Music is My Hot Hot Sex

Like a lot of writers I use music to help me write, or just as background noise. For me it helps me drift off into that day dream world where my mind creates a new world for me to put onto paper, or in my case my laptop. The way it works is like this-Ill be sitting at my computer, usually in my room on my bed relaxing with a cup of tea and the mood to write will hit me. When that happens I throw on some music. Most of the time its the music already on my computer compiled into a playlist for a specific story. A lot of my stories have the same songs or feel because they have the same basic elements, love, conflict and something paranormal. Lately I have become accustomed to new music, thanks in part to my husband who helps me branch out and be more open to the new and unknown as I do for him.

Two sites I use for music are Pandora which I have mentioned before but I find it can become a bigger distraction than needed because I spend more time flicking through it trying to find a song I like. Most recently I have found a site called Stereomood which I also mentioned before as well. For now I am just strolling through the playlists they offer and adding one or two songs to my Writing playlist but I have yet needed to use it.

Once I have the music I want, I write. The music works for me in two ways. The first way is as a soundtrack to the movie playing inside my head. I have to give my friend Nikki her dues on two songs she had suggested to me. One was Touched by Vast the other Demon Cleaner by Kyuss, both of which helped me create one of in my opinion the best fight scenes I have ever written and also just one of the most poetic scenes. When I do finally publish the book I intend to list off some songs for everyone to listen to while reading the book to help the reader get deeper into my mind and the feel of the scene.

The second way music works is like most writers I get writers block and need to distract my mind for a time to help get past that speed bump. When that happens I just turn my eyes from the screen and listen to the song, really listen. I close my eyes and feel what the singer is feeling, I place myself in their shoes to really get a sense of what the song means. In essence I listen to their song the way you would read a book. Sometimes its also just fun to sing a long and have fun for a few minutes, once you do that it becomes easier to continue on with your writing. It becomes as if that speed bump never existed.

One bit of advice I give to anyone using music for inspiration, be it writing or acting or whatever creative aspect, go for remixes and remakes. You'd be surprised at how a change in tempo or singer can really morph a song into something completely different. My biggest example of this is Hey Ya by Outkast compared to Obadiah Parker's version. Listen to them both and you'll see what I mean.