Do you make playlists for your characters? Does it help?

[LVAdams]

Fun! music really can help explain the tone or vibe your going for, sometimes better than trying to explain it in words!!

[LVAdams]

True, music can be part of the writing in many ways; as soundtrack for oneself or for the characters or vibe etc

[ThunderChicken]

It is absolutely songs that I was listening to at the time, which is why most of the songs are 80’s and 90’s. Every song in the playlist represents and is tied to an event. They say that the sense of smell is the most directly tied to memory (ie if you smell a certain thing it brings back memories of that thing, like your mom’s perfume, the smell of a friend’s house, etc). With me it’s music. With most songs I am brought back to the first time I heard it, no matter how mundane the scene might be. For example, in 1984 my friend Aiden had a boom box (we called them Ghetto Blasters back then), and he was playing a mix tape. Just as we were passing through the gate of the local sports field the song I Wanna Be Somebody by Wasp ended and the song Balls to the Wall by Accept started.

There was absolutely nothing special or remarkable about that moment, and it didn’t even make the cut to be included in my story (but the songs are in the official playlist!). Almost 40 years later I am still brought right back to walking through that gate whenever I hear one of those songs. I actually have them arranged on my phone so that they play together and in order just because of that.

[Zixixibi]

Music REALLY helps with my writing process, so it's very interesting to read here that it can be so distracting for other writers! I totally understand though, sometimes I do need to pause so that I can really deeply think, or sometimes skip songs with vocals because they're too distracting at the moment.

I've tried to make some aesthetic boards for my series on Pinterest before, but after recommending like 2 really good things to me, Pinterest will become a doofus and none of the other recommendations will fit the vibe I'm looking for! Very naughty Pinterest...

OH GEEZ the character sheet I made was inspired by Hirohiko Araki's (Creator of the anime/manga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, if you're familiar at all) character sheet, so it has quite a lot to fill out. I edited it a lot to make it more relevant to the kind of characters I want to create... Araki didn't have a tab for what a character's dance style would be, LOL. I could show you a picture of it, if you would like to see it!

[TheLemmaLlama]

Not really, since I basically only listen to OSTs and I already associate the music with characters/etc in that story

I do make (rudimentary) music for my series though, and oh yes, it HELPS. I feel more hyped up about my comic since writing those songs

is there a specific song that describes your main character perfectly?

It won't be apparent why until the final arc, but this song I wrote recently

[SpookyLocker]

I have playlists for series, Songs that get me in the mood to write

[LVAdams]

Aww that's so nice! i also have some mundane memories like that connected to music like the song Viva La Vida by Coldplay used to play on a tv channel called Voice TV or something which played music videos that i watched with my siblings whenever we visited my dad as kids so whenever i hear that song it reminds me of watching the music video at my dads place haha

[LVAdams]

Haha yeah it takes a lot of scrolling a searching for keywords on pinterest before you find anything good lol

yeah ive heard of that anime/manga but dont know much about it!
Send a pic! i think maybe it could be useful, so far i just have messy word doc with info about my characters lol

[LVAdams]

so nice! i especially like the parts where you sing "I don't want your love.." , and the whole song is very dynamic and flows well, its kind of addicting, kinda wanna play it on repeat and you have a nice voice!

[TroyVSTheWorld]

Shut up and get rad

[Zixixibi]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is... very interesting. It's definitely not for everyone, but I liked it! The characters tend to be kinda gimmicky, and I think the mangaka's, (HIrohiko Araki's,) character sheet kinda reflected that lol.

Here is my character sheet, filled out for the main character of my comic, Chiv! I had to block out some things that are spoilers, but you get the idea! Hopefully you can see everything clearly.
I took a look at my old character sheet and decided it was time for an update, so I spent a day improving it. That's why it took me a while to get back to you, haha.

If you want a plain version to fill out for yourself, just let me know! I personally use my drawing software to fill things out, but as long as you have some sort of software to type over images, it should be fine.

[abigaillmartin]

I have a Celtic Music playlist with two albums I’ve listened to since my freshman year of high school. These albums and pieces of Celtic music have influenced many of my works set in the British isles. I’ve been listening to it more than ever now that I actually have a character from Ireland which is a Celtic nation.

Here is the music I listen to. I recommend these albums 100% it’s very beautiful amazing!

And there is a certain song with a certain surname that influenced one of my characters. Hint: He’s my profile picture and it starts with Mc

I especially recommend the album by Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter it’s gorgeous!

[KilljoyConstruct]

I love making playlists for my comics! It’s fun, and it’s also a good way to keep getting excited about all the different stories I have.

My Unnaturals playlist is the most developed atm, but my ones for Wire Heart and Hell Isn’t Fire are coming along too

Aeroyeen

[LVAdams]

Thanks! no worries totally understand haha and yes i can see it clearly! there's a lot of info that really makes the character more well rounded, having small details really helps with that. The whole time reading through it i was mentally filling it in for my main character Audrey at the same time haha

[LVAdams]

lovely music! love the flutes and harp

the skye boat song one seems super familiar! reminds me of like Outlander or something

theres also something familiar about the lisa lynne and aryeh frankfurter one but i cant put my finger on it haha

beautiful songs all tho

[LVAdams]

yeah music can set the mood and be inspiring!

[abigaillmartin]

the skye boat song one seems super familiar! reminds me of like Outlander or something

It is actually quite famous so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was in Outlander! Skye Boat song is a famous Scottish tune

[abigaillmartin]

theres also something familiar about the lisa lynne and aryeh frankfurter one but i cant put my finger on it haha

They’ve been on many albums are pretty prolific so you might have heard of them

[pixxiepinks]

I'm in a similar boat to a lot of people here, I like to make playlists for the story as a whole rather than certain characters, something to help me get into the headspace of writing this story.

Sometimes I can listen to the music while I write, but often times once it starts playing I start coming up with other situations and plots the music can be for, so I tend to listen to the playlists a bit before when I want to write, and then switch to a more instrumental playlist as I actually write. (Because lyrics distract me, and I tend to just start dancing and enjoying the music instead of working...)

So I guess, yes I do make playlists, and yes they can help, but I wouldn't go super out of my way to make one. Because playlists can be a helpful tool, but there are few things as daunting and frustrating as trying to find not one song, but a collection of songs, that fit one particular vibe from the millions of songs on Spotify.

[choilyriel]

I do make playlists but rather than my characters, it's mostly for the scene the character been through

For example in my story:
- A scene where the mc left the ml (as in leaving this world), I would play a song called Never Say Goodbye, The truth untold or Butterfly just to get the right vibes to it, which also ends up with me crying