Appropriate timing for this week’s blog challenge: Music to Write By, as I was just a guest on Roz Morris’ Undercover Soundtrack earlier this week, talking about songs that inspire my books.
I’m also participating in the #authorlifemonth challenge on Instagram, where a few days ago the topic was writing music.
Each of my books has a playlist, which you can listen to on Youtube:
But when a scene doesn’t have a specific song, I fall back on about a dozen or so movie scores that always work for me (see picture on the right). I love listening to movie scores for a few reasons: 1) I can’t listen to music with lyrics when I write; it’s too many words in my brain at once, 2) they have built in moments of emotion and drama due to the storylines they go along with, and 3) I see stories in my head when I hear classical music. Even if I know what scene a song goes with, often my mind gives the music a totally different story. In this way, the music acts as inspiration.
A few others not pictured that I love:
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Becoming Jane
- The Dutchess
- North & South (BBC 2004)
- Mansfield Park (1999)
- Jane Eyre (2011)
- Northanger Abbey
- Wuthering Heights
- Cider House Rules
- Chocolat
- Pretty much anything scored by Alexandre Desplat, Rachel Portman or Nico Muhly
What is your favorite music to listen to? Do you like film scores? If so, which ones? Do you imagine songs to go with your favorite books? If so, what’s on your list?
PS – Yes, I skipped last week’s blog challenge. I was busy and it was about hobbies – I don’t really have any outside of reading, writing book reviews, and research, which are related to my writing. 🙂