I’m always on the lookout for inspiring but unusual techniques that will help writers to get their imaginations revved up and producing great material almost without trying. In other words, I like to find ways of getting people into a state that we call ‘flow’. Flow is that beautiful condition of mind in which you are semi-hypnotised – outside yourself looking at a lean, mean creating machine doing its stuff in an effortless and masterful way.

Needless to say, if you can find the secret door that reliably takes you through into this beautiful secret garden of the writing life, you will be much more likely to produce work that 1) pleases you, and 2) pleases your public. Unselfconscious work is nearly always better work because it is fearless, deep and fluent. In fact it has all the qualities that we like in a friend. As a result, people will want to spend time in the company of your writing.

In my free book ‘Ten Unusual Tips for Writers’ I offered some suggested techniques that might take you on a journey into flow. As the title suggests, I tried to steer away from the same old stuff that many creative writing gurus churn out. We’re all familiar by now with practices such as character-building questionnaires and morning pages. They’ve been extensively discussed in many books and blogs, and in fact they do help a number of aspiring authors. But, for the rest of us, who find those well-trodden paths lead round in circles, it can be frustrating to hear the same old advice spun out again and again. That’s why I made it my business to mark out some new routes up the mountain. You can download that book here.

Now and again, new techniques occur to me, and I like to tell people about them here on this blog, or on my Facebook page. Handily enough, one occurred to be this morning (Sunday), on my usual day for blog writing, so here goes.

You’re probably not familiar with the world of library albums. You should be. It is a wonderful source of inspiration. Essentially, music libraries are the big beautiful reservoir from which most of the music you hear on TV comes. I’m sorry to disillusion you, but the soundtrack for your favourite show was almost certainly not written to order. It was probably sourced from one of the huge databases of music owned by large media companies such as Universal. That doesn’t mean the music is any less powerful or evocative, in fact quite the opposite. It is written to target a very specific mood, setting, character or moment so that it can be taken off the shelf and used in a TV show without too much fuss. And it doesn’t result in a highly generic feel either. That’s because the secret to success for composers of library music is to find niches rather than trying to be generic. And, to help TV producers find precisely the niche music they need, the library companies tag each piece with very specific descriptive terms. The titles are highly specific and evocative too, as you can imagine.

The great news is, you can access this music, for listening purposes without charge or registration. Yes, you, as a writer, can go to a website such as https://www.universalproductionmusic.com and dive into a totally free and almost limitless sea of inspiration. When I use this resource, it’s as though I’m the producer of my own internal TV show, selecting a soundtrack that’s suitable for the story concept I have in mind. I search for what I need by entering keywords rather than exploring genres or artists. The search terms I use arise naturally from the story or novel idea I’m working on. I hit the search button, and up pops a list of musical pieces that are designed to have strong associations for my specific imaginative niche. 

I don’t know whether everyone is like this, but I find music incredibly good fertiliser for my creative process. As I listen, I find characters, settings and  situations flooding into my mind. It helps that library music is designed as an accompaniment to visual stories. Sure you could search for music on YouTube, but you will not find much that is so skillfully and specifically hooked in to key moments in stories. Suppose you need something that suggests the reconciliation of lovers. It will be there in a good music library – tagged to make it accessible. Or maybe you need inspiration for a scene in which your character returns to a childhood home. No problem – a number of alternative pieces will appear, all with slightly different takes on the same moment.

I find this an extremely powerful technique, and I hope you will too. Give it a go and tell me how you get on by commenting either below or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pfmasterclass/.