Using Music to Spark Your Muse

Stuck staring at a blank page (or screen)? Feel like life has squeezed the creativity out of you? 

Believe it or not, the answer is in your iphone. Or wherever you store your favorite tunes. Music is a fab tool for overcoming writers block and fueling your imagination. 

Research shows that when people listen to music (especially songs they enjoy), their creativity and problem-solving abilities increase. Music can enhance abstract thinking and allow listeners to enter a mind-wandering mode, which is known to promote creative thought.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Listen to a wide variety of genres

This trick takes your brain down new, exciting pathways. Branch out from your standard playlist and try out a song that might usually make you cringe. If that cringe-worthy feeling is enough to send shudders down your spine, just think of the emotion it could elicit in your readers. 

You may also find yourself enjoying a whole new style of music, once you give it a chance. Use the new lyrics and beats as springboards for your imagination. Study the style and ask yourself why it works. What about this song made it good enough to be played on the radio? Studying the rhythms and ideas of a wide variety of music can help generate ideas in your own work. 

Use music as a writing prompt

This is a fun way to stir up those creative juices. Choose a song at random from your playlist (or alternatively, turn on the radio!). Think of one of your main characters. Then listen to a 10-30 second clip of the song, with that character in mind.

See what new images, conflicts, and inspiration arise when you link the character to the feelings or words of the song. Then do a timed free write. Why timed? Because pressure can really stimulate your imagination. But if pressure shuts you down, turn the timer off. Either way, you’ll have plenty to write about.

Play inspiring tracks in the background while you write

Inspiring doesn't necessarily mean uplifting. Instead, choose music that reflects the rhythm of the scene you are trying to write or that elicits the same emotion you intend to evoke. 

For instance, the soundtrack from Pirates of the Caribbean is great to listen to when you’re writing fight scenes. It’s quick-paced, intense, and laced with a sense of danger. On the other hand, Taylor Swift’s Love Story might inspire just the right emotions for a tender-sweet romance.

Do you listen to music when you write or use it for writing prompts? If so, share some of your fave writing tunes below!

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Let the music play

Music helps me write. There are those songs which put me right back into the tiny middle school gym with a bunch of my classmates, searching for the courage to ask a partner for a dance. I hear those songs and still wonder, did I look cool? Did I hold her hand right?

There are those songs that remind me of camping trips with my dad and brothers, where I can smell the bacon mingled with the campfire smoke and taste the sand, grinding into my teeth with the charred bacon. I remember the feeling of sleeping restlessly through a cold night only to spend most of the next day playing in a frigid river with ninety degree sun beating down.

Some songs take me back to my teaching and school counseling years. When I hear those, I remember the youth who came to me for advice, or who struggled through class, or who dealt with some situation at home or with peers.

Listening to music puts me in certain time periods, and also certain moods.

My mood and focus improve when I can listen to music. I must need some noise in the background to accompany my thoughts as they swirl into words on the page.

I discovered the value of a playlist on my iPod really improved my attention to my story and more importantly, the characters within.

I listened to a playlist when writing my recent middle grade novel. It helped me through first draft and through many rounds of revisions and edits. It is filled with an eclectic mix of songs which span four decades and include genres of rock (hard and soft), country, and praise and worship. I’ll go back to it I ever write a sequel.

For now, I’m creating a new playlist to accompany me and the cast of characters in my new secret project.

So, the next time you have trouble putting words to the page, consider letting music help you find a mood and voice for your characters.