Playlists for Authors

How Music Can Help You Write

Music has a massive impact on our lives. It can offer comfort in times of sorrow or bring forth those stubborn tears we need to shed (*looking at you, Evanescence with your My Immortal). But I challenge you not to tap your feet and feel cheerier at Mr Blue Sky by ELO! Music can echo our mood or even change it.

Music is with us at the beginning, middle and end of our lives (and everywhere in between). We choose songs for baby showers, birthday parties, weddings and funerals. As romantic couples, we may have ‘our song’. Churches utilise it as much as our homes. Even shops harness its power and pipe it to us whilst we browse, encouraging us to buy more.

So, with this in mind, as writers, we can allow it to influence our writing. Whilst writing my Love Bites fantasy romance books, I listened to a lot of Enya, particularly when my characters were in the fae realm. I find it really helps give me a sense of atmosphere to listen whilst typing. And, the character named Shakira dances to Whenever, Wherever during a party in the story.

But when writing my medieval romance books, I listened to a lot of lute and folk music. For me, the more instrumental the better, to avoid becoming distracted and singing along instead of writing.

Gregorian chants were playing in the background whilst I wrote Love Habit – some of those even appeared in the book itself. Music holds great power…

Paul falls in love as he hears Luke singing in church:

“I sat to watch. And I thanked God for the seat as the purest tenor notes I ever heard came out of Luke’s mouth. It is no exaggeration to say that in that moment a beam of sunlight found its way through parted clouds and shone through the window, directly upon this angel on Earth. My heart and soul melted and reformed in the shape of his song.”

But then this also happens in a rare moment alone in the orchard:

“Leaving me to regain my composure, he stood afore me and began skipping in place. Matching his measure, I whistled a lively melody whilst he danced a saltarello. The majestic deer of the forest could not outmatch the elegance of his leaps. Daylight beamed upon his golden head. The rays of a thousand suns shone from his eyes. And his laughter was akin to an angelic chorus of bells as it chimed through the air between us. And my breath was once more stolen from me.”

btw my Youtube medieval playlist can be found by clicking here.

Or, if you really want a chuckle, I dressed up and played Sumer is Icumen In on my flute (and overlayed it with a secondary track of me). It’s for fun, so I ask you don’t judge my bad playing too harshly. I do love that lively tune aka The Cuckoo Song - if you find the lyrics, they’ll probably give you a smile too.

Word of caution: do NOT quote song lyrics in books without the express permission of the copyright owner - legal action can and does ensue!

However, you can use song titles and give hints as to what they’re about. Just mentioning songs can lend the right atmosphere to a story. But can date a book pretty quickly too, so be mindful how you use them.

It became a trend a while ago, maybe less so now, to share the playlist of songs mentioned in books (see above image for one of my contemporary romance examples).

Some use this in social media posts, and some actually pop the list in their book’s front/back matter. I’ve even heard some authors create a Spotify playlist (other music streaming services are available), compiled of tracks mentioned. Fun!

Don’t forget – if you stumble across a Ponder Point (formerly known as writer’s block), you can use music to ease your mind.

At the end of the day, when you consider its significance in our lives, it just makes sense to flavour our books with some music, doesn’t it?

So, there you go: use music to help you whilst you create, and/or use it to flavour scenes within your story.

Always in love and light,

TL