On Music’s Intersection with Writing

By Ottavia Paluch

(I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m a big music fan. I will also preface this by saying that I tend to lean towards the genre of old-but-not-really rock/alternative/indie music. The examples I list below are reflective of my tastes. Okay? Okay.)

I’m sure we can all agree that music can act as many things: a universal language, a connection to the rest of the world, an aide to help you focus, an aide to help you have a good time, an aide to the creative process, and that it also exists to help Ottavia Paluch make good playlists. The last one was a joke, but I think I’ve made my point clear: music is very useful.

So how do we writers utilize it to help us, well, write? I’ll tell you what I’ve done.

As I neared completion of my first almost-novel a few years back, I had a song to accompany each one of my chapters. In case it never got optioned for film, this was the closest thing to a movie soundtrack I could possibly get.  Every scene had a song, and as I visualized them in my head, the songs gave the scenes more life. All the sadder scenes had Radiohead, and the ones that were infused with love got Radiohead, and so on. (A majority of it was Radiohead, really.)

But what if you’re just in the middle of your novel-in-progress and don’t know how to start your next chapter? Maybe you need to set the scene in your mind. Close your eyes and try to hear what you think you should be playing as your scene moves along. What do you hear? Cinematic swells? It could be anything. It all relies on you and your imagination. Say you’re writing an action-packed chapter with blood and guts and death. Perhaps you might want to set the mood with an almost-prog-rock song or album to put in heavy rotation. You could use a “You dumped me, and now I hate you” song for when your main character is shrugging off a breakup. During a scene where your main character gets discouraged, you can fit two songs in one scene, if that’s what works for you; one with a slower tempo, and one that’s more upbeat and happier, a sort of pick-me-up song. You’re a teen, and this is your book, hence why you should know that your choices are endless as to where you want to take your story with regards to audio, and that there are no wrong answers.

What about using music to help us focus while we’re writing? Well, I hate to disappoint you, but classical music most likely will do the trick. Many studies have shown that listening to classical music improves a lot of things. But when it comes to its effects on us writers, it proves to be a very valuable asset. We all have the days where we need to get our creative juices flowing, so it’s good to know that Bach or Beethoven or Mozart or Vivaldi or *insert any composer you can think of* will help you out. While listening to classical music won’t instantly make you creative, it might make you think outside the box, and it will help you get into a much more creative mindset than just listening to silence. Here’s a tip—does listening to classical renditions of your favourite songs strike you as intriguing? Take a look at the Vitamin String Quartet, who do lovely versions of many, many songs by many, many different artists, covering everyone from Sam Smith to The Beatles.

This applies to other types or genres of music that might help you get into the writing zone when you’re stuck, too. I’ll give a few more examples. Listening to the sounds of nature can enhance cognitive function and concentration. You might need soothing sounds—flowing water, rustling leaves, for instance—to work and write well. Babbling brooks and waves crashing are my best friend when I’m not writing, like when I’m stressed out and need a moment to relax.

Music from video games is a great choice, and a more popular one at that, thanks to the popularity of video games. This genre is specifically designed to enhance your gaming experience: to help you dodge bullets or skillfully maneuver your way through enemies.

You can also give ambient music a try. As Brian Eno, a producer on many of U2’s (a band that I love, by the way) albums and creator of Music for Airports, once said, “Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” Ambient music is effective for those difficult scenes in your stories; the ones that take up more space in your Word document, the ones that require more detail than usual. Listening to ambient music helps to ensure that I can push through my work and stay (mostly) sane in the process of finishing it.

​When finding your voice while writing, you have to experiment to see what works. The same goes for listening to music that pairs with your writing. Soft and mellow songs have often been the inspiration for many of my poems. Flatsound, Sufjan Stevens, and Elliot Smith are all artists that make beautiful songs in this style, and ones that I love. Your favourite playlist containing all the songs you love, full of mainly high energy songs, can keep you motivated, and it’s especially helpful to me when it's late at night and I need an energy boost to keep working on a project. However, I would use it in moderation—often, you catch yourself singing along to the words, and even writing the lyrics of the song down instead of what you were planning to write down! And there are also times when silence is golden. Whatever song you need to hear, though, blast it through your headphones until words arrive on that blank page.