Writing and music can go hand in hand just like comfort food and hot cocoa. If your writing muse has left you agitated, unsettled, or discombobulated, perhaps you can appease it by selecting music appropriate for your creative process.
Research shows that music can increase a person’s focus when working on complex projects such as writing a story. Listening to music is also known to boost one's mood and to give one’s perception of the work as easy. A study in California State University at Fullerton showed that athletes performing squat jumps had more explosive force and speed then those who worked without music. Let’s look at how music can impact our work of writing.
Music can change your outlook on a difficult project
Get yourself over a hump and conquer a tough scene by switching up your music. Listen to songs that get your pulse racing and your mood improved. Before you know it, the words will be flowing and you won't be thinking about how burdensome this project is, but rather how happy you are getting closer to finishing it.
For me a difficult project is something that involves formatting. For some writers, the detail-oriented work of creating a clickable table of contents, creating an index, crafting a bibliography, or anything format related at all, is a challenge they will gladly accept.
But these types of work tend to shut down my creativity and spin me through a wash cycle of anxiety that keeps me from finishing my work. I understand the importance of these tasks and can force myself to be disciplined enough to hit my deadlines, but it's not without pain and potential hives. Music is the balm that takes my mind off the difficult parts and helps me focus enough to finish my work.
Music can keep you and your muse motivated
Play some of your favorite tunes and give in to your groove. Playing the same music at the start of a project can help you get into the mindset of your work in progress. Keep track of the songs you play and see whether listening to your favorite song helps you become a more consistent writer.
Create a specific playlist that represents the project you're working on. Find music that gets you in the mood of your main character, or the tone of your writing, Or the pace of your plot actions.
For example, if you are writing a historical period piece, perhaps your playlist contains Bach minuets or orchestral pastoral romps that remind you of a Bridgerton-esque setting of high tea. Perhaps you're writing a sci-fi epic saga and need long techno flowing music. Or perhaps you write about the underground cultures of post punk rock and listen to a little Sid vicious to get into the rebel mindset.
Music can boost your mood and keep your muse happy
Listening to music you like can make writing feel easier. The feeling of enjoyment you get from listening to your favorite songs will carry over into the writing and you will enjoy the writing process more. Pick music that speaks to you and is that a pace that you want to work at. Faster or slow your satisfaction while working will improve.
Music will make you write easier
Our brains are smart and are always at wits against our muse. Our brains recognize how difficult writing is and it has the natural tendency to make you think about it. With physical exercises perceived rate of exertion can make our brains put on the brakes. How can this relate to writing?
One article states that our brains also have limited attention or upload speeds and a way to trick our brains into working anyway, is to give our mind something pleasant to focus on. Listening to motivating uplifting music can distract you in a positive way from the difficult parts I'm staying butt-in-seat.
Try music to increase your word count in less time
I'd like to propose the idea that listening to music at certain beats per minute can correlate to the number of words a writer can produce over time. Who would like to join in on this study?
Beats per minute – a writerly experiment
These are not story beats, nor beets-you-eats, what I am referring to here are our music beats. Want to try something fun? And non scientific? Join me in reflecting on how music works in your writing process.
Pick out a song that last inspired one of your works. Maybe it was a song you had on repeat while working on a short story or a playlist that just gets you into the writing mood.
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’ – 113 BPM – Who knew that this power ballad would roll along at a slower pace than Getz? I believe the feel-good factor of this song can help the most stuck writer complete a page or paragraph
Paperback Writer – The Beatles – 78 BPM – This tune is described as happy and high energy. And the lyrics align with my writerly goals.
Anti-hero – Taylor Swift – 97 BPM – Any Swify’s out there? This smart and snarky tune conjures up delightful characters for me. And a little research for my YA novels, lots of teens (and their adults) really dig this music.
Feeling Good - Nina Simone - 79 BPM – Good and gritty. And at a pace that encourages me to stay in my seat and write.
Tell us your below! Maybe we can add some inspiration and music to our own playlists.
About Kris
Kris Maze is an author, writing coach, and teacher. She has worked in education for many years and writes for various publications, including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and the award-winning blog Writers in the Stormwhere she is also a host. You can find her horror stories and young adult writing on her website. Keep up with future projects and events by subscribing to her newsletter.
