Figuring Out What Works: The Ambience of Audiobooks, and the Strangeness of Brains

Lots of writers listen to music as they write. Some even decide on a “book soundtrack” to set the mood. I’ve got to admit that’s a pretty cool concept. It apparently works well for many writers. Maybe their writing has a more epic feel if they’re listening to appropriately epic music. Or maybe it takes on more of a cyberpunk flavor if they’re listening to trance. Or maybe it’s all a placebo effect. Who knows?

Personally, I find it impossible to write alongside music that has lyrics. I think about the lyrics too much and can’t focus on my writing.

That’s why this next bit is going to make no sense at all.

When I listen to an audiobook, especially if it’s of a book I’ve already read (or of a particularly boring book), my mind starts to wander, and I find myself thinking about my own book instead. And then I start picturing exactly how to execute my own scenes, often down to the final wording. It’s like magic.

At that point, I can’t even hear the audiobook narrator anymore. The narration becomes similar to white noise as I visualize my scenes. Doesn’t even matter what genre it is. It takes time for this effect to kick in, but it always seems to work.

This phenomenon is something that has me scratching my head. Something a “How To Write” book could’ve never told me in a million years. And I concede that the human brain is full of mysteries science still doesn’t understand.

It has to be audiobooks. Music with foreign lyrics don’t work. Neither do podcasts.

You might be wondering about instrumental music.

I found that, while I love everything from lyric-less classical music to video game soundtracks, listening to instrumentals while I write doesn’t seem to help or hinder my process. However, I prefer silence for the mere fact that I can get too fiddly changing tracks and choosing songs.

The point is, try everything. Try writing to white noise, pink noise, brown noise, gray noise, ambient rainfall, or a 10-hour track of people talking in a bar. You never know when you’re going to stumble upon something you never thought of that can make your writing process easier.

Or maybe I discovered a specific phenomenon that would work for lots of people, but few have thought to try? Brains are strange.