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I put together playlists for each novel I write, not for listening to when I’m sitting and writing (I need a bit of peace and quiet then, or at least noise I can tune out) but for listening to when I’m running and thinking. It’s usually fun finding the right songs, songs which mean the right things to me and push me in the right direction for the story.
Storm Singing’s playlist included Hurricane Drunk by Florence and the Machine, Take Me to the River by Talking Heads, This is the Sea by the Waterboys, and Closer by the Kings of Leon. Lots of water and weather, but lots of other stuff too.
I have to like the songs on the playlist, but that’s not the most important thing – the lyrics, the words of the song, have to connect to the plot or the characters or how I feel about the book as I’m researching and writing it.
Right now I’m struggling with a playlist for First Aid Four though – mainly because it would contain almost every song on the Foo Fighters’ Wasted Light (the lyrics of a couple of songs sound exactly like Yann giving me a hard time), and almost no other songs. So at the moment I’m just listening to the album…
But there must be appropriate songs out there – about monsters and baddies and taking over the world, injuries and healing, cliffs and waterfalls, traps and sacrifices, rescues and riddles… I’d better not say any more or I’ll give away the plot!
Any ideas, let me know. And when I’ve written the book, I’ll let you know what songs I actually listened to and you can see if you can find any echoes of them in the book!
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Do you like Wagner?
Wagner? Hmmm. It’s probably very low-brow of me, but I have just never connected with opera. Should I give it a go? His Ring Cycle is all Germanic and Nordic myths, isn’t it? So really that should be my sort of thing. I must open my mind, and try something new!
I love making soundtracks for my books – it really helps me ‘get in the zone’ as I write. For my current WIP I’ve been listening to a lot of Biffy Clyro (a LOT). Try ‘Many of Horror’ – a brilliant, heartbreaking song which fits most of the categories you describe at the end of your post!
There’s a group called ‘two steps to hell’ that I have recently discovered – No they aren’t a thrash death metal band! Their music is very dramatic, cinematic trailer type music. Although there aren’t many lyrics, you can almost hear the deep gravelly voiceover saying “It was a time of gods and monsters….” on nearly every track. The BBC are currently using one track to promote their new natural history programme “Frozen Planet”