Operation: Kill The Silence

It has to be said that I can write in anything BUT silence.  I can write with a TV going, music in the background, a group of people talking and my two cats running about, all at once.  I love sound and I love atmosphere, so it is no surprise that I turn to a music application like Spotify or Pandora to fill in the silence and write.  For this novel, I have taken to putting ear phones in and drowning out the world, if only to help narrow my focus and keep me from deciding that a couple hours of Pinterest is a good idea. 

My Pandora station for this book is quite the mix.  I have anything from Mumford and Sons, Bastille, Imagine Dragons, Bon Iver, xXx, Hozier, The Lumineers, Adele and Lana Del Ray and whatever else the station recommends.  Do they have some things in common?  Sure.  Do some influence a scene more than others?  Of course.  In fact, this playlist has been instrumental in the tonal quality of many of my favorite scenes that I have written.  I think that’s why so many authors turn to a playlist.

We, as humans, gravitate toward sound.  We might not admit it but our radio station or the music we have playing affects our moods in ways that we are not always aware of and as authors, we have to become aware of.  We have to know that when we put on a song that whatever we are writing will somehow have those tones within it, helping to paint a fuller picture.  That’s why it is so important to chose a writing atmosphere that works with what you’re writing, in my opinion at least.

That said…  I cannot write in silence.  I can do absolutely nothing in silence.  I hate it.  I have written many a poem about it and how horrible and tense I find silence.  Of course I would write with a playlist…if nothing else than to kill the silence.