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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Author Insight: Are you ready to rock!?

Music or silence when you write? Do you
develop playlists for your books?

"I listen to music before and after I write, but never while I'm writing. My share of Beautiful Creatures was written to my personal soundtrack of: Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard (lots of Southern rock), the Smiths & the Cure. When I'm actually writing, I need complete silence because I hear the characters' voices in my head. It's almost as if I'm watching the story play out, and I'm just writing down what I see. Margie and I listen to very different music while we write. So we don't have playlists for the books themselves, but there are character playlists on our website." - Kami Garcia, co-author of Beautiful Creatures.


"Each character has a song or short playlist, the book has a playlist. The playlist for The Near Witch is up here." - Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch.


 
"Neither. And I don’t have a playlist for my book, unless you count my son’s music blasting from his room. Music while I’m writing is kind of distracting, especially if it’s music I like. But it doesn’t have to quiet either. I have three kids, so chaos is the name of the game. I can write with the TV in the background, the kids arguing, and a houseful of nine-year-olds." - Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder. 

"No playlists. Gotta be quiet. My husband (that angel) built me an office out in our detached garage so I could have a room of one’s own where nobody was hollering 'Mom!'" - Rhonda Hayter, author of The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams.



"Music!!!! Some of the playlists for each book are on my website. But the best thing about them -- I don't make them; my husband does." - Swati Avashti, author of Split.


"Silence! If there's music or TV on in the background, I just can't get my thoughts together for writing. (It's either too distracting or too calming.) I usually have a set of songs I listen to when I'm not actually writing, though, whether they remind me of the book somehow or are just what I happen to be into at the moment. " - Chelsea Campbell, author of The Rise of Renegade X.


 
"I have a playlist for the book, made for me by our friend Kasson Crooker of Splashdown, Freezepop, and Symbion Project. I have it up on my website, http://www.hollycupala.com./ I listened to it all the time when I was working on the book, and later I realized how many of the themes of the book tied in with the songs without me even realizing it! " - Holly Cupala, author of Tell Me A Secret.

 

"Either and both depending on the project. I develop playlists for my characters first, then for the book if I have time later." - Shannon Delany, author of 13 to Life: A Werewolf's Tale.
"Music. And honestly, my playlists develop into books." - Lisa Desrochers, author of Personal Demons.

"I definitely write in silence. Music influences me too strongly; if I’m listening to upbeat music, my writing suddenly gets pathologically energetic (exclamation points everywhere!) whereas if I’m listening to something sad, it suddenly begins to resemble a bad Hallmark card. But I definitely develop certain songs that can evoke a character for me; it helps me enter into that person’s head. I think I’ve given all of my main characters a kind of theme song, actually." - Lauren Oliver, author of Before I Fall.




"Music. Playlists are a must-have. Pandora is a great way to discover new music when I need it." - Tiffany Trent, author of the Hallowmere series.


"Silence preferred, but I have no problem writing in a crowded place or if someone else's music is playing. I did develop a “soundtrack” (mostly 90s music) for one book that hasn't been published yet. They are all song I imagine playing in the background if the book were a movie." - Alexandra Diaz, author of Of All the Stupid Things.


"Usually silence. Occasionally music, but the music I choose at those times is pretty random." - Leah Cypess, author of Mistwood.


"Absolute silence, so I can hear my characters talk." - Amy Brecount White, author of Forget-Her-Nots.


"Just the buzz of my trusty space heater. I don't listen to music when I write or create playlists, but I do hope once Losing Faith is out that others will make playlists to go with the book. I think that would be a lot of fun." - Denise Jaden, author of Losing Faith.

"I am all about music. I always make playlists for a first draft, and I'll usually just listen to one song on repeat for revising, and switch to another if I get bored. My iTunes informs me that when I was revising The Replacement, I listened to 'Heart Attack' by Low vs. Diamond 456 times in one week!" - Brenna Yovanoff, author of The Replacement.

Come back Thursday to find out whether the rest of the authors need music or silence whe they write.

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