Dark or what?

[erastes]

I've just realised that Apocalyptica suits my writing very well--the infamous Seph-Satinvalkyrie introduced me to them when I was writing Transgression, and I've just been replaying some of it. It really fits the dark mood of the book I'm writing, even though the time-frame is completely wrong. I think it's the combination of the tooth-grating edge of the strings together with the depressing riffs. (And yes, that's the sort of thing I really like!)

I get very writing-inspired by pieces of music and remember having to stop the car one day when I heard Sospiri op.70 by Elgar. It struck such an immediate chord with me and I thought "Yes! That's EXACTLY how Edward feels in Junction X when...."

I tend to have Musicovery on while I write which is such a great online radio station--I pick "classical" and generally "dark" or "calm" or somewhere around the middle. I'm rarely "positive" or "energetic"! That pumps out some great mood pieces.

I don't think I could ever do a "Soundtrack" to Standish, or anything like that though. Amusingly, one of the most played albums I was listening to when I was writing that was Billie Holiday's greatest Hits. Hardly the write time era, but perhaps it was the blues that helped with the tone.

I must compile a list of my inspirational pieces, perhaps with downloads, and do a list on The Macaronis.

What about you? What music inspires you? (I'll not have heard of it, of course, because I don't really know anything about music after 1989....) Do you have music playing when you write? Do you ever hear a piece of music that EXACTLY describes a scene in your books?

Comments

[feed-your-muse.livejournal.com]

I tend not to listen to music if I'm writing at home (due to technical issues - if I try to listen to music on the PC, the sound 'wobbles' whenever I scroll up or down; very off-putting!).
At work I'll quite often write in the student cafe, just to get out of the office and away from the phone, and I'll listen to my iPod then. Mostly instrumental, mostly soundtracks - but I will occasionally listen to songs with words.

Do you ever hear a piece of music that EXACTLY describes a scene in your books?

Not yet, although some pieces (or parts of them) convey a bit of the mood. I don't do playlists because (a) they're time-consuming and (b) I change my mind too often, so I generally leave that sort of thing alone.

Merry

=^..^=

[the-sea-to.livejournal.com]

OH YES! PERFECT FOR IT. ALSO, DVORAK I think.

OMG seph. now that brings back memories!

Hmm. I must think on the inspriation front. I am more pictures in head than sounds.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

You are the second person to mention Dvorak. I find him a little bit too unsettling.

You should share your picture inspiration, too.

[the-sea-to.livejournal.com]

my pictures live in my head! I can give you a slice of brain if you want!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

mmmm. brains.....

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

I was doing a soundtrack for Second Chances but was 'advised against' it. (I was writing 2 lines of the song at the end of each chapter so there may have been hissy fits on behalf of various musicians, lol). I rarely listen to music when I'm actually writing but walking I do. That's usually when the characters are playing things out in my head. One of the most important tracks that I allowed myself to play for SC was In My Body by the Smashing Pumpkins. It has a romantically haunting sound...or so I think and I did play it and have it playing in the scene where Raith and Alex eventually get to dance together again. This particularly track IS Second Chances and all it stands for. *sigh* I can try to link you to a free dl if you like?

PS It's actually snowing properly and Misters Magpie are fighting over a piece of lamb I threw out this morning.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting! Yes I'd love a dl! -

oo - i never thought of putting meat out - will have to try that - there are magpies around, but they rarely come into the garden.

We had another dusting of snow this morning, but it's all gone again now.

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

I've emailed the file instead of linking you. (The links were being norty). Now you've got me listening to it :D There was a fic I wrote where I did actually play this song on repeat...which had nothing to do with SC.

I'm listening to this and watching Meerkat Manor. The two don't quite seem to go, lol.

Hope you enjoy!

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

I know this is one of the best songs where you can't understand the lyrics (in an earlier post of yours *nods*) but for me, that's the point in this song. Billy Corgan's almost-not-there voice...he could be singing whatever and it would still sound all ethereal... *dies at the beauty* I know nothing else of Smashing Pumpkins btw, lol.

[kittymay.livejournal.com]

I love Apocalyptica too, even if they did play at Eurovision in Finland ; )

You probably have heard of most of my musical taste though, because my fave composer died in 1687.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Well that serves you right for watching it. I will never be able to watch it again now Wogan won't be doing the commentary!

[kittymay.livejournal.com]

Ah, but you admit you *did* watch it! We all need our guilty pleasures!
I was sad about Wogan leaving, too, though he made Eurovision for me. Won't be the same...

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Immortal Beloved's soundtrack started when eternaleponine mentioned offhand that the reunion scene (which we wrote first, of course) reminded her of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Which song actually never made it onto the soundtrack.

The walking-in-the-snow scene with the Wizarding photo booth was supposed to be a flashback, because it was inspired by the Cure's "Pictures of You," but it wound up being used in sequence instead. Even so, there's an unwritten scene in my head where the older, grieving Severus is alone in his room and looking at that photo strip and remembering the night they took it.

