Some writers listen to music for inspiration, when they're plotting or writing. I used to write in silence, but ever since I started writing more on my computer than in my notebooks, I've worked with a soundtrack.
It started in 2007, I think, when I was working on my story for National Novel Writing Month. Since I had to meet a quota of ~1700 words per day in order to reach the 50K-words-in-30-days goal, I needed motivation to keep going, and inspiration to help me focus. That story took place in London, circa 1997, so I populated a playlist with music from and inspired by that era. Yes, I popped some other great Britpop and Britrock in there, because my protagonist was a bit more of a classical rock and punk fan than his girlfriend, but the playlist started out as a slice of 1997.
For a story as long and involved as "1 More Chance!" - with romantic, dramatic, sexy, exciting, and just plain happy scenes - I have several playlists that I go back to.
The most obvious one is the Persona 4 soundtrack, of course. I use that when I'm on my commute, since I usually take that time to work out plot and conversations and events in my head. It's like a moving brainstorming session. I use the Drama CDs for the same purpose, though that's usually to get in the right frame of mind to write everyone's voices properly.
The easygoing, friendship pieces are probably the easiest to write, so I generally just stick in whatever music strikes my fancy at the moment. Usually, that's something upbeat, fast, or rocky/poppy, like Hamasaki Ayumi (especially if I'm writing something fun with Rise, as I really modeled her singing style after Ms. Hamasaki), Kanno Youko's Cowboy Bebop or Macross PLUS soundtracks, or The Killers (wow, that's random).
The fight scenes, which came later in the story, were a bit trickier. I built a specific playlist for those, with predominantly videogame soundtrack pieces to keep my brain pumping and to channel those swelling moments when a fight turns. The Final Fantasy soundtracks play a big part in this playlist, since I've got so many battle themes from which to choose. (Haha!)
When it comes to the romance and sex, though, it's nearly SCLL or Matryoshka all the way. The dreamy, flowy, melodic quality of both of these bands just lends itself to writing about those tender moments between two people. In fact, I told friends on my Last.fm page that if they see me playing lots of SCLL, that probably means I'm writing fluff-smut. :D
Drama usually requires some heavy prog-rock, and Coheed and Cambria gets put into heavy rotation for that one. Actually, a lot of Coheed's songs relate eerily closely to characters and events in Persona 4, as well as in my story. (If you're a Coheed fan and you don't know what I'm talking about, message me and I'll share my views, but it's too long to go into, here, as just a tangent.) Plus, the music is just my kind of thing. Perhaps not yours, of course, but at least I'm not telling you, "Listen to this track while you read this chapter." I'll listen to what I like, thanks. ;)
The one problem I've found with writing to music is that I sometimes rely too much on the ambience of the music for a scene. So I have to concentrate during editing without music, to make certain that the scene flows properly without the music. Because, as I said, I can't control what the reader is hearing when they're reading my story. This isn't the cinema.
I'm pulling together the end of Chapter 58 right now, and hopefully can have it ready to go by Wednesday. The story is getting decent hits so far this month already, but of course, nobody's saying anything. You don't have to leave reviews or send messages, of course, but if you've never done so, I urge you to let your favorite authors know that you're enjoying their story. If it's me, that's great; if it's not me, then at least make somebody else's day. Even if it's just to say, "Nice job!" That kind of support really means a lot to us.
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