At the end of Inside the Actor’s Studio, James Lipton always asks his subject questions from the Bernard Pivot questionnaire before turning his subject over to the audience. One of the questions is “what sound or noise do you love?” If my cats were on the stage, and could talk, you wouldn’t be surprised if they said “can opener.” Sound is an important aspect of any writing process, from the writer’s environment to the words that appear on the paper.
I’m a bit of an audiophile. There are definitely genres that I don’t enjoy as much, but I can listen to quite a few musical pieces or songs that are a bit far afield from my usual fare. I’d spent much of the early part of this year working on this project – a series of mix CDs for my friend, Kevin, and it has everything from singer-songwriter fare to electronica and industrial genres. There’s not any rap or country in there, but there I could have easily put in a little bit of everything from my phase where I listened to rap/R&B or from memories I have from college. This project also made me realize how much variety there is even within a genre, and how I sometimes grab inspiration from music in my writing.
Music is also a great escape. When I’m at work, I put on my headphones and plug in. My coworkers say that I remind them of an air traffic controller when I do this, but it helps me focus – and helps drown out some of the chit-chat that happens around the office. But is music good for writing? I’d venture to say yes. When I write, I listen to music quite a bit. In fact, Train’s “Ordinary” is playing as I write this. However, I think deep, well-wrought writing takes a specific kind of music. For NaNo novels and extended periods of writing, I focus on choral pieces (nothing in English), movie scores, and video game soundtracks. One that has been particularly helpful in my writing has been the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack due to the four-plus hours of play it provides. If I write for four solid hours, I’m usually on track for a particularly high word count. Those help when you’re trying to get from point A to point B.
But sound in general is helpful. When thinking about your writing, don’t think that the only soundtrack to your writing needs to be dialogue. In just the past few minutes, I’ve heard the jingle-jangle of my cat’s collar, the low resonance of a car’s bass as it rolls down the street, the sound of someone closing their car door, and the whoosh of the air intake for my heating system. It’s important to remember that sound goes a long way toward establishing setting.
There are many ways in which a writer can incorporate literary devices surrounding sound into their work, including alliteration and assonance, but one of the most common users amongst prose writers is onomatopoeia. These are the words that are suggestive of the sounds that they represent. A siren lets out a whoop, a rooster crows, a wave crashes, and all three phrases have words that imitate those actions. These are the sound effects of your novel, in the same way that a Wilhelm scream lets a movie viewer know that the goon isn’t getting up anytime soon, or how the sound of a snake hissing lets the viewer know that the ancient jungle temple isn’t as abandoned as it seems.
For the record: what sound or noise do I love? The sound of an analog clock (like a grandfather clock or a wall clock) as it ticks. It reminds me of my grandmother, an avid clock lover.
I’m going to provide a brief update on my work in a subsequent post, due mid-afternoon on June 1st. For now, I wanted to leave you with a few musical selections that have helped me write:
Pandora Journey – Epic Music 1a
Jim Owen, Author 