World Building Wednesday: Background Noise

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Hey Space Cadets, hope everyone is doing awesome!  I’ve finished my short stories and am outlining my fourth novel in the Sleeping Legion Series today.  Should be a barrel full of laughs, if by barrel you mean massive body counts.  And if by laughs, you mean manically!  Operation Breakout was high action and Maternal Vengeance will kick it up a notch!  Speaking of high octane, the

 

ddshort story I’m co-writing with Corey D. Truax will be kick ass as well!  Can’t wait to be able to share it with you, but until then let’s rise above that noise and get on with it!

 

For today’s World Building Wednesday, we shall talk about background noise.  See what I did there in that last paragraph?  LOL!!  Okay, in all seriousness I wanted to talk about the use of background noise in your writing.  Nothing too long and drawn out, just a brief discussion.  I’m personally split on this one.  With the use of my Dragon to dictate I can’t have background noise, but I don’t write with just the Dragon.  I still write some scenes the ‘old fashion way,’ especially the more nuanced or complicated ones.  For these scenes, I pick my music to help me create a mood.

 

So, for generic scenes I’m struggling with I like to use playlists of ambient sounds to keep my mind actively engaged.  Nature sounds, campfires and the like.  I’ve also found a few science fiction based ambient noise sites to help get me in the mood for my genre fiction. Sometimes, if I’m feeling lonely I’ll listen to a coffee shop or library soundtrack for my ambient noise.  I will also listen to classical music and any other instrumental to keep the hamster spinning on his wheels.  One place where I found a collection of mood setting sites was on author Kim Chance‘s blog.  Check it out for some really helpful links.  And of course, there is YouTube.

 

When I just need intense emotions, I’ve been known to listen to music that gets the blood pumping.  Sweet beats, kick ass vocals, anything to set the stage for literary awesomeness.  Depending on the mood of the scene, I can listen to ballads, country, folk and anything else light.  When I want action and adventure, I’ll switch to rock-in-roll and heavy metal.  This works when writing the combat scenes, when you want the blood to boil and heads to roll.  Have you used any of these?  Do you have some good ambient noises to suggest?  Then throw a man a bone, leave a comment below!

 

 

Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry! 

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JR

 

–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are images owned by JR Handley.

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J.R. Handley

J.R. Handley is a pseudonym for a family writing team. He is a veteran infantry sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division and the 28th Infantry Division. His family is the kind of crazy that interprets his insanity into cogent English. He writes the sci-fi while they proofread it. The sergeant is a two-time combat veteran of the late unpleasantness in Mesopotamia where he was wounded, likely doing something stupid. He started writing military science fiction as part of a therapy program suggested by his doctor, and hopes to entertain you while he attempts to excise his demons through these creative endeavors. In addition to being just another dysfunctional veteran, he is a stay-at-home parent, avid reader and all-around nerd. Luckily for him, his family joins him in his fandom nerdalitry.

10 thoughts on “World Building Wednesday: Background Noise”

  2. Sometimes I put on Songs of Distant Earth by Mike OIdfield and based on the Arthur C Clarke short story and novel. Ethereal and a blend of sadness and hope. Then it’s on to the Terminator sound tracks when I move to full-on action scenes.

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  3. I prefer not to have any background noise while I’m writing (especially nothing that involves people speaking!), but my twin likes to have music playing while he writes. He even makes a playlist for each novel, sometimes with songs that remind him in some way of the characters or events in the story and sometimes (as with his most recent book) just music that the main character likes.

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      1. Both our desks are in the same room, yes. He sometimes wears headphones when listening to music, though, and even if he doesn’t, we’re seldom writing fiction at the same time, and I don’t mind music in the background when I’m editing or blogging.

        I could NEVER writer while sitting in a coffee shop or other public place. Even if it was somewhere quiet, too many people walking around… Hypervigilance does not make for a productive writing mood.

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