Inspiration Through Music

As a writer, one of the most important things for me is to be able to put myself in a scene with my characters. I need to breathe the smoky air as they huddle next to an open fire in the wilderness. I have to smell the scents of cinnamon and nutmeg tingling in my nose as they stir a pot of cider on a crisp fall evening. I feel the humid air and the leaves slapping my face and arms as we break through brush in a rain-forest. The scratching and scuttling coming from that room at the end of the hall in your grandparent’s house that you were never allowed into as a child. A door slamming upstairs and that chill that races up your spine when you realize that you’re not home alone after all…

One of the things that helps me the most is listening to music or allowing there to be an absence of it at just the right time. I’m very particular when it comes to finding just the right song to fit a scene in a book. I study songs for the emotions they evoke. When I finish a novel, I will often post a “soundtrack” of the music that I’ve listened to so that others may hear it and understand how I was inspired. In turn, I hope they become inspired by it as well.

‘Inspiration Through Music’ is a weekly blog post discussing certain projects of mine and the music that assisted me to write them. I’ll post youtube links to the songs so that you may open them in a separate tab and listen as you read the blog post.

January 7th, 2012 – Limbo: A Short and Sweet Soundtrack for Horror Writers

January 10th, 2012 – Aequitas: Inspiration Through Music

January 17th, 2012 – Vox: Inspiration Through Music

January 23rd, 2012 – Hurricane: Inspiration Through Music

January 30th, 2012 – Pan’s Labyrinth Original Score

February 6th, 2012 – Massive Attack

February 15th, 2012 – Loreena McKennitt

February 20th, 2012 – A Beautiful Mind Score Soundtrack

February 27th, 2012 – Philip Glass

March 6th, 2012 – The Glitch Mob

March 12th, 2012 – Dark Ambient

March 19th, 2012 – 90′s Movie Music Edition