Put the Muse in Music

Music has always been important to me. It has the ability to transport you to a place you may have not been able to get to on your own. My life has a soundtrack, and I plan on keeping the music going until the DVD commentary. A beautiful thing.

I didn’t realize how much influence it has on me until I went back to create a playlist for Iron Obsession. I found it very interesting the songs that stood out for the book. One CD in particular could almost serve as a soundtrack on its own. Each song had a strong presence for part of the book. I found this odd until I realized when I got the CD. When I was writing a bulk of the book, I listened to it incessantly during the process. It called to me, and I was like an addict, hitting play one more time. Just one more time. The music inspired me and helped shape a large part of the book, the emotion, the mood, and even some details.

Other songs and artists served their part as well. Sometimes I needed a little help getting in the mood for a scene that I just wasn’t feeling; it would transform me to the place that I needed to be. Then I could open the door, walk inside, and be the scene.

I also placed music in the first book, along with the second; characters actually listening or playing music. It helped show the mood, move plot points along, and give the novel more personality. I love it so much, why wouldn’t my characters? Characters each have their own favorite kind of music, which only helped define who they are.

Pearl Jam, Blind Melon, NIN, Stone Temple Pilots – there in there. And somewhere along the way, someone “butchers a Journey song” during karaoke. (Have you ever been to a single karaoke bar and someone not sing a freaking Journey song?!)

It’s a beautiful thing when art leads to art.