Welcome back to Motivational Monday! Hope you’ve been productive this week. 🙂
I was never one to play music when I did homework, as a kid. Rock and Roll was too distracting. You can’t very well sing along, while working out algebraic equations.
But now I use music when I write. It has to be just the instruments playing in the background, and no voices, but I find it really sets the mood for me. (I save the Rock and Roll for singing along in the car.)
When I’m writing a Stevie Coral Mystery, I play Native American flute music in the background–softly. When I’m writing Annie Malone, P.I. Suspense, I find the spicier musical score from Chocolat to be the ticket.
Each main character (and the world they live in) has a certain flavor, and it’s fun when you finally find it. Just putting on the appropriate CD gets me immediately in the mood to write about that character.
What does your main character like to listen to? Yes, this sounds a bit crazy, but then we are writers, making up worlds and people, so we’re already a bit off kilter, right? “Talk” to your character in your journal. Even before you put a word down about their story, you have to know something about them. Why not what music they like?
What’s the “flavor” of your book? Is it Native American? Gritty back street? Sarcastic and snappy? Funny? Romantic? Historic? Does your book take place in a foreign country, or does your character have an unusual ethnic background? There’s a music for that.
Listen to different music and find the one that speaks to you and your character. (And remember, make it instrumental, so you won’t be tempted to sing along.) You’ll be amazed at how it gets you into the writing mood.
Happy Reading, Writing and Listening to you all,
Jill-Ayn
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