Tags
30 days of writing, Christmas, Her Dogginess, holiday craziness, Hybrid, ludovico einaudi, revenge, winter solstice, writing with music
…Yeah, this is a fairly sporadic experience. Is anyone surprised? ๐
Still. I have a good excuse. This is kind of a crazy time of year. The solstice may be my big holiday of the season (tomorrow at 11:38 pm, if anybody’s curious, and a gorgeous full moon to boot), but Christmas is what we’ll be celebrating with family, and that means shopping, wrapping, cleaning, cooking, more shopping, more wrapping, and quite likely more cleaning.
Also revenge (most likely in the form of 3 am barking and the chewing of shoes), because I thought this was hilariously cute and Her Dogginess… did not, so much.
Anyway.
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
I didn’t for a long time: I found it too confusing. Then I discovered the wonders of trance, and found out heavy beat + flowing electronica + no lyrics was actually a nice background noise that kept me a) awake and b) in the zone. Some time later I discovered Einaudi, and it turns out that minimalist ambient classical with wonderful buildups and a lot of truly elegant piano as the centerpiece is just great for writing angst. I mean, really great. I got through both SWORD and SONG on two of his albums. I didn’t (and don’t, now that I’m back in that saddle) attach particular pieces to particular scenes, though.
WEAVE was a bit different: by then I’d found Pandora, which led me to Hybrid, a Welsh pair of electronic artists that teamed up with a great singer. (Yes, it’s got lyrics. This is new territory for me, but it’s working.) There aren’t particular songs for my characters, but there are definitely songs that apply to certain stages of the book. Even now, a few months under a year from writing THE END, listening to one of them can call up the general emotional atmosphere of a scene.
Which is wonderful for revising, as I’m discovering with SWORD at the moment.I was afraid I’d have a hard time getting back into the voice and the general feel of a book I’d written over 3 years ago, but it hasn’t been a problem at all, and I can thank Einaudi for a good part of that.
What music (if any) gets you in the right place for a WIP?
Also, in case it gets too nuts, happy holidays, peeps. ๐