What do you listen to?

[Grant]

I am curious as to what people listen to when they are writing, if they listen to anything at all.

Do you find that the music helps set a mood, if not for yourself then within the atmosphere of the story itself?

I personally listen to either; Pink Floyd, Burial or R.E.M - What music gets your creative juices flowing?

[Matthew]

I find that it's the same as when i'm reading - i have to listen to something really familiar, something that I've listened to countless times.

[Grant]

I catch your drift; i find that it is the best way for me to be productive. My iTunes looks like I have an obsession with certain songs. Whoops!

[Matthew]

Yeah, I think it has to be something which doesn't engage a certain part of your brain. Not quite something you can ignore, but something which doesn't ask for your concentration.

[Rosen]

Seagulls. But it's not voluntary.

[Grant]

Yes, anything with lyrics for me is a no go as I start singing - very badly may I add! But it definitely is a distraction when I begin to recite the song.

Would that not become a nuisance listening to seagulls?!

[Matthew]

I hate seagulls!

[Grant]

On a bird call level I think the crow has the nicest sound - I'm bias though they are by far my favourite bird!

[Matthew]

I'm quite fond of the Norwegian blue parrot.

[Kath]

It's a late parrot.
So you listen to The Choir Invisible eh?

[Matthew]

Ignite wrote: "
So you listen to The Choir Invisible eh?"
Only sometimes... Like when i'm pining for the fjords....

[Marc]

normally I compile a soundtrack of songs for each novel & then stick rigidly to listening only to those songs while writing. The songs set the mood & the rhythm each time I return the next day to write.

However, my new novel "Time After Time" which will be kindle published within a couple of weeks, the music is a fundamental part of the plot and I was discovering which song to both play and put in the story as I went along writing the first draft. There's going to be a link to a Spotify playlist with all the songs that readers can listen to

[Tim]

I find that if I have music on (or the radio/TV etc) I'll just get distracted and end up listening/watching instead of writing. So my answer must be: nothing.

Unfortunately I'm much better at procrastinating than almost anything else...

[Marc]

When I'm editing from draft 2 onwards, then I can't have any music on at all. That's partly why I loathe that part of the process.

[Mark]

Marc wrote: "When I'm editing from draft 2 onwards, then I can't have any music on at all. That's partly why I loathe that part of the process."
That's the part I love.
But to answer the question, usually I have to write in silence but sometimes it's radio 3, which has to go off in the speaky bits. Usually I listen to a lot of rock, but find it too distracting if I'm writing.

[Karen]

Matthew wrote: "Yeah, I think it has to be something which doesn't engage a certain part of your brain. Not quite something you can ignore, but something which doesn't ask for your concentration."

I'm with Matthew on this, and find that Classic Fm fits the bill nicely. :)