Writing Music

Music That Helps Me Write

Below is a list of some of my favorite movie soundtrack albums that fit my definition of “writing music.” These albums, along with many others, are what I listen to when I’m in my writing zone. This music inspires me and it helps to cut out other noises that could distract me. The simplest way to describe the kind of music that works for me as I write is suspenseful and pretty. My personal playlist includes over a hundred tracks, but here are just a few of my favorites.

1. Nocturnal Animals by Abel Korzeniowski – This soundtrack has become my absolute favorite over the past year or two. I’ve never seen the movie but I plan to find it and watch it someday, simply to see what visuals were meant to go with this stunning music. And its worth mentioning that Abel Korzeniowski has emerged as my favorite composer too. Sometimes, I set my Spotify app to play only his work. Almost everything he composes is good to write to.
2. The Illusionist by Philip Glass – This is the album on my list I’ve been listening to for the longest amount of time; over 10 years. Composer Philip Glass pretty much invented the kind of music that I like to write to. He is a musical genius with tons of fantastic albums. The Illusionist, however, is the cream of the crop for me.
3. Romeo & Juliet by Abel Korzeniowki – This one is more on the romantic side, as would be expected, but the suspense and tragedy are ever present. Beautiful music.
4. Interstellar by Hans Zimmer – Some slow builds on this soundtrack are beautiful yet eerily suspenseful.
5. Glassworks by Philip Glass – This was not a movie soundtrack, but the avant-garde album that made Philip Glass famous. Many movie composers adapted his style into movies later.

---

Thanks for reading. To read more articles from me about the craft of writing, current science events, updates on my next book, and a serialized story that I’m releasing one chapter at a time for free, please follow me by subscribing to my weekly newsletter at scottcahan.substack.com.