Music plays an integral part of my writing process. It helps me fall deep into the scenes I’m writing, acts as a buffer between my thoughts and the world moving around me, and, a great deal of times, music helps me imagine new story or scene ideas.
But I remember with perfect clarity a time during my college career when my reliance on music was looked down upon by my creative writing teacher. Granted, he didn’t just look down his nose at me, but at any student who would use music as a tool to help them write. Once, when a student explained their poem had lyrics to a song woven through it, he went on a 10-minute rant about how it was the wrong way to write.
I dreaded going to that class each week because I felt so shamed by that teacher. Now though… well, now I have to admit that I sort of… kind of… see the point he was trying to make. But boy, did he go about it the wrong way. What I believe my teacher’s point to be was:
Don’t let your writing be dictated by an outside factor… like music.
I understand this now because I’ve found myself caught in grueling states of “writer’s block” because I couldn’t find the right song to listen to. While writing Lycan Legacy, this happened to me often.
I taught myself to adapt. Because, while it’s great to have a dedicated space to write and to be conscious of what time of day you write best—I’m all for setting yourself up for success—you should be able to adapt and write anywhere.
If I’m being completely honest, I haven’t adapted fully. 💁What can I say? It’s a process.
I can say that I’m more comfortable and confident in losing myself in silence or the ambient noise of a café or my co-work space. I don’t need music to write, but I sure do love to have it.
My final thoughts:
There’s no right or wrong way to write. Every author has their own process that works for them, and we shouldn’t judge. We should take note and learn from each other so that when the day comes when we hit a writing dry spell—and we will—we can use their tips and tricks to get us out of it.
If you want to see what songs I listened to while writing my previous books head over to my YouTube Channel >>> Here.
xxx
Rebecca