The Wall Street Journal had a great article a few weeks back: “How to Write a Great Novel”, reflections by novelists on how they approach writing. Since the article is subscription only, I’m featuring one writer per day here, highlighting their process with a key excerpt from the article.
Today’s writer is Junio Diaz, whose published short stories include “Drown” and “The Sun, the Moon, the Stars.”
“I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down,” says Junot Díaz. “As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.”He often listens to orchestral movie soundtracks as he writes, because he’s easily distracted by lyrics. When he needs to seal himself off from the world, he retreats into the bathroom and sits on the edge of the tub. “It drove my ex crazy,” he says. “She would always know I was going to write because I would grab a notebook and run into the bathroom.”
We’ve discussed listening to music while writing. Generally I prefer total silence, but there are times when I’ll listen to the soundtrack from The Shawshank Redemption, the fantastic score by Thomas Newman. How about you? What’s your favorite music to write by?
These days it's mostly Jazz Impressions of Eurasia by the Brubeck Quartet.
Oh and if you all get a chance, you MUST put Junot Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" at the very top of your reading lists. Great read, probably one of the top 10 fiction books I've taken in lately.
I prefer instrumentals and soundtracks to set the mood, but lately I'm finding myself to be quite efficient while writing in silence. Not sure yet if I'm going to make that transition though.
Utter silence. Most instrumentals bore me to death. But more than that, a song's rhythm jams my internal signal — it interferes with the rhythms in my dialogue, the sounds playing in my head, my own imagined soundtrack, perhaps.
And like Diaz, lyrics distract me (it was hell during college when I had a roommate who had to listen to hard rock while studying.)
I usually listen to a singer-songwriter (Willie Nile, Dylan, Van Morrison, etc.) on low. I'll play the same CD over and over for a week or so. Then I'll put on something else. The music just serves as background noise.
It depends. I don't listen to music if I'm re-writing, it's too distracting. But if it's a first or second draft and I'm just trying to tap into the emotion and get a flow going, then I usually listen to movie soundtracks on streaming radio. It depends on the script, too. I'm on the second draft of a horror film and I've been listening to Diamanda Galas, Ligeti, and Penderecki on Pandora – although the scariest thing I hear is the ad for "It's a Small World" (!) Those little voices – creepy creepy creepy.
Epic soundtracks get me going: Brian Tyler's "Children of Dune", James Horner's "The Mask of Zorro", and most recently Michael Giacchino's score for "Star Trek".