Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Silence Golden for Writers?

A recent article stated that given the choice, most writers prefer silence while they write. A quote, I believe, was something like “My music is silence” or something like that.

Now, I understand that music can be distracting when trying to concentrate on certain things, but it is a must when I write. Hell, my first book was written while I played the soundtrack to Daredevil, over and over again. I don’t really think that affects my writing. I crave the added noise. I don’t know why, but I find silence can be more distracting than some other constant background noise. And certain music can help put me in the mood to write a particularly challenging scene.

Although, truthfully, I usually become absorbed in the writing so that I don’t even hear the music anymore. It’s just a noise in the background that I do not focus on. It is there, but generally tends not to pull my attention. Music was more distracting when I was trying to do my homework more so than when I try to write.

Really, I am sure, it comes down to the individual. Some people are more comfortable with silence, while silence just creeps other people out. I fall into the latter category.

1 comment:

  1. nope. gotta have music. loud music. depends on the scene i'm writing as to what i might pick out, but mostly i just turn on my playlist and go from there.

    speaking of: whoo! my fanfic finally cracked 100 pages the other night! i... i dunno if that's something to be proud of, or ashamed of. what i do know, however, is that trying to edit that thing is gonna be a bugger at this rate...

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