Who doesn’t like music? To say music is powerful is the understatement of the millennium. It activates our brain in ways nothing else can. It makes us feel emotions and remember times gone by. We know thousands—if not tens of thousands—of songs, but we think nothing of it. Music is an alphabet of twelve notes from which comes an infinite number of combinations for a language that speaks to our hearts and souls.
Some people like only a few genres of music while others like almost all. I fall into the latter class. As long as it’s not rap made after 1999, or jazz made anytime, I’ll listen to it. I favor some genres more than others, of course. I listen to music all the time when I write. Not just instrumental tracks, either. If the song is one I know very well, I can actually sing it as I type. When I use voice-to-text, I always have something playing in the background.
I use the Pandora app and have a variety of channels, everything from the Ink Spots to Caravan Palace to Demon Hunter to classic rock. I even have a Mongolian folk metal station based on Tennger Calvary. I highly recommend it if you like throat singing and metal.
Some writers pick their playlist/channels based on the scene or character they’re writing. I do this sometimes. For example, during the action scenes in Book 1, Behold Darkness, where Nathan is fighting the terrorists hand-to-hand, I played Demon Hunter radio. It’s metal. But most of the time, I get in moods where I want to listen to a certain genre. For Book 3, Day of Darkness, I got on a kick where I wanted to hear dark country or folk-type music. So I listened to Barns Courtney, Crooked Still, and Brothers Bright radios. Book 2, Ways of Darkness, was Amaranthe radio.
If you’ve ever read any of my books, you’ll realize instantly that music is important. There are numerous references to songs: the first line of Book 1 is the “nightmare” refrain of the Avenged Sevenfold song of the same name. There’s also a “theme song” for every chapter. I didn’t just pick songs I liked. I picked songs that, when you listen to the music and read the lyrics, fit what’s going on in the chapter.
The genre of music fits the point-of-view character. Chapters that have Nathan Serebus as the main character might use a song from Red, Avenged Sevenfold, Demon Hunter, or Seether. He’s a heavy-metal type of person with a broad range of genre interests. But his attorney, Albin Conrad, will have a song that’s slower or more classical/acoustic, such as one from George Ezra, Mumford & Sons, or Bastille. You won’t find any Breaking Benjamin in his chapters!
I got the idea for theme songs after hearing Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International, had created a soundtrack for his book. After I made this a habit in my book, I found House Aimo, author of Zombie Antarctica, did the same thing. His work predates mine.
While the idea of picking a theme song for every chapter sounded fun, it turned into a drag rather quickly during the first book. You see, I made the mistake of going chapter by chapter and trying to pick a song for each. With books 2 and 3, I worked the other way, finding a song and then going by my map of chapters to see which chapter fit. Of course, I already had an idea of the chapter, but this would confirm it. Choosing songs this way means I can do ten to twenty a day. Takes about an hour per twenty.
I keep a list of songs I think would be appropriate for the books. That started when I was trying to think of songs to use for a music video of the Governor from AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Whenever I listen to a song, I try to apply it to a real person or a fictional character. As I listen to more songs, and I listen to the songs I already know, choosing tracks for chapters gets easier. Thank goodness for the internet, where I can look up the lyrics! This would be impossible in the days when you had to go by the CD cover. When I’m done with this four-book series, I’ll have around 450 songs picked out, each one fitting a chapter. For each book, I also have a personal theme song for the main characters. Because the characters evolve through the series, the songs do as well. For example, in Book 1, Nathan’s song would be “Carnivore” by Starset. In Book 3, it would be” Not Gonna Die” by Skillet. Albin’s song for Book 3 would be “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Johnny Cash.
Will I do this for future books? Probably. It’s fun, and when I listen to songs, I now automatically think of what chapter they would go to. Considering my thumbprint on Pandora is over 5000, and I watch on YouTube as well, it shouldn’t be much of a problem finding the right songs.
What about you? When you hear a song, do you think of a character it might fit? Do you have music on while you write or read? If you’ve read my books, do you look up the songs you don’t know?
Recommended Article: Behold Darkness: Wolves of the Apocalypse (Unclean Evolution, Book 1) – a Review
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Love the Something Wild video – totally captivating and so necessary in our lives today and everyday.
Thank you for writing and sharing your soul,
Sarah Butland
author of Blood Day, Arm Farm and more