A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors.
And occasionally, she creates a kick-*ss playlist for her muse.
One aspect of the book business that authors dislike is marketing their work. Not all of us are born salespeople. Some authors are extroverts who enjoy putting themselves out there, and easily juggle a day job, writing, and family time. Not all of us have this superpower and find that time to promote ourselves and our writing is difficult.
People cannot read your work if they don’t know it exists.
Authors need time to successfully promote their books. We can’t borrow time but we can expand our reach by cross-promoting with other authors, particularly but not exclusively with writers in the same genre.
Don’t worry about competition. Readers consume far more content than any of us can write. Teaming up makes sense.
Forms of Cross-Promotion
Newsletters
Cross-promotion works best when you’re supporting other authors who write in your specific genre. Since your target audiences overlap, you will all have a better chance of increasing your reach.
Because of privacy concerns, authors don’t “swap” e-mail lists. Instead, they agree to mention your launch, discount, or contest in their own newsletters. Since newsletters are a productive path to book sales, this type of cross-promotion is great and the only cost is a bit of time to contact other writers via social media or email.
Multi-author giveaways and contests
Get several authors together to run a contest or giveaway, with every writer promoting the event and donating an eBook, paperback, or audiobook code as a prize for readers to win.
Have a care if you decide to use something like an eReader as a prize. Some years back I joined a multi-author giveaway that had such a prize. A plethora of people entered, giving their email addresses long enough to know whether they’d won, and then opted out of the authors’ email lists. Not all, but a large enough percentage “unsubscribed” that MailChimp flagged me. After I explained what happened they gave me time to rectify my situation and remove the subscribers myself.
This same situation with unsubscribing can happen if you join a group that is in a different genre. Multi-author promotions can work wonders for attracting positive attention to your work, multi-genre—not so much.
Goodreads lists
Authors are unable to add their own books to Goodreads lists. Enlist other writers to add each other’s books to Goodreads lists that are a good fit.
Exchange ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies)
Having giveaways for ARCs during a book’s preorder period is a fantastic way to collect early reviews. Consider trading ARCs with authors in your genre and asking them to run giveaways for your books on their social media channels, offering to do the same for them. This creates greater exposure all around and a good chance gain more new readers.
Interviews
Be interviewed by another author on video.
Video is a great attention grabber. If a video includes multiple authors, each can publish the video to their social media channels, cross-promoting to several audiences, and giving exposure to each other’s fan base.
Speak on an author panel
Public speaking can be intimidating, but there is safety in numbers. Like singing, being in the choir is a lot less nerve wrecking than singling solo with a band.
During a panel, authors are usually seated in the front of the room with several other authors. A moderator will ask the questions. Most often, these questions will have been predetermined with a chance to discuss them beforehand. Some questions will be for a particular author, and others will be for the entire group.
Speaking on panels at bookstores, conferences, and festivals, is a great way to gain exposure to readers, fellow authors, and publishing professionals. Panels offer authors many cross-promotion opportunities. Participants have visibility to fans who originally came to hear a different author speak. Panels let authors connect with and learn from their fellow-panelists.
How to find authors to cross-promote with
Join a critique group, meet other writers at conferences, or hang out in the same Social Media groups.
If you don’t have writer friends yet, join some Social Media groups for your genre, follow the hashtags for that genre, and start commenting on fellow writers’ posts. It’s very important to comment.
If you’re traditionally published, reach out to other authors who are with the same publisher. If you are self-publishing, search for a group of indie authors in your genre.
Participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It’s a good place to meet other writers.
Join cross-promotion platforms like BookFunnel, Prolific Works, and Story Origin that offer group promos you could join. This option is not free, but it may be worth consideration.
For more ways to find authors to cross-promote, author Donna Galati shares 11 Steps to Find and Connect with Other Authors in Your Genre on the WITS blog.
Final Thoughts
Be easy to contact. If you don’t have a website or you don’t have your email or a contact form on your site, fellow authors will have trouble finding you.
