Poker Face Writing

There's a time and a place for different types of music. This is especially true for writing.One of the challenges to writing in a coffee shop is the music selection. If this is your writing space, then you learn to deal with it. The most obvious way is plugging in a blaring set of earbuds. But what's a good idea to listen to while writing?

It All Depends on What You're Writing

Some songs to avoid from my list own playlist as I write:

• Poker Face - Lady Gaga
• Raise Your Glass - P!nk
• Just Dance - Lady Gaga

Each time one of these songs came on, all productivity ceased. I love these songs, but they completely derailed my train of thought.

Dance music will usually lead to one thing--clubbing scenes. If that's what  you're writing, then have at it. Otherwise, you're making life REALLY hard on yourself. This is only one step up from listening to the radio in Dunkin Donuts.

If you're writing lyrics, listening to anything WITH lyrics is going to mess you up too. Last week I gave lyric writing a try with a general playlist on my iPod. I realized what kind of problem this was when I started trying to rhyme with what I was hearing. It didn't change the subject I was writing, but when you realize you've just written something to rhyme with "astronaut" it's time to switch to instrumental. One really cool instrumental group is Two Steps From Hell. A lot of their pieces sound like epic movie trailer music. (I have the Archangel album from iTunes.)

For those of you working on a long piece of writing such as a novel, I highly recommend putting together a playlist specifically for that book. Songs that speak of the characters and their motivations or the atmosphere of the story or location will help your consistency when writing those characters and atmospheres. My husband has a playlist of songs that would fit in a post apocalyptic movie to help inspire him as he writes his book in a similar genre. I've even talked to other writers who have playlists for each character and scenes.

Whether you're working on a blog or your first novel, pay attention to what you're listening to when you write. Notice how it influences you're writing. Is it helping? Is it grinding you to a hault? Is this something you could see playing in the background during a scene? Make sure to jot it down when you find a song that's significant to your pieces. It'll help you pick up the scene again if you need to go back to it. And it wouldn't hurt to have another layer of media to add to your story.