Music is a daily part of my life. I kinda can’t live without it.
I’m one of these weirdos that likes all kinds of music. Turn my iPod on shuffle, and you’re likely to hear Coldplay, Adele, Taylor Swift, Sting, Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Journey, soundtracks from Wicked, Glee, and The Sound of Music, or maybe a little Justin Beiber, Kris Allen, Lifehouse, OneRepublic, Parachute, Kari Jobe, Florence + the Machine, Celine Dion, and The Wiggles. Yes, I can rock out to The Wiggles if need be.
I have quite the large and eclectic collection. I like all types of music except heavy metal and hard-core rap.
As a rule, I don’t usually buy an album unless I’ve heard at least two or three songs off of it that I like.
And because of iTunes and other means of music purchasing, we connoisseurs of music no longer have to purchase an entire album– just the songs we like.
I’m one of these writers that cannot write without music. Cannot.
Music puts me into the “mood” of my story.
For example, I’ve been editing a manuscript that’s rather deep and dark, so my tunes have been Plumb, Evanesence, Within Temptation, and We Are the Fallen. Deep, heavy, “emo” music.
And when I was working on a historical recently, I listened to the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack quite a bit.
When I need happy, I pull out Abba. When I need romantic heartbreak or “moody blues,” I’m into SnowPatrol, Verdera, Sarah McLachlan and Coldplay.
Music inspires me. It helps me to “feel” happy, sad, depressed, scared, angry or romantic; whatever the need may be. It creates a mood, especially when I happen to be feeling something else entirely on a particular day.
I often hear a song and get a story idea, or sometimes I hear one and think, “that will go perfectly with this scene I’m writing.” I did that recently with a song from JJ Heller. A great, happy, upbeat romantic song perfect for a budding relationship.
So, from all of that, each of my manuscripts has its own soundtrack.
Sometimes I think my life has a soundtrack. Hopefully it doesn’t have as much “emo” music as does the soundtrack for the manuscript I’ve been editing. Ha.
This is an example of a great song that helped inspire the plot in a novel I’m currently working on. The song is called Until You Came Along by JJ Heller.
Share with Me: Do you listen to music daily? Does music affect your mood? Writers–do you write to music? Do you prefer music with or without lyrics? Is there a particular song that has inspired you?
Hale and Hearty Words 