I am always interested in the psychology of creativity and the writing process. What fosters high focus, flow, and what works against it? I’ve had a very interesting experience with this recently, and hope we can discuss these ideas more in the comments.
While I was visiting my son’s family over Christmas, we all piled into his SUV for an outing. My kid slapped his phone into a holder on the dashboard and tapped in commands for music. It was a Pandora mix of electronica, not exactly what I would choose, but fine for the afternoon.
I was in the backseat with my 4-year-old granddaughter when Miles said, “Mom, watch this.” A song came on and the little one cried, “The Toast song!” and started dancing in her seat. Well, not exactly dancing. She was doing the car-seat equivalent of a rave, slamming her body back and forth against the sides, eyes closed.
A few weeks later, back at home, I was looking for some new music for workouts and remembered the Lindsey Sterling station he had played. Gave it a try, and it worked fine, but what I noticed is that I was really thinking as I rowed and lifted. All kinds of things. Bright, strong things.
It didn’t click, not yet. Even though I am a student of creativity methods and higher brain function, I didn’t realize there might be something to this music.
Two or three months later, I was shifting gears from a historical project set in the 17th century to a modern-day novel about young backpackers in Europe. None of the music I had was working, and I scanned around the blogs written by young travelers to see if there might be something I could learn. One of them had…you guessed it, electronica.
Or as I later learned it is more commonly called, dubstep.
What the heck, maybe it would get me into the right mood. I selected the Lindsey Stirling station, slapped on my headphones and started writing.
Three hours later, I had added 3748 words.
Nearly four thousand words. In three hours. 2269 of those words were written in one hour.
Now, I’m a fairly prolific writer, due in part to my own pleasure in the process and in part to my training as a journalist, and at the very, very end of a book, I might get three or four thousand words in a day. But it usually takes all day.
In the interest of scientific observation, I asked myself if there were other reasons I might write so fast. In my log, I noted that the book has had an unusually rich brewing period, about 18 months. I have been looking forward to writing the main character a lot. I also have a pretty solid deadline for it.
I tried the experiment again. Again, a phenomenal number of words in a shorter amount of time than is usual for me. Also, I forgot to eat lunch because I was in such a deep state of concentration. Trust me, friends I’m just not the kind of person who forgets to eat lunch.
Then, a lot of events knocked me off track. Edits for another project, some family stuff, a foot injury. It was a couple of weeks before I could get back to the book and in the meantime, I forgot about dubstep. I eased back into the book, wondering why it was going so slowly. Deadline anxiety started rearing its ugly head.
One morning, my Pandora app suggested I might enjoy the Electronica for Studying station. Oh, yeah, yeah. Maybe I would like that.
Another 3000 word day.
And another, and another, always within three to four 48-minute sessions. (I’ve been experimenting with lengths of blocks, too, and this is a pretty good length for me. I know some love the 25-minute pomodoro, but I need a longer focus, and I only want a few minutes to get up and walk around and get a cup of coffee between sessions so I don’t lose the mood.)
The creativity scientist in the basement announced it a success and I’m sticking with it. Now that I’ve been working to it, I notice that I don’t actually notice the music much. It’s quite repetitive and moves back and forth across the headphones, which might be part of what creates the focus—right brain, left brain, right brain, left brain. I might do some research and I might not. As I’m experimenting on myself and my own creativity, I’m not as interested in the why as I am in the results.
I thought perhaps for a time that it might just be the new adult novel that would flow to this music, but I’ve since done some experiments —and nope. It’s the music that creates the focus.
In the upcoming WU book Author In Progress, one of the things I wrote about was my tricks for writing faster. We’re all dealing with increasingly complex lives and greater and greater numbers of distractions from that tiny computer in our back pockets. To do our work, whatever methods we can find to keep us focused and on task helps bring our babies into the world more efficiently.
In light of that, I could help but share this strange, weirdly productive experiment with you. Which may not work for you at all. We all have different brains, different methods, different triggers.
The point is the experiment. I didn’t even know what to call this music and now I am working at a level I would have said was impossible, without even trying, which makes the process ever so much more enjoyable. What if there is music, or a location, or a time of day that will do that for your brain/creativity centers?
Have you experimented with methods to increase your productivity? Have you ever found something like this that seems almost magical? Tell us about it in the comments.
