ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE

Writing isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it’s hard. In fact, most of the time it’s hard, and when writing is frustrating and motivation is hard to find, I tend to rely on music to get me back in the zone.

Thus the inspiration for this post! Among everything that I listen to, there are songs that I always turn to when I need a boost of inspiration or something to stir those creative juices. Almost regardless of genre, these songs or soundtracks help me get the words down when I just don’t feel like writing.

And this turned out to be a pretty interesting post to write. While browsing through my library of songs, I can see that the songs that I listen to now are not the same as they were 5 years ago. It’ll be interesting to see what songs inspire me to write in another 5 years.

But for now, here are a handful of some of my go-to-writing-inspiration songs. Maybe they’ll help give you a much-needed boost. Especially if you’re doing Camp NaNoWriMo!

Individual Songs

Florence + The Machine – Cosmic Love

Milck – The World is Unraveling

Message to Bears – Mountains

Two Steps from Hell – Starfall, Norweigan Pirate

Thomas Bergersen – Sonera

Twenty One Pilots – Heathens

Loving Caliber (feat. Lauren Dunn) – Don’t Let This Go to Waste

Digital Daggers – Fear the Fever

Imagine Dragons – Whatever It Takes

Halsey – Gasoline

Marina and the Diamonds – Power & Control

Soundtracks

Noragami (Taku Iwasaki) – I don’t watch a lot of anime, but this one had me hooked, and the quiet, eerie music is so good for getting me inspired. Especially Lurk in the Dark and Misogi.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Klaus Badelt) – High adrenaline, full of adventure and great for writing those intense, action-packed scenes.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Jeremy Soule) – I don’t think I need to say much about this. Classic fantasy fare, and always gives me those epic fantasy vibes.

Deus Ex Human Revolution (Michael McCann) – Not the most memorable soundtrack, but always good at getting me into the right headspace for sci-fi.

Detroit Become Human (Philip Sheppard, John Paesano, Nima Fakhrara) – A stellar soundtrack for sci-fi writers. Some of these tracks are so emotional and compelling – so good at getting you writing-ready. They had three different composers for each of the different characters, so there is a lot of interesting variation in this one.

Mass Effect (Jack Wall, Sam Hulick) – Another amazing OST for sci-fi, especially space opera and space exploration. The second and third games also have some amazing soundtracks. Leaving Earth by Clint Mansell deserves some special recognition.

Persona 5 (Shoji Meguro) – If you’re writing something more contemporary, you cannot go wrong with this soundtrack. It blows my mind how good it is. Beneath the Mask and Life Will Change are probably my favourites.

Fable II (Russell Shaw) – Few games have as much character as the Fable games, and the same holds true for the music. It has that classic fantasy energy but with a twist.

Let’s Chat!

What are some of the songs you like to listen to while your working? Got any soundtracks to recommend? Leave a link in the comments below!