Do you write with music? It’s okay if you do or don’t, or if you write to classical/instrumental. I’m one of those weird people that actually studied/works/writes better and focuses on the words in front of me better when I have music with lyrics instead of instrumental. Instrumental distracts me because I see ballerinas and dancing hippos instead of the screen in front of me 🙂
But if you do write with music, what do you listen to when? This post is mostly me saying what I listen to when, but it’s to give you an example of how music can influence your writing, so you can start to look for what songs inspire you 🙂 Why do you listen to heavy metal when you write fight scenes, probably has more to do with the energy than the lyrics, what about a love scene, or beaten down people planning their next move?
So, read the below and your assignment is (yes, there’s homework, got to keep you on your toes 🙂 to take a song you like and come up with a story to go with it. Just a snapshot or an overall idea, or even a detailed scene or novel plot.
I have a playlist for The Gods Defense, and a lot of those songs are going to be reused for the next book in the series. I have a lot of alternative poppy guy singers for this series. Muse, One Direction, One Republic, Disturbed, along with my usual mishmash of current pop and country. Lots of country because the series is set in Nashville 🙂
For my SDF series (which I’m going back to rewrite this month so clips will probably show up on here more and more 🙂 it’s all pop and country women because the main character is a bubble gum and sparkles girly girl. Madonna and Shania Twain, ’nuff said 🙂
My Sphinx series is a lot more 90s and early 00s pop and alternative. That’s where my Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, The Fray, Alanis Morissette and Bon Jovi come in.
These all reflect the flavor of the books and the characters. My lawyers in the Gods reality are late twenties and are women in a man’s profession in the South – country and edge but too mature to be rebels. SDF is fluffy and pink. Sphinx is more High Fantasy way of telling the story, but set in the modern world, with a stubborn, never wears a dress MC, she’d be punk if she wasn’t too busy studying, and it requires me to go back to the mindset of a 20 year old (so I listen to the stuff I listened to at 20).
I started making up stories when I was little(r) 🙂 I’d hear a song and a story that would go with it would develop, or just see a scene. Many a fight scene gets written to pop/alternative music.
I’ve never kept track over the years of what songs speak to me, and I’m sure I’ve lost hundreds of ideas to the black hole of ‘didn’t write it down.’ But here’s a few lines that jumped out enough for me to hold onto them.
Inspired me to kill off a character: Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Hear You Me.’
You gave us some place to go. I never said thank you for that. I thought I might get one more chance. What would you think of me now, so lucky, so strong, so proud? I never said thank you for that, now I’ll never have a chance.
And their ‘Kill’ inspired a scene of a couple after a breakup:
Well, you’re just across the street Looks a mile to my feet I want to go to you Funny how I’m nervous still I’ve always been the easy kill I guess I always will
Taylor Swift songs pop up for all my series because I like them and she’s got some great lines, but mainly for my character Millie in my Gods series because her big issue is an ex that left her broken. I could see a story playing out when I was listening to Taylor Swift on shuffle.
All Too Well:
And I know it’s long gone And there was nothing else I could do And I forget about you long enough To forget why I needed to…
The Story of Us:
Now I’m standing alone in a crowded room and we’re not speaking, And I’m dying to know is it killing you like it’s killing me, yeah?
Pretty much all of ‘Last Kiss,’ but especially:
I do remember the swing of your step The life of the party, you’re showing off again
I love how you walk with your hands in your pockets How you kissed me when I was in the middle of saying something There’s not a day I don’t miss those rude interruptions
You can plan for a change in weather and time But I never planned on you changing your mind
And then ‘Change’:
Tonight we stand, get off our knees Fight for what we’ve worked for all these years And the battle was long, it’s the fight of our lives But we’ll stand up champions tonight
What do you see when you read those? A possible story, a feeling, a snippet of a scene? Just words 🙂 I saw a girl crying over the death of a friend; exes who were in disguises and the guy staring at the girl because he realized who she was – and that she didn’t realize who he was even after looking him in the eyes; and an entire backstory of a heart broken girl who now has to work with her ex.
I still haven’t used it, but when I hear her ‘Long Live,’ I see a graduation scene. It was the song I associated with law school graduation even though it has nothing to do with graduating.
We were the Kings and the Queens And they read off our names The night you danced like you knew our lives Would never be the same
Long live the walls we crashed through How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
Long live all the mountains we moved I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
You traded your baseball cap for a crown When they gave us our trophies And we held them up for our town
So, there’s my examples. Your turn. Happy Writing 🙂
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