About Barbara O'Neal
Barbara O'Neal has written a number of highly acclaimed novels, including 2012 RITA winner, How To Bake A Perfect Life, which landed her in the RWA Hall of Fame and was a Target Club Pick. She is a highly respected teacher who also publishes material for writers at Patreon.com/barbaraoneal. She is at work on her next novel to be published by Lake Union in July. A complete backlist is available here.
Barbara, this is fascinating. I love that you experimented on yourself. That zone where you forget to eat lunch? That’s the place we all want to go. I have always worked best with silence, but silence is a hard thing to come by. There are days here when the noise intrudes and is totally out of my control. Most times I can block it out, but when I can’t, I get frustrated and agitated. Once that happens, all bets are off. I’ve never used headphones, but now I’m thinking I might give them a try! Thanks for an informative and fun post!
I highly recommend a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Not the entirely-cancelling, which is too much like a vacuum (for me) but a solid pair that covers the ear. It’s amazing how much it helps, in so many situations–coffee shops, airplanes (I will never fly without them now), and those days when there is hammering or lawn mowing or loud traffic outside.
OK, I’m sold! Lawn moving and hammering is what I get here. And forget coffee shops! But there are days when I crave a change of scenery. Headphones are the answer. Again, thanks, Barbara!
Dubstep! What, you didn’t know about that? Breakbeat, techno, drum and bass…lots of flavors. It all kind of derives from reggae, sort of.
One of the cool things about dubstep is its underground origins. It isn’t slick, big record label stuff. Tiny labels, pirate radio, clubs in East London…it’s a people’s music.
Now, the raves and drugs that go with it aren’t my scene, but I’m delighted by the mental picture of Barbara O’Neal trance-dancing to Skrillex!
Or…wait, trance-writing? Okay, that’s good. Rave on, Barbara, and thanks for experimenting…with music, I mean.
Oh, of course. I can feel that reggae spirit in there. I’ve been a reggae fan since Peter Tosh & Equal Rights back in the day.
But….seriously, I know! Why haven’t I known this music before now? I’m a music person–but I guess this is different enough from the other areas of my favorites that I haven’t had a chance to really listen before this.
I’m so into it now. Skrillex is one of my favs!
My husband, however, said, “Why are you playing this music?” ha
This agonizingly s-l-o-w writer is off to find some electronica, fast!
Thanks for the post and for awakening my inner creativity scientist.
I’d love to know if it helps you as much as it did me.
And if not this kind of music, maybe something else-experiment!
This is a great post, Barbara. I too love to write to music and range from classical to contemporary and popular songs. When I was writing my book Greylock about beluga whales, I listened to whale songs a fair amount of time. Sometimes I slept with whale books beneath my bed for more ‘subconscious’ connections. I feel like these efforts are a bit silly sometimes but they do pay off to magnify and focus energies. The power of intention has long been a component of creative artists, right?
I say whatever feels like it works is great. There is definitely a mystical component to the process of creativity and we key into it in a thousand ways.
Great article. I wish I wasn’t a Bach-Beethoven-Brahms fan. I can’t tolerate a heavy drum beat in the room, never mind through headphones.
Any suggestions for classical music that might give the same effect?
Fact is, I don’t even know what the music you recommend sounds like. I hardly know the Beatles from the Beach Boys.
I love classical music, too. I have trouble listening to it for work because it is highly emotional, or at least it is for me. Of all music, I am most likely to hear it in a sort of color wash (like Therese’s synesthetic!), which interferes.
Wonder if meditative music might work for you, something like Native American flute or other instrumentals of that sort? Maybe rain or other elemental tracks. I’d love to hear back if you experiment.
Barbara, I’m hard put to know what to try. Seems to me from your fascinating experiment that the fundamental factor causing your response is a heavy drum rhythm. I may have got that wrong – because I’m not at all familiar with the music you tested.
Hard to think that an elemental sound ( such as rain) would provide a ‘forward motion’ (so to speak) for the creative brain. It would put me to rest, I think. I’m not a meditator or yoga practitioner.
My usual answer is to take a walk with the dogs and release the right brain for action – though it doesn’t always work.
Alternatively I keep a journal at bedside for those late-night lightbulb moments: the following day my scrambled notes let loose the creative juices for a while.
But it’s not a day-to-day system for productivity.