"Voices Carry" was chosen for their walkout fight AFTER the scene was written, not before (this is the case for most of the songs). At the time I knew the song's alleged narrative (abusive controlling boyfriend, girl finds the courage to walk out) from the video, but something about it seemed right for their anger over a situation forcing them to stay closeted. It wasn't until very recently that I read that Aimee Mann had originally written the song with "she" instead of "he" as the pronoun and it WAS about a disagreement over staying closeted! I feel very clever now.

Most of them weren't played while writing, though.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

SO lovely to see evan's icon. Who is he? I've forgotten.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Edward Furlong.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

yes! i remember now! thank you! *lickity lick*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Much of Special Forces Pt 1 was written with the score for Black Hawk Down.

For ROI, it was charts/dance/rap music. More, erm, contemporary.

Dvorak I love. Synphony for the New World is brilliance.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh I love the score of BHD. And the film. Jason Isaacs... *drooling* did you ever see the interview with him and Bloom where they talked about having met the real life person who Isaacs plays in the film? Hilarious.

[the-sea-to.livejournal.com]

you said jason isaacs.

there were other words, but i judge them unimportant.

mmm. jason isaacs.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. If you haven't seen the interview then it's PRICELESS. The subject is funny (the fact that the person that he's playing's nickname is White Rhino and is about a foot taller and wider than he is - but also that Bloom just sits there while Jason plays the raconteur. You can tell who has been playing the promo game for a lot longer.

BTW - have you ever seen JI's home movie of Peter Pan on the dvd extras. PRICELESS!!!!!!!!

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

I can't write with music, or any other noise. I'm distractible enough as it is. But Musicovery sounds cool!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Heh I know what you mean!

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to Musicovery! I'll have to give them a try, as I always need music when I'm working (as evidenced by my having music right now, in the library).

Do you ever hear a piece of music that EXACTLY describes a scene in your books?

Oh, God, yes. The original version of This Tragic Glass had an iTunes playlist containing seven days' worth of music. I still need to tweak it for the revisions, because a lot of the content hasn't changed -- it's just moved around. Everything I write has at least one section that's specifically inspired by some piece or another. The most recent was a combination of 'A Thousand Kisses Deep' by Leonard Cohen and 'Angel' by Massive Attack that produced a truly traumatic finale for an as-yet-in-progress story based on Shakespeare's Richard III.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oooo - that sounds really interesting!

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

It was scary at first -- I was walking home and had a half-formed idea in my head, so I listened to the Cohen first, and then the Massive Attack, and this scene just exploded in my brain. I still haven't actually written it because it scares me a little. ;)

Also, such icon love!

[tammylee.livejournal.com]

I tend to listen to a specific playlist/CD for a project. That way, when I need to get back into the headspace, I just hit play and I'm there.

I've got pretty diverse musical tastes so any music will do.

When I'm really into whatever I'm writing I'll put on my head phones but not put any music on. For some reason having my ears covered assists with concentration.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

That's funny - I find that about headphones too! I guess it's like horses and blinkers - or perhaps there's actually an acupuncturist reason for it.

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

I primarily listen to metal, American, Japanese and a few individual songs by a couple of German metal bands. Mixed into the play lists are pieces from the Crow soundtrack, some hard bass beat dance music and a bit of Japanese pop or techno. I tend to write fight scenes to the dance music segments. It suits my writing.

Classical music, which I have a large collection of on CD, tends to put me to sleep though it's what my mom listened to when she wrote.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Wow - can't imagine listening to dance, well done!

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

Musicovery! Wow! Metallica and Apocalyptica on the same listing, weeee! I shall have to use this. :D

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It's a good site - I can't access Pandora any more since they made it usa only, and I'm nervous of using Hotspot Sheild after my connection broke last time I used it.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Musicovery link! I am much more of a mood music person while writing than I am otherwise, so that looks really useful.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I've been guilty of playing pieces on repeat for some time when it helps me work on a particular sequence. Since I've been working on a story with a character who plays classical violin and viola and eventually ends up playing in a cajun/zydeco band (now there's a transition for you), the names of appropriate pieces have snuck right into the narrative. His lover thinks of him in terms of the Nutcracker Ballet's "Coffee" Music, which is never a bad way to be regarded! Evocative "music score like" music often helps. Dvorak's New World Symphony, yes, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Tchaichovsky, are all a little obvious, but they do set a mood. For more difficult work that takes concentration, I'll shift to Mozart and Bach. I used to play more Beethoven, but his stuff is a little too hot and angry for me these days (the Romantics with the crashing waves! The thunder! The storms! yada yada yada oh God please calm down and shut uuuup.) That said, I also listen to some newer stuff from high school years, and more recently jazz radio.