One of the things I’m almost always doing while writing is listening to music. I love to listen to music while I write, so unless there’s something directly preventing me from putting on my headphones, you can bet I’m rocking out while typing.
Well, kinda. The type of music I play largely depends on my mood, but I do have an affinity for dramatic orchestral soundtracks from epic movies. Here are a few of the songs that are on my “Writing” playlist, and get a lot of airtime on my iPod:
John Murphy – “Surface of the Sun” (Sunshine OST)
A beautiful song perfect for writing sad scenes and conveying emotion through writing. This song is just so moving.
Hans Zimmer – “528491″ (Inception OST)
This song. I don’t even know what I use it for. Every time it comes up on shuffle I hit REPEAT and just listen to it until I get interrupted in my writing.
Jalan Jalan – “Lotus” (Dragonhunters OST)
This song is very relaxing. I love using it when writing calm passages.
Apocalyptica – “Until it Sleeps”
This song is also pretty powerful and moving, and I love it for harsher, more intense scenes.
Hans Zimmer – “A Fire Will Rise” (The Dark Knight Rises OST)
It’s just epic. Also, the picture is cool (not that that matters much when I’m writing).
Hans Zimmer – “Time” (Inception OST)
This is perfect for really dramatic scenes. The slow but super-heavy kind that evoke tremendous emotion.
Clint Mansell – “Death is the Road to Awe” (The Fountain OST)
This song. I don’t even know what to say. It is my all-time favorites. It is so incredibly beautiful. The last minute or so is entirely overwhelming (at least for me). I don’t use this for specific scenes so much as I use it to feel incredibly epic. Simply put: I want my books to feel how this song sounds. It inspires me like nothing else.
So basically, whenever you’re reading a story on this site (or reading one of our books–something you will be able to do in the near future!), remember that I was probably listening to one of the seven songs posted above. In fact, it would probably be pretty cool to listen to some of this music while reading…there’s a thought: Maybe I should start embedding a music player for theme music to go with each story! 
How about you? How do you write? Do you have specific music you listen to when writing–or reading? Share your favorite reading/writing/creating music in the comments below!