I totally agree with your findings! I write middle-grade fantasy, and I listen to powerful instrumental soundtracks when I’m putting words to paper. (I love 8tracks.com, where I can search for fantasy-themed playlists other people have assembled.) I discovered that I can’t listen to soundtracks with a familiar theme (i.e. “Lord of the Rings,” “Pirates of the Caribbean”) because it makes me think of the related movies. Instrumental music, to me, means there are no words messing with my own stream of words, and the unknown tunes are just enough to transport me into the world I must inhabit in order to write.
Agree totally on the soundtracks, although I make one exception: I’ve written so many words to the first six songs of the Last of the Mohicans sound track that I wore out more than one CD!
I’m trying this now. I need background music that doesn’t interfere with my editing as well as my writing, and music with lyrics don’t work. Classical does, but I get sleepy. Listening to Stirling now and liking it. Thanks.
Would love to know if it works for you, Ray.
The Stirling station moves between that mix of electric/synthesized violin and dubstep. I ended up thumbing up more dubstep. Others might end up going another direction.
Barbara,
How interesting!
I listen to Linsdey Sterling too, but for brainstorming and such. For actual writing I need quiet so I can hear my characters.
One weird thing I did was implement a timed journaling period before I start working. Giving myself a 10 minute window to write out whatever is on my mind is a great way to eliminate the mental distractions that used to stall my writing.
After journaling, I usually set my timer for 25 minutes but always continue writing for longer, so I am going to try your 48 minute trick!
I also split up my writing to suit my mental energy levels. So actual writing in the morning, background and brainstorming at night. I will work on a scene in the morning, think about what’s next throughout the day, work it out on paper that night, then bring that as a starter the next morning.
I am looking forward to reading what works for everyone else, too. I am always looking for new ways to improve my efficiency, plus the process of other writer’s is so fascinating, right?
The way the process works for each of us really is fascinating, and I never know when I’ll find some new trick that fits well.
The journaling beforehand is a great idea, and I use a version of that myself. I also think it’s very smart to break up the kinds of work over the day to take advantage of the different levels of energy.
Barbara, you must tell me where I find this music! I’d love to hear your favorites!
For me, I find my groove with Sarah Maclaughlin, but I’m open to new ideas.
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth
I am not familiar enough with specific artists yet to tell you who to try, Dee. If you have Pandora or one of the other music sampling stations, search for dubstep or electronica. I do end up dancing in my chair while I work, which is kind of funny (I suspect the cats are laughing at me) but it seems to raise my energy. It’s so easy to get sleepy when I write!
I’m with you! Can’t write without music. Don’t know what I’d do without Spotify. Have a couple of dubstep songs on my playlist, but haven’t specifically tried them for writing. Will definitely check it out!
What an interesting expt. Barbara. I like to write in silence because a movie plays in my head when I write. And the music that I enjoy, I end up listening to, even if there are no lyrics. It’s like watching the squirrels and birds out back … I forget to write. What I haven’t tried is writing with Gregorian chant. I’ve discovered it’s the only music that not only does not exacerbate the migraines I suffer from but actually reduces them. Go figure.
As to expt. in maintaining flow, I find that a walk with the dog prior to writing does it consistently, as well as some housework that’s repetitive like washing dishes; this is one of the reasons I like writing after the evening chores. And if I’m having trouble getting started, long-hand writing works great.
I agree on both the walking and the repetitive tasks. I’ve added back a short meditation before I start, too, which sometimes feels like A BIG WASTE OF TIME, but it does seem to do something to help me focus.
Great stuff, Barbara, and congrats on finding a trigger to creativity and productivity. Whenever the music/no music while writing question arises on the WU group page, it seems pretty evenly split. But everyone feels strongly about it (i.e. “I need silence!” or “I can’t write without my music!”)
I’ve always been a writer whose creativity thrives on music. It’s vital to my story pondering, to my simmering and fallow periods, and I have to have the right music on while I write, as well. For the pondering and simmering, I listen to electronica also (and some of it is dubstep). It’s just my quirk, but for the actual writing sessions, the music needs to be a part of my immersion into my historical world. It has to fit in, or it doesn’t become part of the creative trance. I’ve long loved Lisa Gerrard for this. Her voice seems ancient and yet new. And the fact that she mostly sings without lyrics is important, too. I also love her work with her former husband, Brendan Perry, in Dead Can Dance. Some of those songs have become the soundtrack to my world. And certain songs can even trigger my immersion and emotions for certain story elements or scenes. I’m always amazed by it, and I utilize it as a tool. Every single writing day.
