Something I’ve seen many authors talk about is having a writing playlist. This is something that I swear by–so much so that I have over twenty Spotify playlists just for different books I’ve worked on. I’ve even plotted a few books through music. This involved picking songs that seemed relevant to the mood and creating a story around the story told. It’s actually a very effective form of plotting (and allows for a bit of procrastination while you get to listen to different songs, too!)
I thought I would share one of my book playlists below.
This is my playlist for my work in progress, Detectives and Debutantes, represented by Josh Getzler of HSG Literary Agency. The songs were all very carefully chosen and placed, so that you could theoretically create a story just from listening to it from start to end. While my book has changed slightly plot wise from when I first made this playlist, I still use it as inspiration and background music when I’m working on it.
Other writers–do you use music when you write? Do you prefer songs with words or instrumentals? What is your favorite music platform to use? Do you go scene by scene or general mood?
So proud of your achievements in writing. Keep up the good work. Love and miss you very much!
The music I listen to when I write depends on what I’m writing. I usually make a playlist on Pandora based on my characters. I listen to music that I think my characters might hear on a daily basis. I wrote a story once which was set in an English mansion in the 1800’s, so for that I put together a classical music playlist. I once wrote a ten minute play set during the 1920’s and created a playlist of 20’s jazz. It all depends on the characters. Listening to music that my characters might hear helps me to envision their lives.