Writing Tips

Ambience for Immersive Writing

Saraina Whitney

Well, hello there! *waves* I hope you’re having a wonderful day so far!

So I recently discovered the power of ambience for really getting in the mood for my writing. If you haven’t tried this out, you might want to give it a chance and see how it affects your writing! 

All you need to do is decide what sounds enhance or are in the scene you’re writing – for example, if you’re writing a restaurant scene, it would be restaurant sounds (chatter, dishes clanging, etc.). A scene set in a windblown forest would have noises of leaves, wind, perhaps a bubbling brook. 

Once you’ve pinned down the sound you’re going for, hit YouTube with your keywords + “ambience.” (For example, you can search for something like “restaurant ambience,” “forest ambience,” “rain ambience,” “old library ambience,” etc.) You can try getting as specific as you want, cause you never know what randomly niche ambience videos have been made. 😉 

Then you can make a YouTube playlist with all the ambience videos that go with your WIP!

If you need a place to start for finding these ambience videos, I have a super long playlist you can check out. (Some include background music, but I try to make it so most don’t have music.)

I did/am doing this for my 2021 NaNoWriMo novel and it’s turned out awesome. There’s something so powerful in having the auditory stimulation so that you can experience the mood your characters are experiencing. My writing usually grows more vivid when I do it. It just makes for a more immersive writing session.

By the way, “pro tip,” as they say: I love listening to my instrumental novel playlist along with the YouTube ambience. Usually, I turn the music lower so that the ambience is louder and it doesn’t get drowned out. Give it a try and see how it works for you! Or do you already do this? I’d love to know!! 😀 

Alright, have a blessed rest of your day, and happy writing, as they say! 😉

Hmm, that’s my second time saying “as they say.” Weird. I’m gonna go…

28 thoughts on “Ambience for Immersive Writing”

  2. *GAAAASP* THIS IS BRILLIANT!! I MUST DO THIS. THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME, SARAINA! *runs off to figure out how to turn off caps and listen to ambience*

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      1. 😀 It is really so cool!!! Eee YES, so glad to bring this to your attention haha… I also love listening to it just at random times throughout the day even when I’m not writing. *upside down grin*

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  3. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to try out ambience sounds! That’s such an interesting approach – I’m going to have to try it sometime. Thought now I want to experiment right now, hahaha! But, alas, a practice session calls. 🙂

    Thanks for posting, Saraina! 🙂

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  5. Ooooooo! I didn’t know their were ambient sounds on YouTube! I sometimes use Ambient Mixer for that same effect. That’s such a cool tip, mixing in music with the sounds, so cool! (Once Twi and I turned it on and just listened to it while she drew and I sketched out a failed map of my backyard XD) Great post, Saraina!

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    1. Oh YES I like using Ambient Mixer too!! You can get really specific about sounds there – it’s awesome!! (Lol… that’s so funny XD) Thank you!!

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      1. Yes you can! (Haha, we’re an interesting duo ;P)
        *listens to the vid* OH WOW! I love it! (I was thinking recently how much I missed the sounds of summer nighttime, we’d leave a window open and just the smell and sound of the night… am I the only one who gets sudden bursts of story inspiration just because of that??)

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        1. (Haha!! 😀 )
          Eeee yes!! I miss those summer nighttime sounds too. I don’t know what it is about it, but you’re right, those sounds really do give so much story inspiration!!

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  6. Hey Saraina! How have you been?
    This is so cool! I’ve never thought of listening to ambience tracks while writing. Thanks for the tips! I can’t wait to try this out. 🙂

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    1. Hi there!! 🙂 I’m doing pretty well! My baby brother was born recently, so that’s been very exciting. How have you been?
      Ah, you’re so welcome! I hope you enjoy trying it out. 🙂 Thank you for reading!

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      1. Congratulations! Have you all picked a name for him, yet?
        I’ve been doing well. Been working on writing and such! How has your writing been?

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        1. Thank you!! Yes – Oswald! We didn’t know he was going to be a boy (we’d been told it was a girl lol) so that was rather funny! 😀

          I’m glad to hear that! Ah yes, writing – it’s been going okay for me. I’m at a scene in my book where I’m just about to get to the good stuff, so that’s motivating me! lol How’s your writing been? Are you enjoying it?

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  7. Haha! That is funny.
    Ooo, that sounds exciting! I love it when I hit those scenes!
    My writing has been good. Just finished revising a first draft, so round two of edits is coming up (the part of writing that isn’t so fun lol!)

    What genre are you writing in?

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    1. Yay, good for you on finishing that!! That’s awesome! (Ah yes lol!)

      I’m writing a historical romantic suspense! At first I called it that just because I felt like calling it that at the moment, but then I learned it was actually a real genre, so I stuck with calling it that. What’s the genre of the draft you just finished revising?

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      1. Ooo, that sounds intriguing, Saraina! What a coincidence!
        It’s kinda hard to explain my story’s genre. I want to categorize it as MG ‘contemporary’, but it’s not truly ‘modern’. It has radios, station wagons/vehicles, and safe neighborhoods like in the Andy Griffith show; yet it’s not historical…. It’s kinda like Baby by Patricia Maclachlan, or the Penderwicks (according to my sister), where the setting/time period isn’t specific. Yeah, I know that sound confusing XD. I’m working on trying to nail down the closest genre it could fit into to lol.

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        1. Thank you!! Yes!

          Ooo I love the sound of that!! Ahh, yeah I see how the genre’s hard to nail down haha! But you explained it well! I’m no expert on it, but I do feel like MG contemporary would fit the sound of that sort of book, so no worries, it’s not too confusing lol. Either way it sounds awesome!! And I hope I can read it one day! 😉

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  9. Ooo, that’s a great idea! We usually just end up playing our ‘writing inspiration playlist’ which is code for most of our favorite songs…lol…we should definitely try this new trick out though…hmm, this is a new thought. We like it!! Awesome post, Saraina!

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