Music to Write By

Wisdom from J.J. Abrams, screenwriter

2008-07-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

The video below doesn't qualify as a playlist -- it's just a really smart TED talk by J.J. Abrams, a producer and more importantly, a screenwriter who is a master of keeping the audience glued to the screen. That's a similar challenge to the one faced by us fiction writers, whose sole mission -- really -- is to get readers to turn the page (and then tell their friends about our great book).

Abrams calls his screenwriting trick a "mystery box." Present the reader with a question, a mystery, and withhold the answer as long as you can -- at least until you've asked a few more questions. Sequential mystery boxes, done well, is more powerful than any other tool good writers use.

Another is compelling characters, and J.J. talks about those too. It's 18 minutes. Just click play.

Youtube music for Horror/Thriller

2008-07-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

We all know there's plenty of horrifying stuff on Youtube, so this playlist was probably inevitable. It's got Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Prodigy's "Voodoo People," and the long and bloody mix of New Order's "Confusion" heard in Blade.

Horror/Thriller Playlist from Jamendo

2008-05-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here is some horrifying... or at least creepyish -- music to inspire you to belt out your horror (or thriller) novel.

Fantasy Playlist

2008-05-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

I made this fantasy playlist on Jamendo.com before I knew there was so much music on Youtube.

Youtube music for writing fantasy fiction

2008-07-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

My first SF playlist from Youtube

2008-07-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the first SF playlist I made of videos on Youtube. Just listen... don't watch. Minimize the browser. You should be writing, remember.

SF Playlist made with Jamendo

2008-05-05T16:22:00.002-07:00

This is a science fiction playlist I made on Jamendo.com.

My playlist

2008-06-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

This is a playlist I made on Youtube. I like it better than the Jamendo players down there, so I'll get to work on playlists for SF, fantasy, horror, romance, etc.

If you have a favorite song you like to listen to while you write your brilliant stuff, mention it in a comment. I'm open to suggestions!

Romance Playlist

2008-05-05T16:22:00.001-07:00

Mystery/Suspense Playlist

2008-05-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

check these Jamendo links

2008-05-05T16:55:00.001-07:00

The Jamendo players below work better with Winamp installed. Otherwise, Windows Media Player opens its big fat window and only plays a single track. I'll keep working on it.

The littlest widget so far...

2008-04-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know if a music widget could get smaller than this. This little "circle and triangle" model is also from http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/

A skinny music widget

2008-04-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

This widget is from Jamendo, by way of http://musicplayer.sourceforge.net/

Another website heard from

2008-04-11T14:36:00.001-07:00

And speaking of music, here is the Experience Music Project.

Jamendo might be salvaged

2008-04-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

I'm getting less angry with Jamendo. If I can make a widget that will play my own playlist rather than somebody's album, I'll be happy. Let's try again:

Could I play, say, THIS playlist?
http://www.jamendo.com/en/playlist/38165

Maybe, if I insert THIS code in the widget.
http://www.jamendo.com/en/get/track/id/playlist/id/playerpage/38165/

It worked! Just copy the code for the widget in THIS post, and replace the number ("38165") with the number of the playlist you want to play. (I hate blogging to myself. Grr.)

Jamendo is Not my Friend

2008-04-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

They're more like aquaintences of mine. You'd think I could replicate the widget I just made, but there's nothing on their site now about making music-playing widgets. So, I'll just start mucking with the code and see what happens.

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/362