Just in case anyone else writes historical stuff, and feels the need for their writing music to sort of “fit in,” I also love E.S. Posthumus , Conjure One, Globus, Stellamara, Azam Ali, and Marcello de Francisci, to name a few. I always purchase my downloads. It gives me better control over flow and allows me to create specific playlists for writing (I have at least a dozen such playlists). Plus, as an aspiring artist myself, I like supporting the artists who inspire my work. Thanks for starting a great discussion!
OMG, I love Dead Can Dance! I was just thinking about them a couple of days ago. I’ve written some dark medieval stuff to them. I’m going to check out some of the others on your list, because it is hard to find the right historical music tone sometimes.
The way you speak of your soundtrack is something I’ve used, too. When I first started writing novels, I had two little boys (and all of their friends) and my writing time was very fragmented, so I made soundtracks of my favorite songs on a cassette tape and played it only when writing on the MIP. It would reduce my immersion time by a tremendous amount.
Thanks for a thoughtful response, Vaughn.
Barbara, have you heard of the brain.fm app? I was dead in the water on a ms when a friend pointed me to the website. Amazing! It offers music to fit your mood / personality / situation. It did for me what electronica did for you. Improved concentration. Longer writing stints. Better quality writing. I love how the music / sounds block out everything except the story on the screen.
I often listen to music when I write. I especially like Greg Buchanan’s harp music and Michael Nyman’s “The Piano” soundtracks. The tracks I listen to on brain.fm are eerily similar to those two old CDs.
Thank you for a fascinating post! I see creativity as something to be fostered and nourished. Music, exercise and reading are the three ways I do it.
Off to plug in brain.fm while I work on a new idea :)
I have tried brain.fm. but for me it isn’t as successful as actual music. Not sure why. I have a lot of friends who swear by it, and even more who love the white noise apps, or coffee-house sounds, which drives me insane. :) Which is why I point out that we’re so different!
I have a weird antipathy to piano music (I know it’s weird, but even my massage therapist knows not to have piano during sessions), but I do love harp. I’ll look for that. Thank you.
I love hearing about the results of your experiment. Creativity is such a mystical miracle! I work best when I listen to a soundtrack of a movie that has the same mood as my story. No lyrics. It’s like the music is the background for my characters. I can’t wait to try something new, though. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your experiment Barbara! I’m a bit of an oddball in what I’ve found works best for me, and this has come from experimentation: the background hubbub of a coffee shop. Complete silence works well (for writing, the best).
The way I discovered this was a bit of reverse-experimentation: I found listening to anything with a melody or interesting harmony competes with my thoughts (I’m also a trained musician so I’m incapable of listening to music and not following the score mentally, a bit like getting pulled into a good story). The only way to focus my thoughts, I discovered over time, was to listen to something without melody or harmony. Recently, though (like you, I love to experiment and try things, and never box myself in with an assumption) I discovered jazz (no melody or lyrics) is perfect. In fact, I’m listening to it right now as I work.
I might add (for the sake of comparing experiment notes ;) that I’m edit for a living and find that the effects of music differ between editing work and writing work. Something about jazz relaxes my mind incredibly. I get focused and analytical and my mind’s not jumping all over the place like it does when I’m being creative. I don’t now why that is, but, like writing and productivity methods, it’s a forever experiment in progress.
By the way, I love electronica music. I’d never dare listen to it while working because it makes me want to get up and go for a run — and so it turns out that’s exclusively my running music. I’m a big fan of the beats that come out of the Netherlands and love that there are so many mixes I can probably run around the planet a few times and still not run out of listening adventures.
Music — and the sound of silence — such an important layer to how the brain functions. I’m sure there’s something to it, but meanwhile, it’s great to find out just what our individual settings are.
Happy Dub step writing!
I can see why a musician would have to choose music very carefully.
I’ve noticed a lot of the thumbs-up I give are European. I’ll notice the ones that are from the Netherlands.
If you ever come across the Bloes Brothers, they’re one of my favorites. Great mixture of saxophone jazz and electronica!
Music almost always helps me write more and faster — usually I have a song or two or three that are tied to whatever I’m writing (in some way I can never figure out), but like you I don’t really notice it after a while. What’s so strange is when one of those songs comes on the radio unexpectedly I feel an urge to write. It’s positively Pavlovian. You’ve inspired me to buy some noise canceling headphones; they’ve been on my list for a while. You’ve also inspired me to try block writing. I have a friend who swears by Pomodoro. Great and very timely post. Thank you!
