Playlists are the secret sauce of both productivity and time-wasting when it comes to most people’s writing process. The right background music can drop you effortlessly into the world of your novel, and before you know it, the words just come flying out. Creating a writing playlist, on the other hand, can be a happy way to toil away many hundreds of hours, telling yourself you’re “working on your novel” without actually writing a word. As someone who almost never writes anything without very specific music playing, allow me to share a few pro tips for cutting down on a few of those hours, and getting a better playlist out of them anyway.
Use your old study playlists
A writing playlist is primarily there to help you focus. To that end, a lot of the music you listen to on a day-to-day basis probably isn’t going to cut it. If it makes you want to stop and sing along, it’s not going to help you write.
Guess what else has to have these characteristics? Study playlists.
Whether you were last in school 70 years ago or yesterday, if you have/had a favorite album, artist, or genre to listen to while you studied, now is a good time to revisit it. Trust me, your brain remembers that music, and the fact that you used to study to it. No matter how thoroughly you think you purged the memory of studying for exams from your memory, there is still a part of you that will find it easier to kick back into that gear when you listen to those songs again. This is a great opportunity to breathe some new, less-traumatic life into them by channeling that instinctive focus into your novel.
Harness the power of video game soundtracks
You know what else is specifically there to help you focus? Video game soundtracks! The background music in games is specifically designed to keep your mind engaged with whatever you’re doing as it plays. It’s usually instrumental and extremely cinematic, which are two qualities many people like in their writing music as well. Plus, there are just as many genres of video games as there are genres of books. Brainstorm or look up games that fall within your chosen genre, check out their soundtracks, and you’re sure to find something that fits the vibes of your project. If you’ve never played a video game before and have no idea where to start, Spotify has tons of playlists of game soundtracks for you to browse through. Here’s a good one to get you started. Throw it on shuffle and save anything that sounds like how you want your novel to feel.
Change your approach
A writing playlist doesn’t have to be just background music, and the need to focus doesn’t have to be quite so general. If you run across songs that remind you of a specific character, location, or scene, throw those on there too! You could even give them their own playlists if that suits your style.
Some people curate playlists not for individual novels, but for specific types of scenes. Honing in on the themes, tone, and genre tropes you’ll be working with is a good place to start if this is your preferred method. Focus the most on types of scenes you have the hardest time getting in the zone for. Maybe you need a chase scene playlist, or an angsty breakup playlist, or a The Council of Elders Meeting to Decide Whether to Sentence the Protagonist to Eternal Torment in the Fae Realm playlist. The benefit of this is that you can continue to use it for future novels, and you won’t end up like me with a million dead playlists I’m never going to listen to again. Spotify has a bunch of playlists that go this route which might help you. Search around and see what you can find. Here’s a cool one I found.
Try it out when you’re not writing
A good writing playlist drags you back into the world of your novel whenever you listen to it, no matter where you are, and doesn’t let you out until the last song ends. The best way to test this is to try listening to it when you’re not writing at all – driving and working out are my two favorite times to test writing playlists. If the playlist keeps you daydreaming and brainstorming about your story for your entire workout or commute, then you nailed it. Axe any songs that take you out of it or just don’t quite have the right vibes.
Honestly, this is probably the most useful thing I’ve ever figured out about playlists. I rarely figure out a song does or doesn’t belong on my writing playlist while I’m actually writing. If anyone can figure out why that is, please let me know – I’m as confused as you are. But in the meantime, seriously – try it. Your writing brain will thank you. It has enough on its plate already without managing your music selection for you too.
Happy writing!