Q: Do you use music for inspiration? If so, what do you listen to?
A: I honestly have trouble writing without music, since the right music unlocks the ‘act’ of writing itself. It’s not that I need a soundtrack to my writing (since the music rarely completely matches what I’m trying to convey), but I need a piece that is sympathetic to either the mood I’m in at the time. Often, when I find the right piece of music, it can influence the writing and attach itself to a specific scene or character in unexpected ways. I’m a classical music nut, and have collected it seriously since I was about 17 (I’m in my 40’s now), so I listen to everything from Bach to Mozart to Beethoven to Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky to Shostakovich and beyond. Orchestral music, in particular, seems to complement the act of writing since it’s purely visual and emotional, yet without leading you down a specific alley the way music with words often do. You can put a favorite symphony on repeat and hear different stories each time, which is great, since writing requires you to come up with something new each time!
Joshua Grasso’s story “Bas Relief”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 11 November 2022.
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