(no subject)

[tmcg]

Having cars beep their horns in order to say "Yes, ma'am, signal acknowledged, ma'am, I'm all locked up, ma'am" when you use the remote to lock them is like having a doorbell that's loud enough to startle the neighbors and passersby and that instead of politely chiming cries "Look out!" and "Don't hit me!" and "Help!"

Using a potato peeler to laboriously strip the top layer from a stalk of celery you've already rinsed as thoroughly as possible feels a lot like washing the soap. Then again, sometimes the soap does need washing.

I can no longer listen to music while I write because I sense a melodic, rhythmic shape to sentences before I have the words to fill the shape; I need to listen, I need to be able to hear what I haven't said yet.

(I used to like to have music playing while I was writing, and on a panel at the last Albacon--when the question "What music helps you write?" came up, as it frequently does--I said I couldn't have music on at all anymore, and Barbara Chepaitis was curious why, and I told her I didn't know, although I had a vague unarticulated notion that it might have something to do with aging, that when I was younger I was better at handling multiple sensory input and multitasking. Maybe that is part of it, and maybe it's all just different ways of saying "I need to be able to hear myself think." But yesterday I found myself listening for, reaching for, that word melody that didn't have words yet, and I thought, Huh. Wow. This is why. And it is.)

Comments

[terrymcgarry.livejournal.com]

I've always liked the idea of a novel soundtrack, but I never managed to put one together, and now I think it would end up interfering, sad as that makes me. A friend used to make mix tapes for every story he wrote, and some of them were really cool, and even cooler after I'd read the stories they related to. Your novel soundtracks sound wonderful, from what you've said over in the Proxy Circle in the past. How fascinating that for you music helps with novels but silence is better for short stories!

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

I think it's because I can write most of the first draft in one shot, and I don't want to be interrupted, but for a long-term project like a novel, music helps tie it together.

[terrymcgarry.livejournal.com]

That makes so much sense. I can easily imagine music being the touchstone for recapturing the mood of the big project when you dive back into it. Neat.

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

I think you're right; mood's the key. Sometimes I'll make a "mood playlist" if I'm stuck on a scene.