D.C. Ballard asked Eric Michael Craig:

Do you use music to assist your writing, to grease the creative gears, and if so, what type of music works for you?

Eric Michael Craig I do listen to music, but not music relevant to my writing. I write Hard SF, but prefer Traditional and Neo-Celtic stuff like Loreena Mc Kennitt, Omnia, Faun, and Blackmore’s Knight. I also listen to A Cappella stuff like Home Free, Peter Hollens and Pentatonix. (Pandora is my friend.)

I have a KILLER headset and could literally miss the end of the world if I’m wearing my phones. It’s nice to be able to shut out noises and distractions that way.

Because I was a musician for most of my life music is a good way for me to drop out of the real world, but if the music is too complex (classical or many harder contemporary styles) my brain tends to fall into old habits of dissecting the structure of the music, and I find my hands fingering an imaginary guitar neck rather than my keyboard. So I have to choose things that are in that middle ground of interesting but not distracting.

When I listen to music away from my writing, I like everything from the big-hair bands, to modern country. I am a bit eclectic in my tastes I guess.

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