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EVERYONE: What Do You Listen To While You Write/Draw?

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What music do you guys listen to to get those creative juices flowing, if at all? When I want to write for story, I pop in some Beatles, Johnny Cash, or Simon + Garfunkel on my Pandora. Or, y'know, Pachelbel's Canon in D doesn't hurt, either. But when I want to write fight scenes, I go a more heavier route with some Slayer and Lamb of God.
 
I have a playlist called "Normal Music" which is any music I possess in only english... then I have "Other" which is all Japanese/K-Pop/Anime Music I own. I listen to "Other" when I write since its easier to daydream than with english music.
 
I have a playlist called "Normal Music" which is any music I possess in only english... then I have "Other" which is all Japanese/K-Pop/Anime Music I own. I listen to "Other" when I write since its easier to daydream than with english music.

Admit it, you're making AMVs in your head with K-pop lol
 
Depends on what I'm trying to write.

For the current arc of Storm Island where the characters are stranded in the Chinese-influenced areas of Sakala, I tend to put on Chinese/Korean folk music to get myself immersed in the area. In the drama focused interludes centered around the SIPD/Team Rocket, I'll throw on some of the 24 soundtrack. For general wilderness chapters not set in Sakala, I'll put on some nature ambiance music, such as this. Furthermore when I get to the northern sections of Storm Island, Celtic folk music will be my music of choice.

When I was (still am?) writing Union City Angels, I had a habit of listening to the Hotline Miami 2 soundtrack as background noise.

I can not tolerate lyrical music while writing. I have a very bad tendency to focus on the lyrics which negatively impacts my writing.
 
Depends on what I'm trying to write.

For the current arc of Storm Island where the characters are stranded in the Chinese-influenced areas of Sakala, I tend to put on Chinese/Korean folk music to get myself immersed in the area. In the drama focused interludes centered around the SIPD/Team Rocket, I'll throw on some of the 24 soundtrack. For general wilderness chapters not set in Sakala, I'll put on some nature ambiance music, such as this. Furthermore when I get to the northern sections of Storm Island, Celtic folk music will be my music of choice.

When I was (still am?) writing Union City Angels, I had a habit of listening to the Hotline Miami 2 soundtrack as background noise.

I can not tolerate lyrical music while writing. I have a very bad tendency to focus on the lyrics which negatively impacts my writing.

When I want to make things more darker in my stories, I tend to listen to the Evangelion Rebuild OST, and now I'm trying listening to Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 
Lol don't worry, I do that, too. In fact, that's pretty much how I make most of my stories.
Its way easier to imagine with an AMV in my head, like how everything looks in the story... which is why I don't listen to those songs when I drive so I don't get sidetracked and crash xD
 
Its way easier to imagine with an AMV in my head, like how everything looks in the story... which is why I don't listen to those songs when I drive so I don't get sidetracked and crash xD

That's worse than texting and driving XD
 
I just put my music on shuffle and write, though sometimes I'll write without it. I don't necessarily find any certain music genre to have better writing-results than others, honestly, which is why I don't play a particular kind.

My music consists mostly of alternative and indie, I should add.
 
It really depends on what I feel like listening to, and whether it's in my iTunes library or not. If not, that's where YouTube comes in. Although I will admit that there's some music that I'm going to use as background music in chapter four of Yu-Gi-Oh! Gates of Time that's from something, and when writing the scenes those pieces are in, I'm gonna be listening to the respective piece. Bleep, the chapter's title is even the name of the first song (don't get your hopes up, 'cause I'm not revealing the chapter title until the Wednesday before I post it once it's done).
 
Truthfully, nothing. My biggest problem with music is that I get earworms very easily, which annoys the heck out of me. Heck, even a childish nursery rhyme song can get stuck in my head for days, which drives me mad (it's happened, lots of times in fact). Plus the fact that I need almost total silence to write without any problems, as background noise, especially something like the TV or music, easily gets mixed in and confuses me or disrupts my thinking process. Which is why I can't write when dad's home from work, as he watches TV a lot (with the added kick in the tailpipe of cranking the volume way up due to him being hard of hearing), as it throws me off completely.

I do, however, listen to music when brainstorming, though not all the time. But when I do, I usually listen to game music, as hearing lyrics oftentimes scrambles my ideas (admit it, video games have the best music, period), as it helps either soothe me or the rhythm gets the juices flowing. Or I'll listen to a song that doesn't have English lyrics, such as in Japanese. If I can't understand it, then it can't give me an earworm (plus, truth be told, I feel that some Japanese music is superior to English versions, with some exceptions). I know, it's rather weird, but that's the way my brain works. I just need a calmer setting in order to write fluidly, which my family certainly is not. But, obviously, I manage well enough. But that's how I work.
 
It often depends on the tone of the fic + what kind of scene I'm writing.

I've listened to a lot of JPop while planning out More Than Ribbons, mostly girl groups - it's helped me slip into the "shoujo story" mindset.

Quiet scenes, I listen to soft pop, and for fight scenes I'll put in my Utena soundtrack and skip to the more intense/dueling music.

Orrrr sometimes I'll just pop onto pandora and listen to local radio. =p
 
Depends on what I'm trying to write. I don't really want to listen to something that's super happy and bubbly when I'm trying to write something dark. If I'm listening to music while I write, it's usually something to put me in the mood.
 
I usually put on my tech death playlist when I write. I'm not entirely sure why death metal in particular helps me to write, but it does. Meshuggah especially is my go-to band when writing, as they're a very rhythmic metal as opposed to melodic, and it sort of gets my writing mindset going.
 
I've made a playlist with the theme, and some other, songs of Pokémon, and listen to them, both Japanese openings as English. I have made another playlist with remixes, which mostly GlitchXCity remixes, I can highly recommand them. Than there is my 'Favorite' list, with songs as 'Prophets', 'Payphone' and 'Give me a Sign', they are songs I have listened to for a long, or short in some cases, times, and I have grown attached to.
 
Depends on the story.
"Siam only knows"; Creepypastas
"Fashion and Fyre"; Epic music mixes
"Desolate Unova"; Horrorcore & Minecraft build tutorials.
 
Pokemon game soundtracks on a loop. Depending on the scene or location I'll change it up. So if it's a battle, it'll be battle music. If I'm doing a scene in a particular city then I'll listen to the soundtrack of that city.
 
Lots and lots of Celtic music for fantasy and storytelling scenes, or low key scenes

New retro wave/Idolmaster/80's and 90's pop and cartoon themes for the present day

RPG battle themes for fight scenes (anything from Fairy Tail also helps--the anime itself is meh, but the music is really good.)
 
@LightningTopaz That's so true about Fairy Tail. I've come to hate the anime, but the music is actually really good. Thanks for reminding me.
 
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