Theme Songs

I find music a required part of my writing experience. It gets me in the mood, drowns out the surrounding world, and sometimes really carries me places, bringing along with it significant chunks of my story. I usually start out with my iPod on shuffle, letting it randomly select the songs I hear. Then, as my novel starts to develop and my characters start to grow, I gravitate towards certain songs, or artists, or genres. After a few days, I find my groove and I make a play list for my WIP.

Music has always set moods for me--angry, sad, whatever--just as it does for everybody. But with writing, it's different. It doesn't so much set a mood for me as open up corridors in my mind. I peak into its darkness and pull out--sometimes amazing--concepts and other times, completely ridiculous ideas.

As crazy as it sounds, for The Setting Sun, I abused the heck out of George Winston's Forest album and AFI's December Underground album (The latter seems a little more appropriate for the book). To this day, if I hear Love Like Winter or Tamarack Pines, Owen and Kate pop in my head, and I begin to miss them and want to read their story again.

For White City, it was mostly Ludovico Einaudi. It's not that the music or song itself fits the theme of the book, per se; it's more like it fits the character at the time, what their going through or some thread of a theme being carried through the story.

I have this one character for The Broken. His name is Tiberius. And he's a bad ass. So, he needed a song that reflected that. And I found it. It's Filter's Hey Man Nice Shot. It's an AWESOME song, and every time I hear it, I see a guy in jeans and a leather jacket, walking slow mow down a street, with explosions and fire erupting behind him. Kind of cliche, I know, but it fits so perfectly. I nod my head and give a quiet, evil chuckle. Can't wait to write about him.

But regardless, without music, I don't think I'd be able to write like I do. It's as important as breathing. Or eating. Or Coffee.

So what music are you listening to right now with what you're working on?

--Me