Does music help with writing, and what should you listen to while writing fiction? For Utsudo, music is an emotion-boosting kind of magic: high-energy songs for fight scenes, ballads for romance or slower passages, and upbeat music for comedic scenes, giving the words more soul. But sometimes she needs complete silence. Either way, staying focused matters most—writing while watching TV only means spending more time on revision later.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Do you listen to music while writing?

I think most of you who write fiction or create probably have some habit of listening to music.

Personally, I don’t have fixed rules for how I must write. Sometimes I want music, sometimes I want quiet around me, and sometimes I need some instrumental music with no vocals to focus.

Choosing writing music by scene

My early works had more fight scenes, so back then I loved listening to high-energy songs to make my mind more active (and a bit chuunibyou), because when I’m pumped I can come up with cooler scenes.

When writing romance or slower passages, I listen to more lyrical, even slightly sad songs to put more emotion into my words. After all, you have to move yourself first to have a chance of moving readers. You need to make the mood sentimental to write touching words.

When writing comedic or lighthearted scenes, I like upbeat music, so my thoughts can follow the light, bouncy notes and write scenes that make me and my readers smile.

For me, music is a kind of magic that boosts emotion. Used well, it gives the words you type more soul and makes writing easier and more fun.

Sometimes I need complete silence

On the other hand, when I can’t control the background music, like in a café, I can’t use this emotion magic. Sometimes noisy chatter affects my writing, yet occasionally a bit of background noise actually makes it easier to focus. Humans are such troublesome, fickle creatures (X

Sometimes I need complete silence to write.

But that can happen no matter what tone I’m writing in. I don’t know why. Anyway, when I’ve been staring blankly at the computer for a long time and can’t write, I change the ambient sound—putting on music or turning it off. When it works, I get into the zone.

It’s best to stay focused while writing

Either way, it’s best to stay focused while writing, or revision will be hard. For a while I loved writing while watching shows, but during revision I found many out-of-place sentences, and fixing them made me want to give up on life XD

The time I saved then was paid back during revision QQ

By the way, do you listen to music while creating?

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #167: Paid Work or Mutual Collaboration? Get It Clear First
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.