Twaddle for the 8th - The Sweet Sound of Inspiration

When I’m first drafting there are a few things I need.

1.     A baby sitter.

2.     An endless supply of coffee.

3.     Access to the Internet.

4.     Pen and paper.

5.     And most importantly…MUSIC!

For me, music is the single most important must have for the all-consuming inspiration that is needed for the first draft.  And I don’t find music to go along with a scene. I do it the other way around. I listen to random music until the music gives me the scene. You see, I know what I want the scene to do, but the music shows me the way it plays out.

Once the piece of music speaks to me, it becomes part of my manuscript. I’ll play it over and over until the scene is complete.  Then I’ll listen to that song for weeks afterwards, reliving the emotion of the scene it inspired and keeping my head firmly rooted in the story while I move onto the next section and the next song.  By the end of a book, I’ll have approximately one song per chapter, which are so ingrained in me that sometimes, listening to the music leaves me bawling crying or laughing out loud as I relive each word.

The side effect of this dependency is that I play the songs so frequently that a) my husband ends up despising my playlist and turns it off in favor of SAD FM as soon as he sits into my car, and b) my kids (including my four year old twins) will end up with word perfect renditions of songs that you’d never imagine coming out of a small child’s mouth. It makes this momma proud.

I’m always on the look out for new music, but for my last two books my old faithfuls have been:

Elbow, Electric President, Moby, Coldplay, Radiohead, Dido, Lisa Mitchel, Radical Face, and Vast.

Have a listen to these. Both of these songs inspired scenes in Carrier 2. Close your eyes and see the music instead of listening to the music...if you know what I mean. We'd both see very different things, but I'm sure the tone and mood would be similar.

You’ve heard two songs that have really spoken to me, now I’d like to hear of the songs that really inspired you. If you have links please post them. I’d love to have a listen.

All the very best and talk soon.

Leigh

Love Story: My Theme Song for YA PNR

As many of you know, I'm not only a writer of novels, but a writer of songs. Most of you probably know me from my song that HarperTeen is using as the official song for Lauren Oliver's novel, Delirium, or my song inspired by Sea by Heidi R. Kling.

Anyway, I thought I'd debut a "new" (new to you, ancient to me) song here on YATopia and get my music to a different range of readers. Here's a little ditty I wrote/sang/played called "Love Story" and I hope you like it! The lyrics were inspired by Stephenie Meyer's New Moon, but then I realized they pretty much sum up most YA paranormal romance novels, haha.

Happy listening!

Speaking of music, don't forget to check out my Delirium giveaway! HERE

La, La, La...

Hi, I'm DJ and I'll be posting every other Saturday along with the wonderful Wendy. Most of you know me already, but for those who don't, I run the YA book blog, DJ's Life in Fiction and have currently signed a deal with Pendrell Publishing. My debut novel, Hunted, will be released early fall of this year.

Now that we've been acquainted with one another, let's talk about writing, shall we? After all, that's what we're all here for, right? :-D

A lot of writers listen to music while writing. If you know me, you know that I play the piano, sing, and write my own songs, many of which were inspired by books. Music plays a vital part in my life. I honestly don't know what I would do if I couldn't tickle the keys or dance to Florence and the Machine. But when it comes to my writing, music takes the backseat. I can't focus when listening to music and writing. Instead of focusing on my story, I become too obsessed with finding The Perfect Song and end up changing songs every ten seconds.

It isn't until after the story has been written and I'm revising that I turn on some tunes. Even then, though, the songs I listen to don't represent a certain character. I'm afraid I'll never be like Maggie Stiefvater or Stephenie Meyer whose playlists are made of epicness that contain songs that serve as a character's theme song. But I do listen to songs that capture the overall mood or feeling I'm trying to convey with a certain scene or even line. (Or I'll just listen to whatever song is stuck in my head, which is usually something by Lady Gaga or Paramore) Still, I have to keep the volume low to help keep my mind in check and focused on the writing, not the listening.

So, fellow writers, do you listen to music while writing? If so, how exactly does it affect your process? And readers, do you listen to music while reading?