fresh coat of paint, ready to go

Ok, so I have now taken my old blog and officially made it into my new blog! There are a few Magic District cross-posts here just to get things a tad more up-to-date, but that's not going to happen after today.

So, now that's out, what is on this blog? Fun stuff, hopefully. Starting with tonight's topic: writing to music.

When I wrote my first novel (the one I never sold that came before The Spirit Thief), I listened to the Amelie soundtrack on constant repeat. Looking back, I don't really know why. The songs didn't match the novel at all. Music was just always something I had on whenever I was at my computer, and the Amelie soundtrack, being mostly instrumental, was safe and easy to zone out to. Now I can't hear any of the songs without immediately going back to the world of my first novel, which is both cool and kind of sad, because I would love to be able to watch Amelie again without being reminded of the book I never sold.

I had several flubbed starts at novels before finally settling in to write what became the Spirit Thief, and it was during these that I learned not to be afraid of silence. There's something hypnotic about the clicking of keys and nothing else. But I felt I should have something, so I tried relaxation music, chill techno, even those cheap-o CDs with forest sounds (which are creepy as shit when you leave them on repeat in a room and forget they're going). But the more I wrote, the more I realized that music was a distraction until, eventually, I phased it out all together. Now, I can't have anything on while I'm writing or I get horribly distracted. This is weird, because I can write in a crowded coffee shop or library no problem, but music at home? Forget it.

I feel like a real weirdo about this, though, since I know lots of authors love music to help set the mood when they write, even going so far as to make playlists for their characters. I just never got into that part of character development. Still, I respect those people who can write with music. Though I maintain that nothing is better than hearing your characters voices in your head and nothing else. That is the best music of all.

I'm curious though, if you're a writer, do you work with music on or not?