Just For Fun Friday!

This week for a fun Friday I thought I would do something a little different. Instead of my latest favorite jam, I'm going to feature a track that I love because of its writerly nature. "Let's Not Talk About Love" is an ancient song, but one for which the lyrics are fast paced,clever and fun. Sure, some of the references are super dated, but maybe that adds to its charm?

At any rate, every time I listen to it I feel inspired to write a poem...or something short but witty.

And because I'm a music nerd, I've included two versions:

So fun! Have a great weekend!

Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 12

Well, here it is: the music that inspired RoboNomics' next chapter.

Chapter 12 is a small chapter, but by no means lacking in action and excitement. There's a big reveal, so I don't know that I want to say much more about the chapter other than that. Instead, I'll let the music do the talking: 



Hope you enjoy it! And don't forget, RoboNomics Chapter 12 comes out on Wattpad this Monday, March 31 at midnight EDT! Can't wait for you to read it! :)

Literature Inspires Music Inspires...

This blog, so far, has been about songs that are inspiring for writers in general, writers of fiction more specifically, and me in particular.

But there are quite a lot of songs out there that have been inspired by literature. From epic fantasy or Western canon novels to poems to characters, these are just a few of my favourite songs that have been inspired by literary works:


And of course, in a full circle manner, I have to admit that I find some of these songs inspiring in their own right. The great thing about human creation, human specificity of situation and the human brain is that each and every one of these creations can inspire us all in different ways: calling up different memories and different associations, rearranging and melting together until something new, and sometimes unexpected, comes to light and reveals itself as a piece of art.

Revolution/Evolution

So the other day I was thinking about my novel, RoboNomics. Sheesh, what else do I think about these days?

But for the longest time I've been constructing this novel with the idea that I want people who read it to be scared. I want them to think about the trials of my main character, Andrea Anderson, and the fact that her intellectual industry job (schoolteacher) has become obsolete because of a robot with advanced artificial intelligence and think, "Geez, that could be me."

I wanted it to be a novel about how dystopias happen. There are no many science fiction narratives out there in the world that are about dystopias after the bad shit has gone down. And a lot of robot and artificial intelligence take overs follow this format. So on top of RoboNomics being a metaphor for the 2008 global economic crisis (something no one could have imagined back in 2006 or so), I wanted it to go from a normal world, familiar to a reader in say, modern Toronto, to a dystopia.

So far, some the comments I've had on the story have been more along the lines of "That would never happen here," than of "oh my god that could so easily happen to me," which is interesting and not all that surprising. But then I think of the thousands of times this sort of thing has happened before: the total breakdown of a political system, a social contract. I think of the 1990s, when Yugoslavia went from having the world's highest rated quality of life to being a war zone. My point is, stranger things happened in reality than could ever occur in my fiction...

But there's a word for that, isn't there? Whenever a social or political system changes, wherever it slides from comfortable apathy to dystopia: Revolution. Upheaval that lasts only a little while or a long while, until a new political agreement is reached (or imposed) and a new normal is established.

And so, here's my playlist for today -- songs for a robotic revolution of a different kind:



And don't mind the bit of music geekery book ending the playlist. I just had to include a song performed what? 50 years apart. Perfect. 

Just for Fun...Thursday?

Okay, so I was going to do this tomorrow...but by then it would be too late.

Because besides being the Vernal Equinox today is my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

I've always loved my birthday. Ever since I was a kid, I thought it meant something super special that I was born on March 20th, the first day of spring. (No, not March 21 most years you silly Gregorian calendar ninnies....)

When I was turning something like 20 or 21 (so we're talking 2001 or 2002 here), I had some friends in my uni dorm who were as excited as I was to celebrate my bday. So they trotted into my room after classes and one of my buds sat down at my computer, opened Napster (hey, it was 2001!) and downloaded a track for me. Then he hit play and declared that that was my birthday present from him:

It's funny. I've long, long since lost all track of that friend. It's not only that we've fallen out of touch, I just have no idea where he is. I think it was one of those early 20-something things that happen where he dated one of my friends and then they broke up and I was obliged to be on her side and then he starting dating someone else and then....

Well, you've probably been there. But I have never forgotten about that gift or that song. And not a year goes by that I don't listen to it. It's such a great '90s track, such a great '90s video. And it always reminds me how awesome my birthday is! :)

Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 11

So I know that over the past two and a half months (has it really been that long?) I have been posting these 'inspirational' playlists on Thursdays. But this week, two things are happening:

1. I'm super excited about Chapter 11, coming up on wattpad.com this coming Monday, March 24 at midnight.

2. I'm not sure what to write about this week. I wrote about this topic in a really loopy entry on my other blog, but when it comes to that primary blog, I've already got another idea for tomorrow. Woot! But when it comes to inspirational music for authors of fiction, well -- I'm a little short of inspiration today.