Build a relationship. People who know you are more likely to recommend your book to their readers.
Sharing is caring. Share some of their content, comment on their posts, and get to know them.
Return the favor. If a fellow author helps you promote your book, ask what you can do to help them promote theirs.
Be professional and reliable. Stick to deadlines.
How do you cross-promote your work? Share a cross-promotion story.
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About Ellen
Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi.
There are hundreds of books and classes that insist a writer must start with a story with a specific story structure. This implies that anyone who doesn’t use that method is writing their stories the wrong way. Some writers avoid structure, saying it stifles their creativity. Other writers may find the plethora of conflicting terms and advice to induce more headaches than help.
Discovery writer or Plotter, we are all human. Humans use story structure every day, multiple times a day. Each time we tell about a personal trial or triumph, or tell a joke, we are using story structure. Knowing what a Plot Point is and how and where to use it is a strategy that will help you craft successful stories.
Why Use Story Structure?
I’m not here to tell you that how you write is wrong. Get that first draft done, however you need to do it. But if you never address your story’s structure in at least one of your drafts, you do a disservice to yourself and your story.
Have you ever watched a movie or read a book that just felt “off?” Maybe it’s a story you’ve written. You can’t put your finger on why it feels that “off” but you know something didn’t quite work. Most likely the story structure is off. Understanding story structure will help you identify those problems and will help you write better stories.
All humans have an innate understanding of the pattern of a story. We expect moments of set up followed by tension that lead to an action followed by moments of “relief.” This expectation appears to be universal. Still, story structure isn’t a recipe or a one-size-fits all. It’s a pattern that successful stories follow. Structure makes your story flow powerfully, which keeps your reader’s rapt attention.
Which Story Structure is Best?
A very short story usually has only one or two elements of structure. A novelette (7,500-17,999 words) has a more complicated structure. While novels and series have complex structures. The longer your story, the more nuanced your story structure must be.
There are many approaches to story structure. There are three-act or five-act or seven-act structures. Some approaches to story structure work best for specific genres. Others are more general. Some are more scholarly and still others are more simplistic.
At their most basic levels, all story structures agree a story has a beginning, middle, and end. This is not news to you. Your story has those parts. But it’s the stuff within each of those parts that is truly important. This is the “structure” that shapes your story into a successful one.
By reading about different approaches to story structure, you’ll learn how you can adapt those interior parts of structure to your story.
Writers in the Storm contributor, John Peragine, discussed 14 different plot structures that might work for pantsers here and here. You can find resources on Writers in the Storm and on my website. As you read, you’ll find many approaches that you will reject as not helpful. That’s okay. Keep checking out different approaches. It takes some work, but one will speak your story language. You might discover different parts of different story structures fit you best. That’s okay. Mash them together.
The Most Important Part of Story Structure
There is at least one Plot Point in every single successful story, regardless of its structure, its subject, its genre, or its intended audience. Plot Points are the most important part of story structure.
A Plot Point is a person, place, thing, event, or situation that creates a significant change for the primary character. The change can be in the protagonist, in her situation, in her location, in her goals, or in the reader’s perception of any of these things. It can involve only one change, more than one, or all of them.
Its function is to clarify what the stakes are, to connect the sections of the story, and to propel the character (and the reader) forward in the story. This means that the Plot Point falls at the end of an act.
Don’t let the name throw you off. There are many names for this element of your story. Blake Snyder uses “Beats.” Larry Brooks calls it a “Plot Point.” James Scott Bell calls it a “Doorway of No Return.” Shawn Coynecalls it a “Turning Point Progressive Complication.” I use the term Plot Point, but to my way of thinking, calling it a progressive complication is the clearest way of understanding what it is.
Aren’t Progressive Complications Everywhere?
Yes, and no. Your character should face as many or few complications as your story calls for. And all complications should become increasingly difficult for your protagonist to overcome. Complications can be part of a subplot. Sometimes those complications reveal different strengths or weakness that come into play during the story. Sometimes they have purposes specific to your story.
And no, progressive complications that are plot points shouldn’t be everywhere because these key complications occur in specific areas of your story and keep making things worse for your protagonist.
