Comments on: SOUND BITES

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:00:33 +0000

Yes, I cringed when I read the description of fingernails on a chalkboard. But you know what’s even worse? Fingernails scraping on the outside of a car. Makes me shiver just to think about it. Oh, and the buzz made by fluorescent lights in a very quiet room drives me out of my mind, it is so distracting.

I do listen to music when I write. Not all the time…I just turned it off because I couldn’t find anything good on the cable music channels (I don’t have an iPod, and I get tired of getting up and changing CDs), and I’m listening to an airplane go over my apartment right now, and a car just turned into the alley. And the breeze is making the most lovely sound in the leaves of the trees across the street. That bird needs to quit complaining, though. All that is music to me, as well. But when I’m writing about the finance markets for my paying gig (I’m waiting for oil prices to update right now), almost any music goes, depending on what kind of mood I’m in.

When I’m working on other writing, what music I listen to depends very much on how serious what I’m writing about is (for non-fiction) or what kind of tone I want to set in what I’m writing (for fiction, and sometimes also for some non-fiction). If I’m writing about the sixties, I’ll listen to sixties music, for example.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:15:48 +0000

Hey all, Deb wanted me to let you know she is on the road, and will respond to the comments as SOON as she is able to get to a computer…..

By: Karin

Karin — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:02:20 +0000

I write best with the iPOd cranked.

By: ALR

ALR — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:42:45 +0000

Oddly enough, the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard doesn’t bug me. I’m the mean, sadistic one who will scrape them across the chalkboard to tease people.

But I do really, really hate the sound of a package of lunch meat being opened. The sound of the plastic and glue coming apart just makes my teeth shiver. And I’m betting most people probably never notice it. But that’s my kryptonite of sounds. So I generally make other people open the lunch meat if I can, while I cringe and plug my ears.

Hey, I have odder quirks, believe me.

As for listening to music while I write, I find that it relaxes me, and allows me to enter the creative zone. But once I’m in the zone, I generally don’t notice the music much, and it becomes background noise. The number of times that I’ve suddenly awoken from my writing frenzy to realize that I’m wearing headphones that have long since gone silent because there is no music playing are innumerable.

I will also put certain songs or types of music on that seem to fit a character, scene, or mood of the story, sometimes, because it helps me get into my writing groove.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:59:19 +0000

I love my iPod when I write. With the earphones on I can’t hear a thing my family is doing. LOL I listen to Celtic instrumentals. It is just a soothing background sound, if I get in the zone I don’t hear the iPod anymore but I don’t hear the family either.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:02:42 +0000

I have the unfortunate (at least for anyone else in the listening vicinity) habit of listening to the same song over and over again for hours. Hundreds of times. (the song does change day to day though)

By: Bithalynn

Bithalynn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:28:10 +0000

As a reader, sometimes the onomatopoeias will throw me out of a story, especially if the writer is describing a sound I know well. I have to stop and sound out the spelling, think about what I think the item/action in question actually sounds like, and then figure out how to change what the author wrote to make it “right” before I can go on with the story.

I do write with music playing, or the TV on. If I don’t have some sort of low-level background noise I get distracted by every other noise in or near my apartment.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:23:50 +0000

Hey Deb! I find I have to tie my writing to the rhythm in my head and many times, music interferes with that. Especially with the deeper, more emotional scenes. I have my iPod on my desk, but I only use it during fast paced fight scenes, or to tune out other noise that’s irrirtating me.

I love LOVE my iPod when I go for walks!

By: B.E. Sanderson

B.E. Sanderson — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:07:22 +0000

I’m with you, Deb. I can’t listen to anything while I’m writing. I’ve gotten used to my husband watching TV in the next room, but anything else derails me. The worst sound for me, though, is the bass from someone else’s stereo. Nothing like a boom-boom-boom I can’t identify and can’t stop. Drives me batty. I once tried to talk my husband into buying a particular house because the ad said it had 2-ft thick brick walls. Heh.

I’m big on using sound in my stories, even if I have to make up words. My favorite is whoompf – which I use for explosions. =oD Dripping sounds, clicking sounds, skittering sounds. It all goes to make the scene richer. (As long as it’s not overdone, of course.)

By: Debra Webb

Debra Webb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:51:04 +0000

Hey Deb,
Music definitely inspires me. I actually like having it play softly in the background when I’m writing. Music makes me feel alive and ready to take on the world!