," Kenny Loggins' "I'm Free." I'm also digging "The Forgotten, Part 2" by Joe Satriani. Lovely instrumental. I always picture my main character wandering down a rainy, deserted city street.

Personally I've found pop music of any kind to be too distracting, so I write to classical music. And not just any classical music, but 16th century classical music, like Palestrina. But some 20th century guys, like Stravinsky, are also good. Not sure why I can't write to pop music. Must be the drums.

i love listening to the beatles while i write. favorite writing songs from them? dear prudence and across the universe.

I've been working in the world that my characters are in for a bit, so I actually have a playlist that is entirely made up of songs that somehow relate to the world and characters of my story. They range from Norah Jones to Evanesence to Relient K. There are several Natasha Bedingfield and Gnarls Barkley songs in the mix as well. It's really random. If I don't list to that it's probably jazz.

Oh, my gosh. My novel is about the very Egypt that Sufjan Stevens' song surely is referring to -- Little Egypt, in Southern Illinois. Up until this point, I didn't have a favorite noveling song. I guess I know what mine will be from now on. I think I may even have to change my title to Out of Egypt.

let's see... anything by Boards of Canada or the Polish Ambassador (happiest music EVER but sooo hard to find). ditto aleks svaensson. as for a specific song? well, any particular song which makes me gogogo (novelingwise) would probably not get noticed by me in the flurry of words. so i don't know what it would be. i would bet, actually, a lot of remixes, like armen van buuren's of snow patrol's "Chasing Cars." speaking of snow patrol, there's always "Signal Fire".

"Making your mind up" by Bucks Fizz always seems to make me write fast, as does Fallout boy's music.
Don't know why; seems completely illogical.

Also, do you find that listening to certain music influences how you write- a random selection of music makes me write happy stuff, while with other tracks everything comes out completely depressing.

Hey, someone else mentioned Unwritten! I can't really listen to the original, but the a cappella group Artists in Resonance here in Berkeley has a really great arrangement of it...they sang it the week NaNo began and I've been hoping to hear it from them again ever since. (The BYU Noteworthy version on Youtube isn't bad either.)

Besides that, one of my characters this year is fitting pretty well under Rie Fu's "Life is Like a Boat". I'm hoping more songs will strike a chord over the course of the novel...no pun intended.

I live with two creative LOUD young ladies who crank their kiddy music tapes full force. I am married to a man who plays guitar and drums. FREQUENTLY. Aman who wants me to sing along or play bass with him. A man who is preparing to "upgrade" our perfectly adequate stereo.

My favorite music to write to? SILENCE!!!!!!!!

I keep playing "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation. It really has nothing to do with anything that's happened in my novel so far, but it's so soaring and uncompromising that it just really makes me want to write faster.

The past two years I wrote my novels to the soundtrack of Braveheart. The music fit the moods of the stories (One was a fantasy the other a paranormal romance). It was perfect! This year I'm working on a contemporary Romance (small town) so when I tried to write to with Braveheart, it just didn't jive. I put together a playlist on my mp3 player of songs that go with the mood of my book perfectly, but it's not working as well since I tend to want to sing along. I need to find something with no words just music that fits the flow of my book. Hmmm possibly some Karioke cds???? Will have to see.

My writing music is normally something German. Because I'm not fluent in the language yet I don't understand the words, so i don't get stuck singing them or watching them play through me head. :D

Last year I listened to the song "Lithium" by Evanescence at least 50 times. Coming in second was a piano piece, played around 30 times, but I forget what it's called. It has something to do with bells. Usually I just novel to whatever's playing in my head, though. I get too distracted. Like now, when I'm reading your blog and not getting the rest of my words for tonight. :D

I listen to a lot of Opeth when I'm novelling, specifically Morningrise and Orchid. The pace of the music kind of fits in with the pace of my story, and the lack of very distinct words doesn't prompt me to write what I'm listening to into the story.

Best noveling song of all time...."The Dangerous Kind" by Sheryl Crow and my second fave...wait for it...."Cracking the Russian Codes" by James Horner from the Beautiful Mind Soundtrack:)

That would have to be captain Fantastic and the Brown dirt cowboy by Elton John. I have no clue why, I used to ignore the song entirely, but by now I know all of the words by rote, and the writing just comes naturally when it comes on.

Yeah, I think it has to be "Mad World" -- the version from the Donny Darko sountrack. What *isn't* that song about?

I used to listen to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack while I wrote, but it doesn't quite fit with my novel this year (yet).

