I listen to music when I write.  In fact, I find it difficult to write without music.  It sets tone for a piece for me.  I find lyrics distracting so I largely go for instrumental pieces, film soundtracks and the like.
Over the years I’ve built my music collection that I can normally find the perfect piece of music to match the tone of the piece I am writing.  But for Black as Knight I actually had a very tight playlist for several months that I played to death.

  • Batman Arkham Origins Soundtrack by Christopher Drake
  • Assassin’s Creed 4 Soundtrack by Brian Tyler
  • Assassin’s Creed 3 Soundtrack by Lorne Balfe
  • Assassin’s Creed 3: The Tyranny of King Washington Soundtrack by Lorne Balfe
  • Batman: Arkham City Soundtrack by Nick Arundel and Ron Fish
  • Assassin’s Creed Revelations Soundtrack by Jesper Kyd & Lorne Balfe
  • Thor: The Dark World Soundtrack by Brian Tyler
  • Tomb Raider Soundtrack by Jason Graves
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Soundtrack by Christopher Drake
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack by Howard Shore

I actually really enjoyed having such a small playlist and I think it certainly aided much tighter writing, so I want to repeat the experience with Thieving King.
Except The Four Realms had a much, much larger selection of albums (mainly Hans Zimmer and Two Steps From Hell) and I think I need to select just a few albums from that pool and add in a few new ones.  But what goes in and what stays out is occupying my mind as much as the plot at the moment.  I’m going to be listening to these albums again and again and again over the coming months so the choices have to be perfect.
It’s a fun exercise building a playlist for a novel but I’m really having to fight it from taking over and occupying all of my thought time right now.