How Music Can Set Your Writing’s Tone

Inspiration can be everywhere: in music, in movies, in books… This month, we’re spotlighting inspiration in its many forms. Today, Wrimo Michael Roberts , talks about how music can define your writing’s tone:

Like a lot of writers, when I’m writing I need music that is inspiring and uplifting enough to get me out of the world and into “the zone” but also something that I can just have on in the background. 

While writing my NaNoWriMo novel, I listened to a lot of deep house after discovering Trevor Nygaard’s videos. They have the right rhythm and, at about an hour long each, are the perfect length for a writing session. 

When I need to visualise what I’m writing, I listen to movie soundtracks or playlists from the era I’m writing about. I find that you tend to mimic the tone of what you are hearing in your writing. So, if I’m going for the big action scenes, I’ll find John Williams to play. Recently I was writing a section of my novel that flashes back to the early ‘80s and found myself digging through playlists from that time. It was very useful in finding the voice inside me from that decade. Sometimes finding the right soundtrack to your novel can be the thing that makes it work.

Michael Roberts has a B.A. and B. Ed. from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. An occasional teacher and stay-at-home dad, his November 2014 NaNoWriMo novel, The Ghost, is making its way through the editing/beta-reader cycle as we speak. He is also writing the mystery-thriller Descending Angel, a multi-generational story of religion and deceit set in the mountains of Colorado and Washington State. He lives in Frontenac County, with his wife, two kids, and three cats.

Top photo by Flickr user AKZOphoto.