Have you ever struggled to get ‘into’ your story? Not just getting ‘into’ sitting down and writing, but getting into the mood or subject matter of your story? What if you are working on a Vampire storyline but are in such a great mood you can’t get into the angst of your main character?
This has happened to me several times and I have found that music can help a great deal to get me into the right mood for a particular story or scene. Have you ever tried to match a story to a certain type of music? It really can work wonders. Especially if you can find a soundtrack from a movie that is similar to your story. I have such a variety of music in my library it is very difficult to figure out what I personally like to listen to during off hours.
The next time you are struggling to get on with writing your story maybe you just need to use some music to get into the right mood. Experiment with it a bit and see what happens.
Great idea, Victoria. Let me take it one step further. Read your story into a recording device and add music you think will fit. Then play it back and see if you need to make any changes. Maybe even play it back to a trusted friend or relative who can help you learn if there is any discordance between the words and the music. If there is, then you need to decide whether you chose the wrong music and the words are correct, or if what you want to convey is in the music but not in the words you used.
In 1974, one university English Literature professor, had us read “The Death of Ivan Illich” and write a term paper for a third of our final grade. My friend and I decided to go one step further. We pulled out a cassette tape recorder, a record player, and a set of classical music records. We then took turns reading the story into the tape recorder while different pieces of music played in the background. The actual paper explained our choices of music. Believe it or not, the professor didn’t even own a tape recorder and couldn’t find one to borrow (!) so she never did listen to our recording. But, from what we wrote, she gave us both an “A+”.
Thanks, Victoria, for reminding me of the power music has to convey emotion, action, and meaning. I have to add music to my writing toolbox.