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Post by Stacy on Sept 16, 2009 19:21:58 GMT -5
Yeah, so I've already posted this on Boolprop and GoS. What'cha gonna do? I want to write words that soar and fall and are soft and loud and that open the world up wide so that there is no you, there is only the sound and the universe and existence and being alive. I want primitive driving bass and complex harmonies. I want lingering slow melodies and hard and fast and throbbing electric guitar. I want my blood to sing with the words I write. That is why I am obsessed with Valley mood music and what songs my characters would like. That's why I'm always playing my YouTube music video playlist in the background while writing Valley. That's why I drive around at work all day listening to Valley music on the radio. My lifetime wish is to write prose the way Beethoven wrote music. So, I was wondering - what do you listen to while you write? What music inspires you? Here's links to the two Sims 2 movies that I listen to quite a bit while working on Valley. Shadow DanceEat Me Drink MeI think that OneJovialSim and I would be great friends. Oh, and I was beating myself up the other day because not every sentence sounds like this. Ode to JoyBut then I had a bit of an epiphany. A word is but a note, a sentence but a line. It is the whole that is the symphony.
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Post by Monday Morning on Sept 17, 2009 0:03:49 GMT -5
I listen to really mellow, chill music. My tastes are so varied that it would make your head spin. But, I'd have to say, that when I write, I tend to gravitate toward a certain genre of music depending on the type of story I'm writing. Right now, with RT, I listen to my personalized "radio" station over at Pandora.com (cleverly titled Monday Morning!) which has artists like Bjork, Poe, Frou Frou, Mila Jovavich, and so on. The music is really relaxing, but funky at the same time. However, I have started my own playlist of sorts featuring music that best represent my characters. With any piece of music I listen to, I end up forming an entire story, or I picture a scene over and over again in my mind. Music takes shape and becomes alive, and the end result are stories like Runaway Train. I don't know why, but for Clarissa I find that Avril Lavigne fits her best, while bass-heavy, electronica-driven music like Android Lust or NIN fit Tam. It just depends on the character. I find a song I like and can picture in my mind, and it becomes someone I can mold and bring life to. Claude (and his forthcoming brother, Hank) were based off of the theme song from TrueBlood. It just depends on where the music is leading me, and whether I choose to see.
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Post by Stacy on Sept 24, 2009 22:28:08 GMT -5
I looked at your list and I was surprised by the Rex song. Very interesting. So I came up with a character playlist. Seth Songs Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (come on, just listen to the last verse) Ballroom Blitz - Sweet (he likes the line "The man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom blitz." Sympathy for the Devil - Rolling Stones (duh) Firestarter - Prodigy (again, duh) Smack My Bitch Up - Prodigy (it's awful and wrong but it fits) Sarah Songs Yeah, there's a part with Sarah coming up so I've been getting to know her lately. #1 Crush - Garbage River of Deceit - Mad Season Jason Songs Lillian, Egypt - Josh Ritter (I originally thought this was a Lilith song, but no - it's a Jason song. Just listen to it and you'll see.) One - U2 (the definitive Jason song) To You I Bestow - Mundy (just a sweet little song that I think he'd like) Wonderwall - Oasis (this one is maybe more of a Lilith and Jason song) Lilith/Valley Songs Eat Me Drink Me - Marilyn Manson (I consider it more of a general Valley theme song really but it's so easy to write Lilith with it playing in the background - but then to some extent Lilith is Valley.) Mysterious Ways - U2 ("she's the wave, she'll turn the tide") Angry Johnny - Poe Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead (maybe)
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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 25, 2009 1:51:58 GMT -5
Will I sound totally uneducated if I say I haven't heard of those songs? I don't listen to much music these days.
I listen to mostly instrumental pieces from Newgrounds.com - they're all atmospheric and different and moody. I also listen to the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack and Clannand (a celtic band).
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Post by raquelaroden on Sept 25, 2009 5:38:57 GMT -5
Musical tastes very so widely that it isn't surprising that some are unfamiliar. So many of my friends will talk about bands they like, and I have no idea who they're talking about.
I can't believe at least two other people on this forum even know Poe! I thought my husband and I were the only ones who listened to Poe.
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Post by Stacy on Sept 25, 2009 23:02:26 GMT -5
No - personally I think my list sounds uneducated because for the most part it's mass market stuff. In my defense, I grew up in a town where there were only two places to get music - Wal-Mart and the record store in the mall. And then the mall store shut down. It also shows my age - lots of 90s alternative stuff there.
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Post by girlyesterday on Sept 26, 2009 0:50:35 GMT -5
My husband and I listen to a lot of 80's music. I don't listen to them for writing of course (lyrics distract me for some bizarre reason) but when I want to listen to a CD, I usually pop in one of those 80's mix CDs. That or ABBA. I am so not with the times.
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Post by raquelaroden on Sept 26, 2009 7:26:01 GMT -5
I love 80s music and ABBA. Blondie, Billy Idol, Joan Jett.... Awesome.
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Post by Monday Morning on Sept 26, 2009 10:31:21 GMT -5
I try to listen to certain types of music that fit with the story I'm trying to write. My horror stories usually get my mixed cd that has artists like The Cruxshadows, AFI, A Perfect Circle, Bush, Splashdown, Kidney Thieves, David Bowie, Deftones, and some Ram Jam, Gorillas, and Chemical Brothers tossed in just for kicks. I had a hard time finding a good song for Rex. I was trying to find some "mob-boss"-esque music and didn't think any of the old Sinatra and other artists like him, fit. I happened to be listening to APC's first cd, Mer de Noms, when "Magdalena" came on and when I was able to, I looked up the lyrics. I thought it fit once I really read the lyrics, as it reminds me that Rex would do anything for power, even if he sold his soul to get it. I haven't wanted to venture down this road yet, but sometimes I wonder if Rex has more feelings for Clarissa than he's let on. Perhaps it's a love/hate relationship between the two--I'm just not sure. But even if that happens, and Rex does feel something more for Clarissa, then I think "Magdalena" would still fit. Edited to add: I just wanted to say that I if I'm writing fantasy, I usually listen to my middle eastern music, and if it's a faery piece, then my celtic music. Solace (Jeremiah Soto) tends to be my pick for fantasy pieces, and faery music by Gary Stadler, or the great Lifescapes cds (found at Target) are my music of choice for faeries.
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