My Story, In Song

Happy Monday, guys.

So, I know I haven’t told you a ton about my WIP, but I thought it would be fun to explain it through a few songs that make me think of the story or a specific scene.

I’m 90 percent sure this will seem totally disjointed to you and you’ll think I’m writing a tragedy-romance-comedy mash up that will be as appealing as a peanut butter, lettuce, Red Bull, and string cheese smoothie. If that’s the case, forgive me and let’s still be friends. ’Kay?

Here we go...

This song makes me think of the book on a whole. If this story were a movie, this song would play during the ending credits:

Though I won’t explain it here, some of the lyrics really fit with something that happens at the end of the book:

Whenever I listen to this song I think of a certain scene where one of the characters is dying and something big happens. (Sheesh, I’m being extremely vague here, but just go with it. Please?)

This song is exactly the mood I envision leading up to and during the climax:

And, finally, this song goes with a scene in the story where the main character is really struggling with a moral dilemma. The words “love is our resistance” really fits here, though in the case of my story it’s not about romantic love:

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s impossible for me to listen to these songs while writing. (Seriously. I end up writing gibberish that uses a few phrases from whatever song I’m listening to at the time.) But I find it really helpful to put a playlist together, lay down, shut my eyes, and let the scenes play out behind my eyes. Sometimes the music inspires the scene. Sometimes it’s just the mood of the music that helps me better develop a scene. And a lot of times I’ll think up new scenes while listening to the music.

Do you use music in any way to help your writing? And who hear can listen while writing?*

* I bet you can read in the car, too.