The First Plot Point
This is a complication that happens around the 25% mark of the story. It is a progression of the inciting incident. In other words, if the inciting incident didn’t happen, this Plot Point wouldn’t have happened. In addition, this Plot Point should present a more difficult internal or external obstacle for your protagonist. (If you can do both, yay you!)
The protagonist cannot overcome this complication in the same way she overcame the inciting incident. Plus, her choices here will cost her something. Her choice also forces her toward the mid-point complication of your novel.
The Second Plot Point
This Plot Point happens at the 50% mark of the story. It’s no surprise then that it is often called the mid-point. The obstacle and choices your protagonist has made so far have led her to this even more challenging obstacle. It’s at this point the protagonist realizes she didn’t have a clear idea of what problem she faced before now. Now she has a clearer idea of what she is about to face and exactly what it’s going to cost her. This understanding propels her toward the final conflict.
The Third Plot Point
The third, or final Plot Point, happens around the 75% mark of your story. Again, it directly results from the choice the protagonist made during the previous Plot Point. Now, the protagonist learns something of importance that will help her overcome the final conflict.
This last Plot Point is also when your protagonist finally understands how much she will lose, even if she overcomes this obstacle. Take your story’s tension up several notches by making her face a dilemma. This Plot Point forces the protagonist into the final confrontation with the antagonist.
Note A:If you follow something other than the three act structure, you may have more plot points. Regardless of how many there are, keep cranking up the difficulty and building toward the final show-down.
Note B:Precise positions of these plot points are unnecessary, but the closer you are to the mark, the less likely your reader will get too impatient to finish the book.
Types of Complications
Progressive complications sounds well, complicated. Fortunately, the concept only sounds complicated. There are two basic types of complications in stories: Revelatory and Action.
A Revelatory complication is where new information comes to light. This information can change the way the protagonist understands the complication or the overall story problem. It can be information about the location, the situation, an upcoming event, about the antagonist. It can be a clue that is only partly understood. The key factor is that it changes something about the situation, so the protagonist must change her strategy to move forward.
An Action complication is when someone does something that forces the protagonist to change his strategy.
Link the Plot Points
You, the writer, have to make your protagonist’s journey more difficult. Use a revelatory progressive complication or an active progressive complication that arises because of the previous complication.
If you are writing a romance, a revelatory progressive complication could be that she learns her heart’s desire is the sort of person she’d never marry. In a thriller, your protagonist could learn of an impending danger to herself, her loved ones, or her world that she doesn’t know how to solve but only she can prevent.
Each time, the protagonist gets a new glimpse or new understanding of the big bad obstacle or person standing in the way of her achieving her goal. That glimpse or new bit of information added to her previous knowledge and events, limiting the choices she has and forcing her to change what she does next.
The stakes go higher with each complication. Each change or choice she makes seals off all other ways out of her situation. There is no turning back. For ill or for good, she must charge forward into the next Plot Point all the way to the final confrontation.
Example: Star Wars: A New Hope
Inciting Incident: Luke finds Obi Wan Kenobi to give him the Princess’s message and learns about the Force.
Plot Point One: After finding his aunt and uncle dead, Luke goes with Obi Wan to help the Princess and learn about the Force. (He has dreamed of adventure, and now has nowhere else to go.)
Plot Point Two, The Midpoint: After a tractor beam pulled their ship on board, Luke and company discovers the Princess is a prisoner on the Death Star and decides to rescue her. (If he hadn’t seen her message to Obi Wan, he wouldn’t have been in the ship, tractor beamed aboard the Death Star, or wanted to rescue her.)
Plot Point Three: Luke and company make it back to the ship because Obi Wan is battling Darth Vader. Luke watches Obi Wan allow Darth Vader to strike him down. (Luke can’t continue training with Obi Wan and can’t allow Obi Wan to have died in vain, so he moves forward toward the final confrontation.)
3 Signs of an Ineffective Plot Point
1. Your reader doesn’t connect with your protagonist, or care about her goals, or doesn’t care about the antagonists.
Problem: Your character isn’t deep enough.
