“So, what do you listen to when writing ... and why?”
This is a question I posed to several writers groups I am a member of. Half a dozen answers returned (out of a possible thousand plus members). The majority said, “Metal” of one form or another. Other replies, claimed it depended on what they were working on at the time, meaning: character or scene.
Stephen King claims he listens to Metallica (or used to).
Doug Clegg doesn't often listen to music. The moment he sits down to write, he's in the zone. If he decides he wants to listen to some sounds, he chooses: either movie soundtracks without lyrics, classical music, French, or Spanish music. All kinds from "60s French pop like Francoise Hardy to The Cider House Rules soundtrack to Vicente Fernandez to Berlioz.
Brandon Massey is another writer who doesn"t listen to music -- usually. There are times when he wants to set or capture the mood of a particular scene, when he mentions a song in the course of the narrative. But only at that time. One thing he admits is the need for a strong black coffee to get the juices flowing, the brain in gear.
Bruce Floyd listens to a mix of music when writing to set the mood. The way he would best describe it is that he pictures himself in the story as it is being written, seeing everything, sensing all smells, noises, feelings. The music that plays is almost like a soundtrack to a movie, except he's the only one seeing and experiencing it at the time. “I can write without candles and music,” Bruce claims, “but they help me get into a place that is pleasing for me and only me while I create.”
Holly Catanzartia doesn't need music to write. If she listens to anything, it's because she likes it, more than getting a feeling or setting from it.
A couple of people mentioned television. As long as they couldn't see the screen it was okay.
So, why do we listen to music or whatever when writing? The most common answer was: background noise.
Note: There were a few other answers, like: silence. There are writers who need no music or sounds to get the juices flowing; there are some that need absolute silence to write anything at all. A good friend of mine gets up at the crack of dawn everyday and writes before his family awakens and the day starts. He needs quite, no distractions at all.
Me? I also get up at the crack of dawn but I check my email and then head off to a cafe to write. At home, I write to the lovely sounds of thrash-metal, death-metal, devil-metal, black-metal, hard rock, whatever you want to label it as, if it has a fast beat, I most likely will be listening to it. Link it with Limp Bizkit, POD, Iron Maiden and WASP, and you have a great line up for some serious horror writing.
But here's the kicker: Sometimes it takes only a few minutes to hit the writing zone, where music or the phone or the door bell, no longer register. Apart from an emergency or the need for a cup of coffee, nothing else can invade that zone for as long as you can hold it.
So, another question is posed. Does having background noise help you in writing?
Ten years ago, I listened to thrash metal when I sat down to write at the typewriter. I believed it helped me concoct weird horror stories rummaging around in my head. A few years ago, I wrote only in silence (CD player was broken) and I could still write the way I always had. Recently I start by accessing music jukebox and choosing a play list. I click play, min the screen and open Word or OpenOffice. I'm already entering the zone by the time the file is loaded and I barely notice the music. My wife is a TV head, so often I am writing to the sound of Japanese TV. The TV is next to the computer, this could be a major distraction, but not when I hit the zone.
And so, I have come to this personal conclusion: Music or background noise doesn't help the writing or thought process of this art. It's not needed, only we like it, like a habit and when we hit the zone, we don't notice it's there.
A habit. Hardest thing to break. We are accustomed in this noisy world to have something close to us at all times, something we are familiar with and I assume, that would be background noise.
