Music and Writing

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I'll be the first person to admit that, for an aspiring author, I'm not the most creative person out there. Many authors (and other people who find themselves involved in creative fields) really enjoy doing art in other veins. For example, many authors write musical sound tracks for their books or do some of their own artwork.

Other than taking piano lessons for several years and playing the flute in high school, I can't say I've been all that creative. Once my piano lessons got to the point where I was expected to start putting chords to the music, I hit a wall. Ask me to draw something and you'll get the definition of an incredulous look in return. Want me to come up with a creative idea? My mind turns into a blank sheet of paper and I can't seem to find the pens, pencils, or crayons.

So as far as creating things, I'm a bit of a dud. Honestly, some days I don't know how I get story ideas (and a lot of days I fear I'll never get a good idea to write about again).

But that doesn't mean that creative disciplines, such as music, don't impact me. On the contrary, I can hardly write unless I have some jam going.

If I'm writing a placid scene, I tend to select some classical music. For upbeat, happy scenes, I have a whole playlist of Irish jigs (those also work if I just need to type really fast). Battle scene? Time for some movie soundtracks or  rock. (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Marvel for the former; for the latter, Styx, Journey, Skillet, and Bon Jovi, to name a few).

Sometimes music just provides a steady rhythm for my fingers to tap out as I type. Other times, it provides some inspiration or helps me to conjure up more emotion for a difficult scene.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what's your favorite genre or author? Why/how does it help you?