It was listening to screenwriter James Moran last year at
a conference that I first came across the idea of creating playlists to aid the
writing process. It was one of those
so-blindingly-obvious-why-have-I-never-thought-of-it-before moments.
There are mountains of articles and studies about how music affects our brains and emotions, and how it can aid creativity.
And films have soundtracks. Lots of TV programmes too. The right piece of music at the right moment can
take a drama to a whole new level. While it's obvious that you add music to improve something after it's been written/filmed, using it to inspire the process had never occurred to me, even though I was aware of songs that had already triggered feelings and ideas for my book.
I guess
there are two key reasons why I hadn’t thought of it before. The first, and most important, is that I need
quiet in order to write!! If music is
playing while I’m trying to concentrate then I just can’t. I’m so interested in lyrics that my ears pull
my brain away from the task in hand – I want to listen to them and figure out
what they mean, what they’re saying. There’s no spare mental capacity left to write
at that point ;-)
The second reason is that it seems kinda arrogant to
create your own playlist, to take on a highly responsible and influential
creative media role that you’re not officially qualified for and choose the
soundtrack for your own movie/book/programme.
But do you know what? That’s why
it’s such a flipping marvellous idea!!!
Writers have no control over how the industry will
respond to their work. Will the script
(for film or TV) be made? Will the book
be published? Could it subsequently be
made into a film? Even if the answer to
all those questions is “yes”, it’s unlikely that anyone’s ever gonna ask the writer
for their input with the soundtrack.
But all is not lost! We can, at the very least, have a bit of fun
and put together our own soundtrack. We
can pretend we have a level of control and influence. We can choose whatever we like, whatever
inspires us, and not have to consider how the target audience might feel about it. We can select the artists of our own
choosing, regardless of whether or not we could ever afford them or have the
clout to commission them to write something to accompany our work.
James Moran has extensive playlists for everything he
writes (70 songs in just one playlist he says in step 5 if you go to the blog link - it's a very long post, be warned), as well as extra playlists to psyche him up for meetings and other
stuff. He’s definitely much more into
his music than I am!
But I have found it useful to tinker around a bit in
Spotify and throw a few songs that capture the feeling of my book into a
playlist. To be honest, there’s one key
song in there that encapsulates the story and the emotions of the book almost
entirely. A playlist of one song is a
bit sad though, so I’ve included a few more for a bit of additional variety and
depth. And it’s always just plain fun to collect
together things you like.
I can’t, and therefore don’t, listen to the playlist
while I’m writing. But I do put it on now
and again to remind myself – mentally and emotionally - of where I want to go
with the story in the future and to measure what I’ve written recently against
that. It helps me to “feel” the story,
if that makes any sense.
Soundtracks can also help with writer’s block, as Lucy
Christopher told us last year on the Arvon course. When she was really stuck with “The Killing
Woods”, as well as walking more in her nearby woods (which provide its setting
and inspiration), she got musician friends of hers to write some songs
capturing the feel of the story. Their
music helped her push through and complete the book.
I’m not scientific.
I have no understanding of exactly how music can affect our minds and
emotions so strongly. But I know that it
does. I also know that listening to
music is highly pleasurable. AND I know
that writers need all the help they can get to push through and write their
stories. So playlists in my writing life
are here to stay!
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