Good day folks! I‘ve been thinking for a bit, and decided to change up things for my WIP Crackin' Wednesday posts. You’re still going to get my writing updates. I’m going to consolidate them into one section, though, so I can spend a few words talking about other things.
Today’s topic: music and writing!
Discussion elsewhere reminded me of this scene from "Down Among The Dead Men" (available in Pinup Noir from
), where the shade of Anne Marie Chase strolls into a bar full of dead men:
The pianist nodded slowly, then turned back to the keyboard. Chase sang as he played, her voice soft and low. Bourbon over ice, heat with a chill to send a shiver down the memory of your spine.
When I wrote this scene - and this bit, in particular - I was listening to the "Castles" EP from Natalie Layne pretty much non-stop. I needed a voice for the Seraph, and Miss Layne's fit the bill perfectly. It's a fantastic album, and an example of how music influences writing (and, I am sure, vice versa).
While I don’t always find a playlist for my writing, sometimes it helps quite a bit. Especially if I am doing any sort of “serious” writing. I am the kind of fellow who sees humor in everything; making fun of situations, or of myself, is probably a self-defnese mechanism of some sort. So when I’m want something a little more serious, having music set the mood helps quite a bit.
Take the weird west story I’ve been working on recently. I put together a short playlist that helps me to “get in the mood” for jumping back into that world:
Ian Noe - “If Today Doesn’t Do Me In”, “Between the Country”
Johnny Cash - “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”, “The Man Comes Around”, “Hurt”
The Dead South - “In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company”
Those songs don’t just put me in the mood. Each one of them has influenced the story in one way or another; either directly or indirectly.
I’ve got another… thing… I’ve been working on that has been heavily influenced by the album Another Sky from Fiddler’s Green. Yes, they are a German Irish Speed Folk band. Give them a listen; it’s the genre you didn’t know you needed.
Then there’s my writing playlist, full of songs that match up with various ideas and characters. One of these days y’all are going to get to meet Silk, and understand why “Hazy Shade of Winter” is perfect for her. The same for James O’Neil and “Hall of Fame”, or Damien Black and “Closer to Fine”.
I’ve got a story coming out soon in the Five-Second Rule anthology. The only possible title for it was “My My, Hey Hey”… and once you read it, you’ll understand exactly why that is. I had that song running through my head the whole time I was working on the story for good reason.
If you don’t want to wait for those tales to wander out into the wild, you could go read “FedEx” in Supernatural Streets. Put on “All I Really Want” to get a feel for what Cassie’s like - because man, that is absolutely, 100% her song.
This is all just scratching the surface for me; and I know plenty of writers who have soundtracks for books, for characters, or even for individual scenes. Even when I don’t mean for it to happen, the music that I listen to ends up weaving its way through my stories.
If you’re a writer: how has music influenced your writing? What bands and songs have made their way into your work? If you’re a reader - do you have a song that immediately makes you think about a certain series or character?
Let us know in the comments!
The Business of Writing
A mid-week update on my three major commitments: to write, to edit, and to read.
This has been a very people-centric week. Lots of events, meetings, time spent dealing with people at home, work, and elsewhere. As an introvert (yes, I realize, what a surprise!) that tends to leave me exhausted. The past week has followed that trend, to the point where I pretty much called it quits and crawled into bed at 8pm last night.
I still made progress on the weird west story; sketched out an idea for a possible WWII alt-history tale; and whomped up a nice little backstory for the D&D character I’m playing in a new campaign. I also hav a
No real editing to speak of, though Shari & I are evaluating a non-fiction project to see if we’re a match there. I’m anticipating and planning out what will have to go into reading for the Stories in the Key of Tull anthology, though. Deadline for that is March 1st; based on what I’ve heard elsewhere, that means that I can expect a flood of stories to start working their way to me soon. Now, , “flood” may be optimistic, but there’s no sense in living otherwise, really.
Reading-wise, I’m continuing to slowly work my way through San Diego Lightfoot Sue by Tom Reamy.
Other Stuff
I have a giveaway running for One October Night! Sign up for my newsletter at the link and enter to win a copy.
There’s some unavoidable political stuff coming up. Well, I suppose I have to admit that I could avoid it, but I fell an obligation not to. So it you will be in Harrisburg, PA anytime around the 1st-3rd of March, let me know and I’ll do my best to say hello.
As I said earlier, it’s been people-centric week. Several dinners/lunches with family; an evening spent watching some of my former Sunday School kids play basketball; lots of meetings and interactions. All good stuff, but it seemed to clump at the end of January. Ah well. I shall rest and revive and rise again, like the incredible dumpster phoenix I am.
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When I was writing To Have and To Hold, I probably listened to Sabaton’s Resist and Bite a thousand times. It was 100% the theme of that story.
https://youtu.be/loTjRIL7qWo?si=eAQK2UULTxICJ504