I Must Play You The Song Of My People

Many of you played (or perhaps play) music while studying as a means to help tune out extraneous noise and better focus on what you’re doing.

Did you know you could use that same music to help improve your writing?

It’s easy. Pick a song you like to jam out to and look at its key parts: there’s a beginning, middle, and end, right? In general songs start, build in a hook, build to a crescendo and then ends on a satisfying note. Sounds like a good recipe for having a satisfying scene or chapter doesn’t it?

This is actually a trick I use a lot while writing. That’s right, dear reader, you can now make that favorite song of yours your novel’s personalized soundtrack!

If you’re looking for inspiration look no further then this Konami Code of writing: let music carry you. Feel the emotion and let them creative juices flow. Maybe you prefer an orchestral piece, or maybe you enjoy the dubstep. Perhaps it’s even a song in a language you don’t understand. (Think Andy Dufresne from Shawhank Redemption or, Volkhova’s Lullaby. What’s she saying? No idea. But it’s beautiful). Either way, music is the voice of the soul. And music, funnily enough, can be notated.

And don’t overthink it! If you’re struggling to direct the right tempo of highs and lows into your writing just set it it to the beat of your selected song. Let yourself play make believe as you listen, allow your characters to move with the music. Weave yourself a little mental dance and, once you have the steps, commit them to paper. It may not be perfect right off the bat, but it will certainly help capture the emotion of the scene (and will of course make the editing process a whole lot easier).

Creation begets creation, as they say. Since someone went through the effort of composing a song the least you can do is enjoy it. If you’re feeling particularly generous you can also let it inspire you to create something of your own.

After all, isn’t that one of the highest honors one Creative can bestow upon another?