: Music & Focus During Writing I hate listening to silence while I write, so I usually end up listening to music, but then I lose my focus. I don't really like classical or lo-fi that much

Vote Up Vote Down

This question is opinion-based, as firstly, only you can know what will work best for you, and secondly, there is very little chance that anyone will agree on what it is 'best' to listen to. All we can do is give you some options.

I myself generally write in silence, but on occasion I need to set the mood for a particular scene, and I will listen to music. What you listen to depends entirely on two things: what helps set the mood you're after, and what keeps you focused. You obviously want the music to do its job, but you also don't want it to distract you.

Experiment. Look at other music genres. I myself highly recommend listening to 'epic music', like the artists Audiomachine or Two Steps from Hell, but that is just me. My brother listens to rock music while he writes, which is something I'll never understand.

If you simply can't find any music which both sets the mood and doesn't distract you, consider sounds. There are a host of multi-hour-long videos on YouTube of nothing but crickets chirping, wind whistling, or waves crashing. You can even find the sounds of fantasy battles, crowded halls, and whales singing underwater. It's all there. Just pick the sound which works best for your writing (or better yet, is present in the scene you are writing, if you're writing fiction), and play it. (Pro tip: trying searching for 'nature sounds' followed by whatever specific sound you're after.)

If any amount of noise distracts you, there are two things you can do: Firstly, determine if the problem lies with your writing, and not what you listen to. If you're focused on the sound (or lack of sound) instead of what you are writing, it might be that what you aren't interested in what you are writing. That's a whole separate question, which I'm sure has been asked before on this site. Try searching for it if that's the case. (Another pro-tip: include 'is:question' in the search bar to limit to questions.)

Second, if you determine the problem is not with your writing, then you will have to write in silence. You say you 'hate listening to silence' while you write. Why? Figure out the reason, and you might deduce what the problem is. If you need something to set the mood, perhaps a simple picture will suffice, no sound required. If it is in fact just the simple silence which you don't like, then again, try to deduce why. Why are you focused on the silence rather than your writing? Why is it affecting you so? What can you do to counteract it?

As I said in the opening paragraph, only you can know what will work best for you. Hopefully some of this will be useful in helping you figure out what that thing is.

(0)