Sometimes I like it hard

... and that's not going to be a post about my sexual preferences - promised.

What I really mean is this: usually I listen to softer music, stuff that qualifies as pop music in my country (meaning not being Hard Rock, Heavy Metal or anything else associated with this - or Rap, Hip Hop etc.). I like listening to music while I write, especially while I write my stories.

But there's two situations in which I need 'hard' music: travelling by train while I'm not completely awake and writing action sequences.

I think the first situation is easily explained: When I'm not really awake and have to travel by train, I need to stay awake, not nod off again. So by listening to harder - and thus louder - music, I can make sure I stay awake.

The second situation is a bit more tricky. While writing a story, I need to get into the right mind-set to write a scene. Normally I don't have a problem with this and can do it with every kind of music running in the background (even though writing a love-scene while listening to Hard Rock surely is hardcore). But as I'm not a specialist for fighting, I need a certain, 'hard to enter' mind-set when I'm writing an action sequence. For this, as I've found out in the past, there's nothing better than some loud, hard Rock. The fast beats resemble for me the quicker heart-beats of the main characters and the loud voice(s) of the lead singer(s) give me the actual battle noises. This way it's easier for me to envision the scene and write it down, including sword fights, fist fights or dangerous escape acts with a lot of attackers.

Why am I thinking about it at the moment? Because I bought "The Arockalypse" by Lordi this morning. Those shocking Hard Rock beats will surely help me with the fights I've already penned out for various stories.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know about the band: Lordi is a Hard Rock band from Finland that won the Eurovision Song Contest last year (with "Hard Rock Hallelujah" - a song I like very much).

Normally I'm not a fan of Hard Rock (as a look into my CD-collection would prove) - but sometimes I just need it hard...