How Soundtracks Inspire My Writing: Music as a Storytelling Muse

For me, music has always been part of storytelling. Not just background noise, but a kind of doorway into emotion. More often than not, it is soundtracks that pull me in the deepest. Instrumental music has a way of opening space in my imagination without crowding it with words.

When I sit down to write, I rarely begin in silence. I begin with music. A single track can set the tone for an entire scene. A rising swell of strings can feel like marching toward battle. A soft piano can carry grief, memory, or longing without a single line of dialogue written yet. Sometimes I will play the same track over and over until the rhythm of it feels like the heartbeat of the chapter I am working on.

Soundtracks, especially, feel like they were made for storytellers. They are written to carry emotion without explanation. They hold tension, triumph, sorrow, and hope in pure sound. When I listen, I start to see images. A shoreline at dawn. Armor catching the light. A mother standing at the gates as her son walks away to war. The music helps me feel the moment before I ever put it into words.

There are times when a particular soundtrack becomes tied to a character or a storyline. I hear the music, and suddenly I understand their mood, their fear, their determination. It becomes easier to step into their world because the sound has already prepared the emotional ground.

In many ways, music is my quiet collaborator. It does not write the words for me, but it helps me feel the story before I shape it. And for a writer working in epic worlds filled with memory, loss, and legend, that emotional connection is everything.

​ 2014, revised 2026 Janell Rhiannon. All rights reserved.