Some Facebook or Instagram post quoted someone saying something about how music is the way we decorate time. I think it’s a fair analysis, and I like the quote a lot. A quick google says it’s from Jean-Michel Basquiat, so there you go.
I like to write with music, for most projects. There’s something comforting and familiar about making a playlist and letting it inspire you, and fuel you. I listen to some of my writing playlists (there are a lot, even for books written that will never see the light of day) while exercising, driving, cleaning up from work, or taking morning walks.
But using music to write is even more than that, it’s a kind of way to reclaim time. Granted, that’s a large boast for me to make right now considering I am, at least and hopefully temporarily, unemployed. I’ve all the time in the world (although, as we all know, it is running out). But back in the swing of life, as anyone who writes and works and at least tries to have a life even in the time of COVID, time becomes even more scarce and for that reason precious. The drive to work, the drive back, cleaning both at work and around the house, exercising (because somebody better take at least some care of this body), and socializing. They all consume time, time that’s never coming back.
So, sure, it’s decoration, but it’s also kind of a cheat- a way to multiuse time. Which is how we come to my basic philosophy about writing playlists and the ways I see them forming (and have, as it happens, formed them). The basic philosophy, stated above, is just that. Reclaiming time for your inspiration and your projects by using music to keep your mind at least tangentially buzzing with writing. It helps to use songs you actually like (yes, even if you’re writing characters or scenes you don’t actually like).
The advantage here is that you’re enjoying yourself and, at least subconsciously, thinking about the topics you assign to the songs. Some of my best moments of inspiration (admittedly hard to get down- ask the weird driving videos I take of me rambling or on an elliptical) come while listening to the playlists during otherwise random tasks. I usually try to keep a notebook or my otherwise handy-dandy phone on me for these moments, but you never know. My notepad app is a maze.
The formula above works well under the two ways that writing playlists are formed:
1- Using songs you already like to inspire characters, plot, stetting, what have you.
2- Discovering songs that inspire characters, plot, setting, what have you.
If those seem… too similar, I hope the below explanation of the playlist for A Place I Have Never Been (releasing soon, eh?) helps clarify some things. I kind of went all-out for Telgora’s playlist, the whole thing for the four written books is sixty-five songs. There’s at least one for each POV character, some for major plot moments, setting the scene before action scenes, writing action scenes, and everything else under the sun. The music ranges from classical to soundtrack (musical, movies, and My Little Pony) to metal to country. I also wrote up a (now outdated) “Track List” where I assigned certain songs to major characters or moments as if the draft was a movie and it was the soundtrack.
Hence the title of this blog post! And before you start, romanticizing life is one of the ways I handle it. Having a soundtrack for my novel is a part of that. Giving it names is a part of that. I’m not saying you have to go this far, but I do hope my insights help. Not everyone benefits from writing with music, fair. But certain songs trigger not only feelings, but images in me, too. Using that productively is the best use of it.
I must make one important distinction before going on to the list, and that’s to advise against purposefully seeking out songs to inspire. I find this a little counterintuitive, and feel it robs both the song and the moment of organic inspiration. Trust that it will come to you, that it can come to you, and that you will be able to write it when you’re inspired. Forcing it never did any good.
The below are the songs fixed in my playlist as being specifically for A Place I Have Never Been, under their new unofficial soundtrack titles and the reasons they exist (as spoiler free as possible).
· Start with a Sentence
o “Little Fugue in G Minor”- J. S. Bach. This has long been my favorite classical music piece. You look at the intricacies, the linking of the common theme, and you see how a singular piece, a singular idea, can seize you. There’s so much of writing in it, and I encourage anyone thinking of creating art to listen and think about this piece that way.
· Iron Heart
o “Whatever It Takes”- Imagine Dragons. The prologue for A Place I Have Never Been is free on this website. It was the last thing written for the story, and was partially inspired by this song. I like to think it does it justice. Which? Read and listen.
· A Place I Have Never Been
o “The Storyman”- Chris de Burgh. My go-to song of writing inspiration and the namesake of the novels. I owe this song… everything really. At least as far as Telgora is concerned.
· The Revolutionary
o “Somethin’ Bad” Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. Not originally Eilatek’s theme, but quickly adopted. This was a song that was heard and just… fit.
· The Pilot
o “Holding Out For A Hero”- Ella Mae Bowen. One of my friends had me listen to this, and the combination of melancholy of hope so perfectly fit the character I had already written that I had to add it immediately.
· The Politician
o “The Saddest Song”- Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The only main character song that held from the beginning. This song helped inspire and drive its character, and I am at once ashamed and grateful to it. But it stays, and I can’t tell you yet if the character is better off for it.
· The Opposition
o “The Other Side”- The Greatest Show. A late addition to the playlist, and very much a “discovered song.” I heard it, I loved it, and I knew exactly which character would benefit from it.
· Idealism or Naivete
o “Do It For Her”- Steven Universe. Another “discovered song.” This character lacked a theme song until they were already written, but this fit so well I had to add it.
· Army Freight Special Number 92
o “The Great Locomotive Chase”- Robert W. Smith. This piece was here from the start, both because I like trains and because it suits the slow build of the novel so well.
· Riversbend
o “Do Ciebe Kasiuniu”- Warsaw Village Band. A late addition, brought in part by the experiences of writing the novel and helping build the culture of the Zanerem.
· You Really Do Remind Me of a Plague
o “115”- Elena Siegman. From the start, and Eilatek’s original theme. Heard, obviously, playing the game it belongs to (many hours), yet it serves the role of climax theme so well I couldn’t help but keep it around.
· It Wasn’t This, Was it?
o “How Long?”-Hadestown. A very late addition, brought on by the elevation of Hadestown to status as my favorite (at time of writing) musical. You want a look at a strained, focused marriage? Here we are.
· Never Forget
o “The Rains of Castamere”-Game of Thrones. This specific version took a while to add, but the song as character inspiration existed for quite a time. As an introduction to new tensions, new plot, and new rivals, what a better place to write from, at that?