Solution:
Avoid stereotypes and cliches. How? Your first thoughts are usually something you’ve experienced or read or seen in the past. Push beyond that. Brainstorm ways to make your character different. Make the difference more than skin deep.
Give your character a life beyond the book. Figure out what her important relationships and life events were before the book begins. How did she think her life would progress from there? Will her relationships, job, important life events change after the book’s ending?
Show more of your character’s inner thoughts and emotions.
Give enough of your character’s background that your reader understands why her goals are important, what she fears, and how far she’ll go to get her goal.
Give her a flaw that could make her unable to reach her goal. Then use that flaw to increase the reader’s tension. Hint: Make her unaware of her flaw. Or have her think of it as a strength. Then, when it interferes with her goal, it will heighten the reader’s tension
Incorporate some bit of your own personal, emotional experience into her story. Chances are, that bit will make her seem more human and therefore more relatable.
2. The protagonist conquers each complication with little or no difficulties.
Problem: There’s too little challenge.
Solution:
Show your character stumble because of her flaw(s).
Make her fail at least once.
Show her faltering because of the pressure.
Give her a secret that’s in danger of being revealed because of her situation.
Give her an opponent that is as strong as she and has a reasonable chance of winning the fight.
Make her do something that hints at an extraordinary skill she is hesitant (with good reason) to use and she must overcome her hesitation to use it during the final confrontation.
Make her experiences in this story force her to change in an important way. Your reader wants to take the ride, to feel the struggle.
Have her struggle to overcome her flaws and her obstacles. Make her earn her wins.
3. Someone else solves the protagonist’s problem. Or the conflict doesn’t cost the protagonist. Or the protagonist’s triumph at the end is unbelievable.
Problem: Conflict is not big enough.
Solution:
Make certain what the protagonist wants and what obstacles she faces have a connection. Obstacles that simply delay are not satisfying.
Be certain to show the reader, more than once, why your protagonist believes this fight is worth it.
Show that she has good reason to doubt her ability to win.
Make it cost your protagonist dearly to keep going, to overcome her obstacles, to battle her foe.
Make her fear the consequences of losing and winning.
Force the protagonist to betray herself.
Push the antagonist and protagonist together.
Show the antagonist’s strength, abilities, or needs.
Make the antagonist as strong or stronger (in personality or abilities) than the protagonist.
Make the protagonist’s choice the tougher than she wants to face.
Note: Even if the conflict is small in real life, it must be of vital importance to the protagonist.
Outlining Destroys My Fun/Creativity
Story structure doesn’t have to destroy your work flow. You can apply story structure whenever it works best for you and your writing. Some writers start with a basic outline, others create detailed outlines before they write. Those are not the only times you can use story structure. You can write your outline scene by scene as you write. Or you can write your story from beginning to end. Then, during a second or later draft, apply your story structure. Maybe each story you write will require a different structure or time when you apply structure.
Structure is a Strategy
Some of you have done your homework and have assimilated the skills needed to create powerful plot points. Some of you use story structure instinctively. If either of those are you, go you!
If you haven’t started studying story structure, don’t stress about it. None of us know it all. Keep writing, keep reading, and keep learning. Story structure can be a lot of challenging work. Rise to that challenge and you will have a much stronger, more compelling story for your readers.
Do you intuitively or deliberately use story structure? If deliberately, when do you think about structure?
About Lynette
Lynette M. Burrows is an author, blogger, Yorkie wrangler, and occasional stained glass technician. She writes character-driven science fiction exploring the power of choice, identity, transformation, and unimagined heroism.
Her fast-paced series the Fellowship Dystopia, takes place in 1961 and America’s a theocracy. Following the rules isn’t optional. Not even for one of the elite. The first two books, My Soul to Keep,If I Should Die, and the companion book, Fellowship, are available on Amazon and all online bookseller sites. She is hard at work on the third book of the series, And When I Wake.
Lynette lives in the land of Oz. When she’s not procrastinating by not doing housework or playing with her dogs, she’s blogging or writing or researching her next book. Join Lynette online at https://lynettemburrows.com, Facebook.com/LynetteMBurrowsAuthor, or on Twitter @LynetteMBurrows.
