MUSIC WHILE WRITING BY RITA KARNOPP

I love music and I can set my mood by it.  Like many others, sometimes I like classical or sometimes I like Country or Native American.  You see it all depends on what I’m writing.

If I had to choose just one sound-track to listen to – one that would fit any genre I’m writing – I’d choose Last of the Mohicans.  Yep, that music pushes me on with intensity and excitement. 

When I write 1800s Native American novels . . . you guessed it, I’m listening to Mary Youngblood, Douglas Spotted Eagle, R. Carlos Nakai and Robert Mirabal.  The flutes haunt me and the drums bring me back to a time on the desert where a people lived in harmony on the plains, in teepees, and shared a way of life the white man (Napi-kwan) could have learned much from.

When writing suspense, that involves my Montana cowboys and Blackfeet Native Americans, I lean toward modern country and of course more wonderful drums, flutes, and Native dance songs.

I’ve used reference to music in many of my stories.  My thriller, Atonement, included various sixties music and my Indian Historical, Whispering Sun has a man humming Amazing Grace.

No matter the book, you can infuse music to add a bit more texture to your story.  Lyrics will inspire you to write yet another level into the tone and flow of your story.

But I’ll be honest, everyone once in a while – I just want it silent.  When I wrote the Tango of Death series, I played gypsy music most of the time.  But during those hard to write scenes – no music could soothe my soul to describe what I had to write.  You’ll know when it’s right or wrong.