Although I've already touched on writing soundtracks, I've been exploring the topic enough to warrant an update. I never had a big tendency to pick out songs based on what I was actually writing, but now I've started being more careful with my soundtracks.
My iPod has plenty of songs of every emotion, but when I go out of my way to tint my soundtrack, it's not with my iPod. After all, I listen to those songs all of the time; they're just a general soundtrack, not strongly associated with anything for me. Video game soundtracks, however, are more strongly linked to emotions, moods, and certain types of scenes in my head; the only time I hear them much is in the appropriate scenes.
The 30-minute extended soundtracks put up by BrawlBRSTMs3 on YouTube are my go-to. Not only is it a great compilation of themes from Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick, the main video games with which I concern myself, the length of the videos allows me to continue writing with the same tune without much fussing on my part.
So what song goes with what scenes? Well, the bloodbath chapter of Tributes and Tribulations was written under the influence of TRAUMA. I used the first Epilogue tune from Phoenix Wright while writing the epilogue of Along the Winding Road. I've gone with video game soundtracks while editing as well; the last chapter of Along the Winding Road was done to the tune of the Turnabout Sisters theme, which may evoke the strongest emotions in my case.
What does your writing soundtrack look like? Do you incorporate soundtracks from video games or other entertainment sources? What music affects your mood the most, and what effect does it have on your writing?
P.S. Due to time constraints, there will be no posts during the month of September. Updates will continue starting October 1.
As I've said before, I don't normally write to music, as I find it distracting. However, that doesn't mean that music doesn't play a big role in my creative process; I often listen to certain tracks *beforehand* to get me in the mood (as well as doing things like looking at relevant Fanart or reading bits of FanFiction, often yours). For Unstained, I usually use songs from the Hunger Games soundtrack, plus an English version of the Vocaloid song Bad Apple which is growing on me. For my Nancy Drew/Hunger Games crossover, I often listen to background music from the ND games, although those tracks are much shorter than the ones you linked to - only around a minute long each. (I also get in the mood by reading your PW crossovers, since they're sort of in a similar vein.) And then I have songs that I just associate with the characters, regardless of whether or not I listen to them before writing.
ReplyDeleteI listened to all three of those songs you linked as background music when I was working on one of my Titanic projects; they were very good!
Also, I can't remember if I've told you before, but it seems pretty relevant here: did I ever show you the playlist I made for TLWR? You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqu9qhBHWNs&list=PLN_ZBuiVbEBnxzZxRZRTyI256Tiv27ZBK
A brief description of the songs and how they relate to the story:
1) Obviously the main theme
2) The love theme, and sort of my personal main theme for the story as well as EngBel itself
3) Theme for the post-apocalyptic setting
4) Theme for Arthur and Belle's date
5) Theme for Arthur trying to comfort Belle after Claus' death
6) Another love theme, from Arthur's POV
7) Theme about Arthur's guilt and how he wants to be with Belle but also sort of feels he doesn't deserve her
That's cool. I'm in the same boat with character-associated songs (beyond, well, their character themes in the case of Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick).
DeleteI do really like that music, although it's hard to say whether I like it in general or only because of the games.
Aah, that's incredible! Very few songs I'm familiar with in my little 1980s niche, but I love it!
Aw, thanks! I'm glad to hear that :)
DeleteAlso, I forgot to mention that the first soundtrack you linked to (from Ghost Trick?) reminded me a lot of the soundtrack to the 28th Nancy Drew Game, the Deadly Device. (They're both sort of science-y).
ReplyDelete