I find I write best, and find flow easiest, when I’ve got music blocking out the rest of the world (via headphones – listening from speakers doesn’t work as effectively). Some of the artists I write to best include Lindsey Stirling, Blackmore’s Night, and Within Temptation. But I’ve also written to the slower pace of Josh Groban, the sadder tones of Evanescene, and the thematic paces of movie soundtracks (particularly covers by The Piano Guys – Cello Wars, Jurassic Park, and the Lord of the Rings for the win!)
For me, a lot of what works depends on what I’m writing. Because of that, I develop particular playlists for particular projects. And because I’ve developed a habit of listening to those playlists when working on particular projects, I’ve found the opening few bars of those songs can be triggers now that queue me into the work and start the flow happening. :-)
I build an actual soundtrack to my story with themes for my main characters and for specific scenes. Just like them motion pictures.
I’m a trained singer, so the words and the meaning of the lyrics are really important when I choose a song. I love pop (my definition of everything and anything that’s not classical or jazz, really) from Imagine Dragons to Tori Kelly to Nine Inch Nails. It’s all on my Gen 3 iPod (I’m a romantic like that). I put as much energy and research into that soundtrack as I do digging deep into character and plot. I have my soundtrack playing in the car everyday during my commute to *insert day job* (they play dubstep on a regular basis where I work, so it’s a no-go for getting my writing juices flowing). For that half-hour drive, I’m with my characters, juggling plot twists and dialog lines. I might hit repeat 10 times, playing the same song over and over, just because I’m that close to really getting the right picture, the right words, the right mood for a scene. I always get to work 5-10 minutes in advance so I can jot down whatever musings I’ve had, pen hightailing across the page, my notebook precariously set against the steering wheel. Sometimes it’s as much time as I’ll be able to get to write that day. It keeps me in touch with my story world so I can soar on those rare day-long writing sessions.
Fascinating, Barbara. I’m a musician and I always write in silence, or occasionally with chant music(with Sanskrit lyrics I can’t easily translate (Snatam Kaur, Jagdeesh Jai and others from the Spirit Voyage website) playing on my computer, but never with headphones. Your post intrigues me and I’m going to check out the electronica. I’m definitely interested in turning out those pages – and staying focused. I use blocked writing times, and have used Pomodoro, too, but find I like longer blocks, too.
Great comments, too!
My husband wrote his books on a steady stream of Lindsey Sterling and modern monk music with electronica mixed in. Those were a supernatural suspense novel and a story about con men, so I think the tone fit the content. I can take a certain amount of dubstep, but I have my limits. Depending on what I’m writing, I choose silence, classical (which, like dubstep, emphasizes beats and is quite mathematical), jazz or blues. I think I choose jazz and blues because it’s what I grew up listening to–sort of tapping into the time in life when I had all the time in the world to just listen to very loud music with my dad on summer evenings. I like moody music (and dubstep is certainly moody, I guess) and I like moody writing. But honestly, my most productive days are spent in total silence (apart from the sound of the keys). I usually only use music to drown other sounds out.
I can write creatively and productively listening to practically any type of music. You name it: blues, jazz, country, blue grass. Except rap – that’s not music. I hang around coffee bars and pubs where the music is extremely loud and still create bestselling books. A lot of people my age ( I am a baby boomer) can’t believe I can do this because they can’t stand the loud music.
Having said that, I always follow this advice:
“Write drunk; edit sober.”
— Ernest Hemingway
This advice has helped me write and sell over 925,000 copies of my books (mainly self-published) worldwide.
This was an interesting and informative post, and I am so happy that you increased your productivity like that, Barbara.
I am a complete opposite of so many writers. I cannot write when there is music playing, or any kind of noise. Thank goodness I live out in the country where there is much silence and solitude.
What increases my productivity the most is when I am really in a zone with a story and the characters. I just recently started a sequel to one of my stand-alone mysteries, and the scene ideas are just coming to me like being blown on a gusty wind. The characters pop into my head when I first wake up and talk to me all the while I’m doing my chores outside. To try to keep up with all the ideas, I’ve recorded them on my phone and emailed them to myself.
I have even mastered dictating scenes, which is awesome. Most of us can talk faster than we can type. LOL