But has anyone applied "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield? It seriously could be NaNoWriMo's theme song!

"Here I Am" by Bryan Adams, from the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimerron soundtrack. Since my novel deals with dragons from hatching until I say so, this song sets the mood perfectly. It also reminds me of the spunky personality my main character has.

A couple The Lord of the Rings soundtracks and The Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack help as well.

Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. something about the repetitiveness that simply takes me off. also philip glass "Glassworks". otherwise silence, which i have a lot of.

My current project has been written to a few new songs by Christian Metal band "Demon Hunter". I have chosen "Carry Me Down", "Fading Away", "I Am You", and "Turn Your Back and Run"

One set of lyrics that hit me hardest is from Carry Me Down.

"Will you carry me down the aisle that final day, with your tears and cold hands shaking from the weight? When you lower me down beneath that sky of grey, let the rain fall down and wash away your pain."

It sets the tone for the darkest writings I've accomplished to this point. Amazing. I love it.

You know, for me, each book has a couple of different songs attached to it. I can actually still remember the songs I was listening to when I wrote various books--I almost acknowledged the artists in the front of the last novel. But, then, most of what I listened to were OCremixes, which are bootlegs, so I figured it was best not to paint a lawsuit bull's eye on my forehead.

By the way, Chris, I dig the new stuff on the website this year. You guys make this thing better and better each time around.

I don't think I have one particular song. But I do end up listending to Seryoga (a Russian rap artist) and Slot (Russian rock group) a lot. Apparently Russian language is good for me XD lol

Anything jazz (Gerschwin, Glen Miller) is always good to write to because it's precisely distracting enough to alleviate stress but not too distracting that you lose your train of thought. If I have to get myself started at writing though, I really like something techno-y like Toy Box's song Best Friend or The Logical Song (by Scooter I think).

I can see (hear?) how "Out of Egypt" could induce noveling.

For myself, last year's anthem was "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects - a fist-pumping, get-it-done song if I've ever heard one.

This year, I'm going with the much slower "The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie - colder and more moody, but with a spark of hope and a persistant guitar riff that keeps me moving forward.

I just put a good CD in and write. I prefer Jazz because the mood can change in the course of things, but it keeps me going steady. My favorite so far is Miles Davis's Love Songs 2-although I did completely stop when a rendition of Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper came through.

Good choice on Out Of Egypt... As it happens, so far this NaNoWriMo I've written quite a lot to songs from the "Greetings From Michigan" album.

If I had to pick one track... I don't know, last year it was probably "The Fortress of Solitude" from the original Superman movie soundtrack.

Actually I got the new Nightwish album, Dark Passion Play, a week before NaNo, and many of the themes in the songs match themes in my story (Yes, my story is depressive, it's actually based off a series of nightmares I had). So I've been listening to that constantly when writing sad or dificult scenes.

However, when I'm writing happier scenes, I've found myself listening to the Riverdance soundtrack, which I also recently found!

I am living to nourish you, cherish you
I am pulsing the blood in your veins
Feel the magic and power of surrender
To live, Uisce Beatha

Thats a chorus from one of the songs on the track, and the amazing voices singing it, as a group, it's so moving, like nothing else.

For the record, Uisce Beatha is Gaelic for Water of Life.

Ah, Sufjan! I was noveling to you tonight at Whole Foods.
But I will say generally that sort of musical momentum for noveling happens on an album level, for me, rather than a single song. It's great when one song sucks you in and sets you a-typin' for the album's entirety. See anything by The Album Leaf (esp. Into the Blue Again, which has an uncanny ability to focus me, making me enjoy it and ignore it simultaneously), Ongiara by Great Lake Swimmers, and lately the Arcade Fire song "Ocean of Noise." Also, the Notwist's Neon Golden. Once I find a good album like that, it ends up on repeat and I can write all day. But you said pick one song, didn't you...

p.s. I think you just found your outfit for the TGIO party / next year's Halloween.

Anything by Lee Blaske or Trans-Siberian Orchestra helps my get into the mood to write.
My favorite songs by the two are:
Sarajevo 24/7 and Requiem (The Fifth) by TSO
Rebirth Pt. 2 by LB.

I'm not sure if they are one of best noveling songs of all time, but for years Shivaree's "Little Black Mess" and "Goodnight Moon" have made me want to write a mystery. And so I am.

My favorite song would have to be "Pretty Handsome Awkward" by the Used for writing or drawing. It's just so different and awesome :D