Songs Inspiring Plots.

I just wanted to put this out there: Do you listen to songs while writing? What kind? When you first listen to a song, do you automatically categorize it with a character? Do songs inspire plots?

Whew that was a long list! I listen to songs that I think describe my characters really well...and I have a habit of thinking of a character in my story every time I listen to a song..

basically, let me know what you guys think about songs and writing....

I listen to:
~Evanescence
~Three Days Grace
~Muse
~Oddly, I like to listen to the music from the play Les Miserables, excellent music there with lots of different moods

I find most songs automatically give off a mood. Some songs (ex. Starlight by Muse) had me thinking of a storyline right away. It depends on the song really.

Thanks for the reply!

Quick Question: I've been surfing on the net in order to gather information on elves. Are they really cliche? or is it how writer's portray them? Can they be original. I'm so confused

Sometimes I listen to music when I write. Sometimes I write songs for my stories.

starrynight89, yes and yes. Yes, elves can be very cliché if you follow the normal Tolkien-ripoff standard, and they can be done well if you do some research into myths and legends about elves and create something new and interesting based on what you find.

starrynight89 wrote:
Whew that was a long list! I listen to songs that I think describe my characters really well...and I have a habit of thinking of a character in my story every time I listen to a song..

basically, let me know what you guys think about songs and writing....:)

:D

ooooh! i thought i was the only one who did that! :D

songs for my stories and characters:
Energy by Skillet
Weathered by Creed
The Wait is Over by Disciple


:D

Put simply, music + writing = awesomeness.

The song "Sukie in the Graveyard" by Belle & Sebastian was the inspiration for my NaNo- it just sort of goes to show that songs are just stories to a catchy beat.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here.

I agree with the fact that songs are great sources of inspiration for plot and character development.

For example, you're listening to a rock song (Faint by linkin park) and writing an action scene. I tend to pick rock songs when I'm writing battle scenes or anything adventurous. However, when I go back and edit my draft I don't get the same intensity and sometimes don't get the same images in my head...so, is it a good thing to listen to songs while writing? ...I hope that made sense! :/ I tried.

I always play music while I'm writing, I mostly listen to My Chemical Romance, Evanescence, Linkin Park, The Killers, La Quinta Estacion and Fall Out Boy. Never ever wrote a songfic but sometimes when I'm listening to a song I can imagine a moment or a character from my work.

I don't know, I just like to listen to music while I write. It's an habit, I do it even with my homework. It's pretty relaxing.

Well, I usually don't listen to music when I write. Still, you never know...

I freaking love music! It helps me concentrate, and I can't stand silence. If the TV's not on or there's not some other source of pleasing sounds I put my music on. It really sucks that I can't play my music while falling asleep during the week because it might bother my roomie. >.<

So, yeah, I play music while I write. It can't be too loud, though, because then it'll spill into my thoughts and I wont know what I'm thinking. And sometimes I get so into what I'm doing that I forget there's music on until my roomie asks me to turn it down or an annoying song comes on.

Music I listen to while writing:
Rock
Metal/Gothic
Alternative or whatever My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco are...
Classical
Celtic
Soundtracks
Random Music I classify as 'kind' or 'soft' because I have no idea what category it actually goes to. XD

Scenes and characters traits have been inspired by music. For one of my stories "Mama" by My Chemical is the theme song and best describes how I try to put the characters through hell. "Down with the Sickness" (by Disturbed) is the name for two of my NaNo chapters, and the song also is helping me imagine one of my NaNo character's storyline. For some songs I just get a montage of my characters and things that happen to them, like "Speeding Cars" by Imogen Heap or "Adiemus" by Adiemus.

Did I mention I loves music! <3!

For nanowrimo all of my major characters had a theme song, something I'd found that I thought fit them.

I have a lot of songs associated with things I'm writing, and they can be quite specific, to the point where I can only really listen to them when I'm writing, else it doesn't feel right.

Sometimes I don't like to listen to music when I write, that's normally when I'm writing by hand as opposed to typing, as my thoughts tend to move at the same speed at the music, and I like my songs to have a fast tempo, so quite often I get left behind XD

Nearly every character and every plot-line I have ever come up with has been due to influence of music. The most note-worthy instance being that time I tried to write "And Nothing Hurts in Heaven" to Sting's Soul Cages on repeat. That was one crazy Christmas...