Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hello,

I recently published a book where the original idea came from a writing game I liked to play when I wanted to write but didn't want to work on a current project, or had block etc. I thought I would share it in case anyone else wants to try it.

It's called playlist writing.

To play, all you have to do it take your music library and put it on shuffle. Start the music and start writing basing what you write on whatever is playing. Whenever the song changes, add something, change something or make something happen based on the new song. Don't skip songs just because they don't fit, just let it go a bit insane, You never know what you will come up with.

Does anyone else have any fun writing games?

interesting idea

No, but that sounds like a fun one. My teachers tried to use some when I was in school, but I hated writing at the time.

V.M. wrote: "That sounds like a wonderful, if a bit madcap game! But hey, as a free-from writing exercise - go nuts!

Why not post a bit of your results (along with what songs) so we can see how it turned out?"

I'm not sure I have the original version, I edited it a few times before it eventally became the first chapter of my book. I can say I ended up with stuff like the main character being on the moon beaucse the theme for Sailor Moon came on. Voltaire's 'When your evil' came on and I brought in an insane evil villian in a sharp suit, had a character completely flip out and (at least in the original version) kill said villain because 'animal i have become' came on.

Twas fun. I have a paper version of a second one I did where it started in a burning city because there was a Hollywood undead song about burning cities that I cant quite remember the name of. The main character who destroyed said city apparently ended up using flaming darts as a weapon because I couldn't think of much else for 'darts for pleasure' by fanz ferdiand in the middle of a fight scene.

I had a character in one that had her entrance to 'You give love a bad name' so you can guess what she was like but by the time I described her then the next song came on...I can't remember what it was but suddenly she had completely different personality than originally intended.

I just may try that some day, as my musical taste is varied and a tad eclectic. I did do something similar once. I listened to Art of Noise's In No Sense? Nonsense! album and wrote a story based on the music. It came out this wonderfully weird story about a bored Bohemian socialite who realizes she is being hunted by the ghost of a Native American on a motorcycle... and she falls in love with him.

I turned it into my creative writing class. The professor loved it.

I guess the only games I play now are finding odd ways to tie my stories together, hiding little Easter eggs in them and such.

Too bad I cannot write at all with music on. It sounds like a fun game!

G.G. wrote: "It sounds like a fun game!"

I'm definitely trying it some day. I always have shuffled music on when writing, I just don't consciously let it become part of the story. Could be a lot of fun.

Dwayne wrote: "G.G. wrote: "It sounds like a fun game!"

I'm definitely trying it some day. I always have shuffled music on when writing, I just don't consciously let it become part of the story. Could be a lot o..."

I might try it some day if I can figure out how to make iTunes shuffle songs again (aside from a specific artist only). :/

V.M. wrote: "I use playlists to help me refine the mood and tone of my stories, but it's not like what Briony is talking about here. Though - Briony - have you ever applied this playlist-scene-switching to one ..."

Yes, the whole scene was brought together by having my villain having illusions as his power. The main character is kept in an illusionary prison that looks like she's on the moon and her superhero name is later influenced by that event. Another character ending up in a weird matrix database was there because the main theme of an anime called 'Log Horizon' called database came on. The villain is exactly how I originally wrote him in the playlist write so it made the character for me.

So yeah, the scene though has been adjusted slightly but it has most of the events and character in it that were in the playlist write.
It's really only the one scene though but it's really where the entire story starts so it's pretty key

I have a writing journal with a prompt about this...I plan on trying it out!

I have a tendency to get ideas for book scenes from music I'm listening to but I don't quite follow the format suggested. I often find inspiration in a particular line from a song. I figure if it strikes a chord with me then the idea will hit home with readers as well. Then I include the playlist in the back of the novel so the reader can connect to the scene.

Mary wrote: "I have a tendency to get ideas for book scenes from music I'm listening to but I don't quite follow the format suggested. I often find inspiration in a particular line from a song. I figure if it s..."

I get a lot of inspiration from music too; check out Scott Alan; the emotion in all of his music is so raw and real I have found inspiration and even used some of his songs as epigraph. One of his songs "Again" sung by Hadley Fraser, I loved the first time I heard it and I used it almost word for word in a scene and the song itself was an epigraph.

Be careful how much you quote word for word from any copyrighted material as that can be a copyright violation. My book uses Shakespeare quotes as epigraphs since they are no longer under copyright.

I love the playlist idea. I will definitely give it a shot! Thanks for the tip