Building your own writing playlists

“The only thing in the world is music. Music, and books, and one or two pictures.” 

Said Virginia Wolf; and as a writer myself, I would also add coffee to the equation, but maybe that speaks more of my exhaustion than it does of my creative writing process. 

Music, however, is definitely an essential component for me and my artistic process. Not all writers enjoy musical companionship while they work, but even if not during the active parts of the writing process, they mind make use of it during the editing, the plotting, or even when suffering from a good old case of the writer’s block and in search for inspiration. 

Why create a writing playlist? 

The idea of a writing playlist focuses less on background noise, and more on creating the ideal environment for your work to flourish. Some days you may find your creative self takes over, and your background blurs away as you lose yourself in your writing. Maybe the idea of a playlist serves as a bridge between that state of clarity, and the days when writing seems to resist us. 

Do I think “Amigas Cheetahs” is a good song? No. But does it bring me right back to being a carefree 11 year old who thought the Cheetah Girls film was peak cinema, and that layering t-shirts was high fashion? Absolutely. 

Music forms powerful associations within our brains, and it makes sense that a carefully curated playlist would immerse us in a story, a place, a character. A song could carry you back into a scene. An album could hold the atmosphere of your entire draft. 

Where to start:

The easiest place to start is YouTube. You can find curated playlists, depending on your mood, the genre of your work, etc. This also brings a visual aspect, because it often is accompanied by calming pictures, or a window-like view that helps set up the atmosphere. 

Pro tip: search for NO AI content, follow channels that curate these playlists, or even create a playlist yourself and add your favourite music to it. 

Here are a few of my favourites: 

• Work Towards your Happiness – A low-ficompilation of music that I use when working on non-fiction, and also when replying to emails. 
• Calmed by Nature – A channel that posts audio and video ambiance. Ideal for cosy writing and seasonal writing. 
• Enchanted forest – Ideal for fantasy writers, this enchanted forest makes an appearance every time I write and read romantasy.

Physical Media

As a reformed song skipper who used to spend more time finding the perfect song than actually listening to music, I have come to really value physical media. The joy listening to a full album brings me now was one of my favourite discoveries of last year. This comes in the form of vinyl records for me, but you could also do this with CDs, cassettes, or even digging out your old Mp3 player and taking it for a spin. 

What kind of result will you get from letting a full album play during your next writing session? Will the tactile aspect of selecting, placing, and pressing play change your immersion? 

A fun idea for an activity: go charity shopping and find physical media that you think one of your characters would own:

• What film scores would give them goosebumps? 
• What songs would they listen to on a long road trip? 

Connecting these characters or stories with physical objects might be not only a great source of inspiration, but also a fantastic way to discover music outside of your comfort zone! 

Character playlists: 

Not to get all method writer now, but I do believe immersion might be the most effective way of fleshing out a character (Hellerman, 2021). 

So what could be a better way to step into your character’s psyche, than to listen to music they would? or creative a playlist that is the musical equivalent of their Myers-Briggs test? 

Share with your readers

In the romance genre, it is not uncommon to find playlists within a book. This additional material allows the reader to explore other sensory avenues when reading. You might wish to do the same for your story. Allow your readers to listen to the tunes that inspired your creative process, or perhaps even create a collaborative playlist that allows them to suggest songs that remind them of your work. 

Streaming platforms 

Exploring new streaming platforms is also a good way to discover indie artists, and user friendly features that allow for a seamless creative experience. 

In the end, a writing playlist can be a source of focus or of inspiration. You can create as many as you need/want, and you can categorise them by genre, mood, character, scene, etc. You can share them with others, or keep them to yourself. Make them as general or as specific as you prefer (check out this scene specific playlist for example). The (music) world is your oyster, go and have fun! 

Sources: 

Hellerman, Jason, ‘What the Hell is Method Writing?”, via NoFilmSchool.com, available at: https://nofilmschool.com/method-writing (Accessed 01/04/2026).