The sound of silence doesn’t inspire everyone; sometimes writers have to learn to march to the beat of their own (or someone else’s very talented) drum.
“Where words leave off, music begins.” — Heinrich Heine
So quiet you could hear a pen drop. As silent as the grave. Dead air. Radio silence. Mum’s the word. Silence is golden. The strong, silent type. The quiet before the storm. End of story.
There are numerous ways to describe quietude, but how often do we actually find ourselves in a soundless void? Even when we try and seclude ourselves from the world and anything that might disturb our so-called peace, our own bodies and minds betray us. Maybe that’s for the best; I don’t know about you, but if I had to function in total silence for too long, I’d lose whatever is left of my sanity.
Most of us prefer to have some kind of background noise while we work, study or write. For those of you who haven’t given music a proper chance, here is some insight as to why it might just be what’s missing from your creative process and how you can try integrating it going forward.
The science
If you participated in your grade school science fair with the old “the effect of music on plants” gig (true story, mine responded just as well to hits from artists such as Evanescence, Third Eye Blind, and Rise Against as they did symphonies and concertos), then you’re already aware that music has been scientifically proven to influence living organisms in a number of ways simply by existing and being audible. Generally speaking, though, everyone’s still torn on whether or not these effects are definitively harmful or detrimental in terms of a human being’s productivity when trying to complete cognitive or creative pursuits like writing. A semi recent article in the Journal of Cognition, for example, zeroed in on how silence, instrumental music, and music with lyrics affected college students as they completed tasks related to verbal and visual memory, reading comprehension, and math. The results, as you may imagine, varied. Part of the problem is that most of us are aware that we can be distracted by things like lyrics or certain types of sounds, so that preconception interferes with our ability to open our minds to the possibility that we may be wrong—or even right, as the case may be or as the song may dictate.
The art
Writers find all sorts of little tricks to fool our creative brains into working when they want to do anything but. One of the most common (and maybe most obvious) ones is to provide yourself with a little background music. If you follow me on social media or subscribe to my YouTube channel, you will have seen posts from me about what I affectionately call “writer tunes.” For me, listening to music while I write is both a passive and an active exercise/thought process. When I get stuck, I use music like the soundtrack of a show or movie and try to match what my characters are going through to the songs I’m listening (and possibly singing) along to in order to help visualize what should come next. If I’m in the zone, the last thing I want is someone else’s words interfering with my flow, but I don’t want it so silent I get distracted, so classical or instrumental is where it’s at. How you choose to set the mood with music is entirely up to you, but I’ve found that there are two mainstays writers tend to fall back on: using a premade playlist, or winging it.
The playlist
Some writers like to dive into a creative session with a set playlist ready to go. But, setting this up in advance can be a daunting task in and of itself, mostly because there are so many factors that can influence what we need or want to hear at a given time. Of course, if you’re like me and have extensive and ever-changing taste in music, that only further complicates matters. So, when you set out to make your playlist, think of it like selecting the soundtrack for a movie and consider the following aspects of what you will be working on to help narrow down your choices.
- Setting: the actual place(s) involved as well as the mood you need to convey. You wouldn’t listen to K-pop when you’re trying to describe a dark and stormy night, right?
- Characters: who is going to be in the parts you’re writing, and what they will be doing/saying. One character taking a leisurely walk doesn’t exactly evoke the raw intensity of death metal, whereas a heated argument between two exes probably wouldn’t have an acoustic alternative backdrop.
- Internal versus external conflicts: this means identifying as well as deciding which are more prevalent at this point in the narrative and whether or not that balance serves the story, or if there needs to be a shift. For example, poignant instrumentals are great for gently guiding introspection, but a street fight calls for gritty punk rock.
- Your writing style and overall tone: what you sound like on the page, not just your characters. Your voice is just as important to your work as those of your characters. Are you subtly sarcastic or optimistic, bitter or bubbly? Whatever your style is, let the music you use to keep your creative juices flowing speak to that.
- What comes next: yes, focusing on the task at hand and writing in the moment is important, but you should never turn down a chance for some good foreshadowing. If you know things are all sunshine and unicorn stickers now, but are about to take a turn for the worst, listen to some music that belongs more to the middle ground. That way, you can transition your brain into this way of thinking just as effectively as you usher your readers into the next chapter.
The play-by-ear approach
This probably seems self-explanatory, but if you’re still wary of flying by the seat of your pants, it may comfort you to know that there is still some forethought involved. Just like if you were to take the time to craft a specific playlist for your next writing session, letting a streaming service or your own personal library take the wheel all starts with your choice to either limit it to music you know and trust, or expand your horizons. In my experience, the latter can backfire if you get so caught up in the new tunes that you don’t get around to much writing, but it can also be a fun diversion if you need a break. You can also limit yourself to a particular genre using Apple Music, Pandora, or a similar service.
There’s no right or wrong environment in which writers (and editors) can work, and that includes how quiet or noisy you like it. Much like the worlds we build and the characters we pull out of thin air, we make our own kind of musical backdrop to help tell our stories.
K. Watkins 