And so instead I'll tell you about the upcoming Chapter of RoboNomics:

When we last left our heroine, Andrea Anderson, she had just left her friends in the throes of the protest that was quickly devolving into a riot. She's off to find Chris and the other former garbage collectors, who have been absence for the protest so far.

But in Chapter 11, she catches up to them. And what they're about to do makes Andrea complicit in a criminal plot. But does that mean she'll refuse to help them?

I hope you enjoy this week's playlist! Don't forget to check out RoboNomics Chapter 11 on wattpad when it comes out: Monday, March 24, 2014!
 

Just for Fun Friday!

Oh, man! What a week! I was much, much busier than I thought I would be with the day job, but I managed to get you all your weekly blog posts! But today's, however, I am going to have to dip back in my Fun track files (which I keep very well organized In My Mind filing system) rather than making a new discovery. Hope you don't mind. I really do need to move onto more important things today, like -- oh, I don't know, line editing RoboNomics Chapter 10 (which usually gets done on Wednesdays!)

Alright, enough whining from me, here is your Fun Friday track:

Yay! Makes me happy every time! Enjoy your Friday! :)

Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 10!

Hey everyone! It's that time of the week again! Time to reveal some of the tracks that inspired me in writing RoboNomics. This week it's Chapter 10 -- a big, actiony chapter that leads into the part of RoboNomics during which shit really goes down.

As may be obvious from some of the songs that I've included this week, the protest against the Ontario government's bill -- which proposes to abolish unions in the province -- takes place. The logic behind the proposed legislation is the fact that because so many jobs have become automated, the members of unions in the province are organized around something that is obsolete -- human labour.

However, the protest doesn't exactly go smoothly for Andrea and her friends. Chris, the leader of their group and the person who fought them to hold the protest, is no where to be found. Thousands of people show up in front of the Ontario legislature. Those numbers prove too much for the little protest group to control, especially without their leader.

And then robots get involved in the chaos...

)

Don't forget to check out RoboNomics Chapter 10 when it's released on Monday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) at midnight EDT! Can't wait for you to read it!

Exploring the Darker Side

One of the pieces of writing advice that I've in tons of different 'how-to write fiction' books and articles is to get to know your antagonist. Stories don't work if the antagonistic character or forces, so goes the advice, does not have compelling, convincing motivation for their actions. A writer should get to know their villain from the inside out, to make a flawed, complicated, convincing human character rather than a silly caricature.

And lately I've heard a few songs that are dark enough, with deep enough bass that remind me of that dark side that we all. That side of human emotion and experience from which I personally drawn on for my fictional antagonists. And so this week I'd like to present my playlist of Villain Theme Songs:



Some of them might be heavy handed. But I find that I require to a heavily creepy soundtrack to get into the right mood to write a villain from the inside out.

But writing a villian, an antagonistic person or force, is more than just 'getting to know you'. About six months ago I had a conversation with one of  my friends who's into acting. He said that when you play an evil character on screen or stage, you have to look inside yourself for material. In other words, whatever evil you bring to the character is also inside of you.

Writing a character can be like that as well: all of their motivations, all of their nefarious intentions and evil plots are something that I, as the writer (or you as the write) can tap into.

So let's think of this playlist as one that you can listen to tap into your dark, antagonistic side. ;)

This is just a sampling, of course. And you probably have some of your own favorite villain themes. Care to share? :)

Just for Fun Friday

This is going to be a weird one for me. Hedley. Huh. Up until their past two songs releases, I could not stand this band. But now I find I have an affection for their catchy pop hooks.

So what is going on with me lately? I fear I've reached that phase in life when one's musical tastes go from impeccable to total crap. Seriously, if my 16 year old self was transported forward in time to today, she'd sneer at Hedley and listen instead to oh -- I don't know -- Chvrches -- or more likely Metric.

Not that I don't like those bands, but you get the point. I would never have listened to anything so... happy before now. Anyways, I really hope this doesn't mean that I'll have to start wearing matching velour jumpsuits outside or like, khakis and sweater sets as I drive around a giant SUV. Haha.

All right. Enough speculation. Let's just enjoy the song and the fact that it's Friday:

Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 9

Hey Everyone! So RoboNomics Chapter 9 is coming up this Monday, March 10th. Are you ready? In this chapter, Andrea gets closer to Chris, but she also finds out how dangerous he is. Meanwhile, she and Austin are trying to figure out how to avoid losing their home. Both have become obsolete in their respective jobs, and they don't know how they can make ends meet. Will they lose their home? And what happens if they do? Will Andrea have no choice but to rely on Chris and his volatile personality?

Better check it out on Wattpad this coming Monday to find out! In the meantime, here's a playlist of tracks that inspired the chapter, as taste of what's to come:

I Need Some Motivation to Write!

Yesterday, on my other blog, I wrote about how I had to deal with trolls for the first time as it relates to my writing. I already wrote about what I have done in response, but I wanted to follow it up with some awesome tracks that help me get back to being a determined, persistent artist who wants to succeed. That, instead of a wallowing pile of self-pity.



My musical way of saying fuck you, trolls!