Monday, March 14, 2011

Feeling the Story

I'm a music person. A big music person.

I know it goes without saying, but music is so powerful. It has the ability to make you happy or sad in about 30 seconds. The ability to jog your memory, get you in the mood, make you mad.

Music and my writing go hand and hand. I think I may have mentioned this on here before, not sure, but I don't think any plot development has been created in my mind without the aid of music. Usually while driving in the car. We live in a small town about 15 minutes outside the "metro" area so the highway I drive in and out of town is where I do my dreaming. Characters are born, scenes are created, dialogue happens. All in my head, aided by what is on the radio, or on my ipod.

It's always interesting to me how this process happens. Sometimes it's the lyrics of the song. Or even just some of the lyrics. Sometimes it's the melody, or the emotion. Other times it's just that the song makes me feel like myself. Or the me I dream of being, and that somehow manifests into the building of my work. I don't know how to explain it, other than to say that there is obviously a piece of me in all of my characters and when music makes "me" feel, it makes my characters evolve. This is the part of the process that I love, and I'm all over the map when it comes to musical styles. Sometimes it's rock, classical, country, pop even folk I love. I'm a huge i Tunes browser!! The fact that they updated it so the preview is longer just about made my year!!

It makes me realize why some writers reveal a playlist to go along with their work. It can be so crucial to the process. You want to share it with people, to deepen their understanding of not only your work and your characters...but how they came to be.

I know I'm not alone in this. How do you use music in your writing process?

A song that is relevant to my current WIP is this one....love her

 
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