Music and Writing

I'm one half of a writing team. My partner loves to send me links to music videos that fit her writing mood. She has eclectic taste, so I always enjoy it. We've been revising our current project. As we redid our outline, for every scene in the beginning she assigned a song to it that she considered set the tone of the scene. The songs represented everything from rap to ballad to rock. Some I really liked, some I winced a little, but hey, if these speak to her muse, who am I to say anything?

My partner will turn up the music loud, get in front of that keyboard and type away. She thrives on the beat and the music gets inside her and loosens up those creative juices that gets her imagination flying.

I am totally the opposite. I cannot focus if music is on. It blocks me. I don't know why. I love listening to the links she sends, but I listen to them as music. When I'm ready to sit at the keyboard, the music goes off. No matter how many times I have tried, listening to music distracts me, makes it difficult for me to concentrate and to get my muse working.

How about you? Can you have music on when you write? Do you listen to a certain kind of music or do you match the music to your current project or scene?

Tell me in the comments. I wonder if there are others like me that can't write with the music on. ( :

A Writer's Time Travel

"...The 1940's is portrayed so vividly that the time and place become characters of their own. I could see the clothing, hear the music and feel the scratchy car upholstery..."

~ Romance Readers at Heart

When I sat down to write THE PASSENGER, of course I hadn't been to California in the 1940's but I knew this was both the time and place for the story.

I knew in order for me to bring my readers there, I had to find my way there too.

So I set a challenge for myself... I decided to transport myself there using whatever means available.

I read books on the decade. Browsed the antique stores for old copies of magazines. Visited the library of a local art college to look through Sears catalogs and Town and Country. Rented movies and watched documentaries.

I listened to the music. When I was writing and when I wasn't. In fact, the Andrews Sisters became a favorite of my daughter's when she was younger. What four year old in this decade knows all the words to the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy?

The research became an adventure and as fun for me as the writing!

I'd love to hear about your adventures - what do you do as a writer to prepare yourself for a story? As a reader what details transport you there?

Until next time...

Joie