Incorporating Music into Your Writing Process
Many of the best musicians are also incredible storytellers. After all, the craft, like creative writing, is descended from oral storytelling, predating anything written. Each song is like a short story or fleeting flash piece into the life of a character or subject. Poetry set to music. Time and again published authors have talked about how reading a variety of genres helps inform their own work. Music is just another genre in that regard, and one to add to your reading list. But how can the music you listen to speak to your writing, and how can we use melody and rhythm to our advantage?
Read Albums like Anthologies
Albums are often set up like novels, with carefully ordered “chapters” (tracks) that guide the listener along the beginning, middle, and end of a journey. Especially now with the consistent influx of concept albums, there’s even more to piece apart. Try reading through the lyrics of one of your favorite albums from beginning to end. What are the similarities between the songwriting and your own writing? How does the artist use line breaking and rhythm to drive their images? These questions are essential to see how you can use some of that technique in your own writing.
Many musicians are releasing print books of their lyrics, accompanied by the stories behind the songs. If you want something physical that you can mark up, piece apart, and have handy, go for it! However, reputable lyric sites and some streaming services will also provide lyrics for free.
Say it…out loud
Yes, read the song out loud. It sounds weird and it’ll feel weird, but trust me on this one. Poetry is meant to be said out loud, as songs are meant to be sung. Because, like Shakespeare with his precious iambs, songs are all about rhythm! Adding something similar to your own writing can help improve flow, give you more control with pacing, and add intrigue to the way your sentences are set up. When speaking it (with or without the instrumental, dealer’s choice), notice the words that are accented, how each phrase flows with the instrumental, and how the rhythm of the lyrics speaks to the story that the artist is unfolding. After speaking it a couple times, look at a piece you’ve written and try to incorporate some of what you heard. Now read your own piece out loud. How have these changes shifted it in terms of flow? What images are now coming out that were hidden in the background? That’s another beautiful thing about this exercise: it helps uncover the pieces that beg to come to light.
Writing to Music
It’s kind of an obvious one, but let’s dig into this idea more. Taking the time to curate a playlist can help your piece immensely in the end. One way to do that is like so: imagine the scene you’re writing is projected out in front of you, playing like a film, and take a vibe check. What are your characters doing and feeling? What is the atmosphere of this moment, emotionally-speaking—fearful, joyful, grief-heavy? Tap into these emotions and how they flood the space you’ve written, then think about how they match with a song you’ve heard.
If it does, try writing that scene solely to the matching song. No stopping, just a complete stream of consciousness, allowing your words to match the rhythm of the song that’s playing. Where do moments in the song inform a pause, a line or paragraph break? Where does it ask for exclamation and where does it want whispers? When the song is over, look over what you’ve written. How has the song been threaded into your work? Can you detect the melody in your words? See if you can find how it’s impacted the way your piece reads and how your characters’ feelings are represented.
If you don’t have a song in mind, think about the genre of music that would best suit this scene—cinematic, bright and bubbly, elegiac—and search for a playlist. YouTube has millions of free playlists that are perfect for curating a vibe! One of the most pivotal things I’ve done for my writing is incorporating TV show and film score music into writing playlists, or wholly listening to soundtracks. It’s in that genre’s nature to accent a scene, to set atmosphere, tone, and character for a story. Just as it helps myself and others to get immersed in a film or tv show, it helps immerse me in the world of my project. For example, my current project is a folklore-based novel which requires music that’s whimsical, strange, and wildly cinematic, so I’ve been listening to The Witcher score on repeat (a fantastic score, highly recommended). Finding a show or movie you love that has similarities to the piece you're writing can be a gateway into a whole new world of musical inspiration.
Whether you listen to music while you write or not, it is up to you. But never forget, a song is a story, and it can ignite inspiration. Something to ponder next time you pull up your playlists.
