A couple weekends ago I wrote two short stories. I plan on submitting one of them to a short story contest, but I'm not sure which. However, this post is not about those stories, it is about the songs the I listened to about fifty times while writing them.
First of all, I never listen to music while writing. Ever. Unless my mom happens to be listening to some classical music or jazz. But the music I listened to that weekend was country music, and it actually had words. I'm not sure how my brain managed to make it work, but it did. Quite well. It's bizarre. The first story I wrote is a ghost story. The song I listened to was Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood. The lyrics don't fit my story at all, but the mood felt right, and I listened to it over and over and over while writing. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I LIKE THIS SONG! It's horrible and sooo sad! And kinda pathetic. I truly don't understand. I hate sad songs. But this one makes my soul sing. I don't get it. The other story I wrote is about a rescue mission. The song I listened to over and over for it was Beer For My Horses by Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It's kind of a dumb song. But again, it fit the mood of my story. It's got the whole justice/catching bad guys thing in it. I can actually understand why I like this song. Ever since I was little I've been catching imaginary bad guys, so it makes sense that I like a song about catching bad guys. But it really is weird. I mean, beer for my horses? Seriously?
Whatever part of my brain caused me to be inspired by those two songs must be completely insane. At least I know that if I can get inspiration from Just a Dream, I can get inspiration from almost anywhere. Come to think of it, this is the second time I've been inspired by that song. The first time inspired a story where the romantic lead in my Lizzie Evans series dies. Don't worry, he wasn't really dead, just MIA. I'm not sure it's something I'll ever use, but I was inspired enough to write parts of that story down in my notebook. Go figure. The human brain is complicated, especially when it contains multiple realities.
Stupid songs are great food for great writing; they inspire you to not be like them.
ReplyDeleteI am currently listening to Dvorak's Serenade for Strings, but am not planning on writing anything more than comments and perhaps a blog post. Music while writing is a stupid move for me; it makes me listen to the music and not the writing, distracting me. Once I listened to music while reading a horrible book, which is a good thing to try; you're distracted by the music and don't really concentrate too hard on the book, so it flies by. But then every time you listen to the music, you remember the book, and end up never listening to the music again. *shrugs*
Good point! The same goes for stupid books and movies too.
ReplyDeleteI normally can't think when I listen to music. That day was some freak of nature. I think the music distracted my mind from any writer's block it may have experiencing, and the mood of the song kept me on the story I was writing. Or something like that.