Music & Writing

My vacation is winding down and I'm heading home so I think I'll talk about how music helps me write...

As I've mentioned before in an inspiration blog, music can be great for writers. It helps us focus and we can completely get lost in our writing. Some writers listen to classical music others to instrumental but I'm fond of rock music when I write. 

Some of my favorite artists to write to are Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless, and Evanescence. I need it loud, I need it angry, and I need it powerful. But sometimes I don't even hear the lyrics when I listen to music while writing... sometimes there's just something about the beat that drives me on. 

Music is a powerful thing. When I listen to a song for the first time something magical happens: the lyrics paint a picture in my head and that picture tells a story. This isn't a new development. When I was younger before I started any major writing projects I'd listen to a song and my mind would conjure up a story about what the singer was saying. (in my mind I used to think I was "brainstorming" what the music video should look like.)

For example, when I listened to "Gun In My Hand" by DOROTHY I pictured in the literal sense a woman doing away with her cheating boyfriend/husband/lover. In my mind's eye, the era is the 1930s or forties, the woman's black hair is pulled into a tight chignon, and she's wearing a blue cotton knee-length dress with short capped sleeves. She's in a women's prison after killing her significant other and a woman after finding them in bed together. At one point you see her scrubbing blood off her hands then the cops bust the door in and arrest her. She's singing into an old fashioned microphone in a large open area and there are prison cells behind her - it is all very Chicago - Cell Block Tango scene. 

How do my weird thoughts about songs translate to writing? All it takes it a phrase in the lyrics to create a scene relevant to whatever I'm working on and I'm off. I can see it all so clearly and words start flowing from the tip of my pen. 

Music is my greatest weapon against writer's block, my saving grace when I'm afraid I won't know how to continue. Music is soothing (yes, even loud rock is soothing to me) and it blocks out distractions around me. Music has the ability to convey thoughts and emotions through lyrics and melodies. 

What does music do for you? Does it help you create? Are you a writer? What do you like to listen to when you write? Or do you like complete silence?

All About Inspiration

                 A question I get a lot from readers is "What inspired me to write my novel (Enter name of novel here)?." or "What inspires me to write in general?"

Inspiration is everywhere. In the lyrics of a song, in an overheard conversation, in a random stray thought. What you do with it is entirely up to you. 

Over the past few years, I've become what I'm sure some people would describe as "absent-minded" or "forgetful." My grandmother can ask me to bring her a kleenex on my way back from the kitchen but when I'm all wrapped up in my thoughts it's entirely possible that I'll sit down without grabbing the kleenex, Cheetos, Tylenol, whatever I was asked to bring on my way back. When I get an idea in my head I can't focus on anything else, I need to get that idea out before I can do anything else. 

Where do I (and other writers) draw inspiration from? 

Music

These lyrics from Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless could inspire a kickass start to a paranormal story, maybe even with a vampire theme. But it's not always the music or the beat, or even the lyrics themselves. Sometimes it's just about how the song makes you feel and the images and scenes they create in your head. 

Conversations

Conversations, whether overheard or otherwise can be great inspiration for dialogue.  Like the image above says, clear warning... anything you say might at some time end up in my novel. 

Dreams

Dreams are a rich wonderland of writing inspiration. Daydreaming is great but when you close your eyes and fall asleep and travel into a world completely created by your subconscious amazing stories can spring forth. A lot of the dreams and past lives in my novel, Finding Elizabeth were based off dreams I've had throughout my life. The key is being able to write them down before you forget. 

Visual Inspiration

Look at this picture. Study it, get a real good look. What story does this picture tell? What is the girl running from? Are the headlights up ahead her salvation or her nightmare, continued? Writers can use pictures as inspiration to tell their story, as scene inspiration, a prompt, or to even help them visualize what they want to happen in a sequence. 

Prompts

Whether using the picture prompt in the last section or the writing prompt in this one, prompts can inspire writers to come up with all kinds of different stories. Afraid someone else will write the same story as you? Not likely because everyone sees the prompt differently and writes in different styles. It's like the saying "no two people ever read the same book" meaning each person views something in their own way, their own mindset. 

and the best way to get inspired? 

Reading!

Reading makes for great inspiration. Reading a book about whatever you like may get you to thinking about the what ifs... and then you're off. As if I need to give you another reason to read more books. Remember, readers will rule the world, as soon as we finish this chapter. 

These are just a few examples of things people can get inspired from. I once was inspired by looking at the shiny floor at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant... now that is a weird thing to get inspired by. Are you a writer? What inspires you, what gets you in the writing mood? 

What tools can help you when you get inspired?

I highly recommend keeping something to write on and a writing utensil with you at all times. Whether it's a notepad, notebook, post-it note, napkin, pen, pencil, marker, eyeliner pencil.. you always want something on hand when that idea hits you. Don't have paper and a pen on hand but need to write down that awesome idea? Do you have a smartphone? There are tons of apps like Evernote that allow you to take notes right on your phone and who is ever that far away from their phone? Stick your writing stuff in your purse (or your pockets/wallet if you're a dude), next to your bed, in the bathroom for those awesome in-the-shower breakthroughs, and wherever else you hang out frequently. 

Next week I think we'll discuss Character Inspiration...