Today, for the #100DaysofWriting, I want to begin to talk about a thing which has been more influential in my writing than literally anything else. More than other peoples writing; more than a comment or a blinding moment of clarity; it spurs me on more readily and gives me some of the best ideas that I've had.
That thing is music.
Music has permeated my life in such a way that I really can't remember my life without it. It is my unrequited first crush, my unobtainable ideal, and in the immortal words of CSS, "music is my hot, hot sex."
But here's the thing - I'm not a musician in any way shape or form. I can sing a bit, but I wrecked my voice pretty well in punk and metal bands as a teenager (not like, surgery-bad or anything, but bad enough that I'm self-conscious when I sing now, and I can't hold a note like I used to), and I've never been able to play an instrument. And to be honest, I'm a much better audience than I would ever be as a musician. Because I listen.
Now we come to writing. I think that the whole thing about 'writers as readers' is absolutely fair and an excellent point - I also think it's boring as hell to assert that. Because so many things are more than how things read, right? If you never listen to the way that different people use the cadence of speech when they talk, then you never really get dialogue that has interesting natural-seeming hitches and flow to it.
Listening is, in my opinion, just as important as reading to writers, not just for the obvious speech-to-text thing either. I really believe in sensory detail in writing - bring your reader with you in terms of how the room smells, what it sounds like, how the spaces around us breathe and live and age and die. Being in the moment like that is something that I've found being a music fan has really helped with.
Whether you're at a live performance or listening to something in your headphones, you have to be in the moment to really hear all that's going on with music. Some music that's more true than others, but generally, you have to be pretty present for it to work its magic on you. Why not strive for that same 'in the moment-ness' with a written piece? Why not make your work as absolutely, comprehensively involving to the senses through the imagination of your reader that they truly feel that they're there? That to me, is part of how music has informed my writing process. There's more to say on it, but that's probably enough for one day.
That thing is music.
Music has permeated my life in such a way that I really can't remember my life without it. It is my unrequited first crush, my unobtainable ideal, and in the immortal words of CSS, "music is my hot, hot sex."
But here's the thing - I'm not a musician in any way shape or form. I can sing a bit, but I wrecked my voice pretty well in punk and metal bands as a teenager (not like, surgery-bad or anything, but bad enough that I'm self-conscious when I sing now, and I can't hold a note like I used to), and I've never been able to play an instrument. And to be honest, I'm a much better audience than I would ever be as a musician. Because I listen.
Now we come to writing. I think that the whole thing about 'writers as readers' is absolutely fair and an excellent point - I also think it's boring as hell to assert that. Because so many things are more than how things read, right? If you never listen to the way that different people use the cadence of speech when they talk, then you never really get dialogue that has interesting natural-seeming hitches and flow to it.
Listening is, in my opinion, just as important as reading to writers, not just for the obvious speech-to-text thing either. I really believe in sensory detail in writing - bring your reader with you in terms of how the room smells, what it sounds like, how the spaces around us breathe and live and age and die. Being in the moment like that is something that I've found being a music fan has really helped with.
Whether you're at a live performance or listening to something in your headphones, you have to be in the moment to really hear all that's going on with music. Some music that's more true than others, but generally, you have to be pretty present for it to work its magic on you. Why not strive for that same 'in the moment-ness' with a written piece? Why not make your work as absolutely, comprehensively involving to the senses through the imagination of your reader that they truly feel that they're there? That to me, is part of how music has informed my writing process. There's more to say on it, but that's probably enough for one day.