How to Make a Playlist for Your WIP
Do you just desperately want your brain to rot about your characters? Do you want to feel inspired lyrically toward growing plot points? Do you need to input auditory stimulation while you write? Don't you just want to go apeshit about your wip?
But every time you make a playlist for your project, it's got 10 songs you eventually get sick of and the vibes are all over the place? Or is it too aesthetic to improve your process and flow? Do you have a hard time considering even what genre of music would fit the tropes and themes you are playing with in your current work?
Well, do I have some tips for you, motherfucker.
Make sure you set aside some time to do this because it's going to take all day.
Let's go ahead and start by doing the usual thing; add every song that rots your mind about your characters to your playlist, right now. Good, that's a baseline. Now, click on each of those artists, and listen to their entire discography--- or just the first ten songs. I have found consistency in the voices I'm hearing can really improve my immersion in juxtaposition to a playlist that only features a single song from each artist, which can be jarring in my ears. By adding these songs to your list sequentially, you can listen to blocks of sounds or moods without reorganizing your list excessively. Alternatively, this can give your shuffle a greater variety, because songs from the same artist will be cast all over the list instead of grouping up on accident. If you find the song you're hearing is an outlier within the artists music after listening to a few tracks, it's okay to move on from that vibe. Don't add things that don't fit the vibe just because it's a new song that you like, remember to only toss those in your general library. We are creating an atmosphere here, people.
Our next stop is going to be some character building, which will help you overall, so don't skip it. Consider for a moment-- what is your character's favorite song? (Or if your canon exists outside our current world, what would their favorite song be if they were sitting next to you right now?) Add that to the list, listen to other songs in the same genre or discography, and add songs you think they would like. These Do not have to be songs that fit the themes of your story-- such as, if you are writing a grimdark, but your character loves Britney Spears, add Toxic to your playlist. Give your character as vivid and real of intersts as your own.
If you are existing in a fantasy-based timeline, consider what kind of instruments your fantasy world would contain, and find the most niche tracks you possibly can using those intruments. Find out what sounds you like and what sounds you don't, and move forward from there. Listen to classical, listen to death metal, listen to pop, listen to synth, listen to folk, all using the instruments of your world. When you find sounds that fit into the place you are creating, add those tracks until you feel a genre is forming. This can be lyrical or non-lyrical, don't confine yourself. Immersion is so important, and the sounds of the world in which your character lives should be as real and vivid to you as the world around you. Because in that moment when you think 'huh, they should really have some sensory input right now.' You will be hearing what sounds they would hear in the distant public places, the elevator noise, the market sounds, the stillness of night, the bright waking of morning, and in all those places, there is music. Let them hear it.
Now, if you are existing in an earth-based timeline, you can do something extra cool with the advice above--- listen to music that your character would have listened to growing up. For example, I was born in the 90s, but my main character grew up between 1975-1990, that would have been the era of their childhood and teenage experience. And what is more important to kids than music, I mean, c'mon, we were all teens with a favorite (and least favorite song). Listen to songs of the time in genres you think your character would enjoy, and add ones you think they would want to hear on the radio or own a hardcopy of to your list. Don't add the ones you think they'd hate (unless it helps you), but do consider, would they hate this song? And why? For extra depth.
Think about their life. What song played at their wedding? What song was chosen for their class prom? What song did they sing at Summer Camp? What would they choose at Karaoke when they are sober? Which song would they choose when they're drunk? Which song do they want to hear during a break-up, what makes them want to dance? Do they like lyrical or instramental, can they play music or sing themselves? Are they bad at it? How do other people feel about their tastes? Do this for every character that's important to you. It'll help.
If you are writing inside your own culture, do make sure to include some of those tracks on your list--- things you may have heard at the supermarket growing up, or while walking down the street, in your grandma's kitchen, or something your character may reflect on fondly. If you are writing outside your culture, I have a single all encompassing tip that will help you far beyond playlists---
Research. Research to avoid stereotypes. Do not confine your characters within stereotypes, but do search for niches, inside jokes, cultural booms, impactful tracks and oft-referenced lyrics. Do this by asking questions. One thing I gleened immensely from Stephen King's On Writing is that he asked a lot of questions; do not rely on ChatGPT or Google to be your only source. Go to the Library, go to your neighbor, ask a stranger, post out polls on forums. Ask questions. The best way to be sensitive and immersed is to respect the experiences of the people around us. We do not need to water down or sanitize their experiences for our own comfort or with insecurity-- you will not fail your characters or your readers if you include the experiences of real people around you. The goal is to reflect that spark of life with accuracy and grace in your writing. You create multidimensional characters by sowing in bits and pieces of depth that you've gained through careful listening. To be a writer is to be a reader of the world around you. Only you can prevent flat characters, so don't be afraid to ask questions.
Now that you've done your research, add all that stuff to your playlist.
Let's look at your characters again; what do their voices sound like? Consider adding songs by artists that really sound like your character, especially if they have the same mood or feeling you are going for, but sometimes even not. If you can hear the voice of your work inside the song, it'll be useful. Some people have deep and graveled voices, some are light and airy, and the way they sound can affect speech patterns and how the people in the world around them percieve the things they say. This extra level of introspection can develop a character further than you would ever imagine. Give it a try. Writing an old man? Listen to Willie Nelson. Go on. Listen to Willie.
OKAY--- It's getting pretty chunky now, isn't it? I have one more thing for your to keep in mind;
Avoid pre-made playlists by others. These can often be surface level and I find myself wondering if my playlist is 'good enough' or has the right 'aesthetic' after listening to alot of these mood playlists on youtube. That isn't what matters. What matters is that you get in the zone. What matters is your characters. What matters is the flow, the vibe, the feeling, the mind-numbing waking hallucinations that bring life to the page, the mood. What matters is you and getting it on the page.
Always remember, write because it hurts if you don't.
til next time