Hey all! As promised, I've put together a soundtrack for RoboNomics Book II over the past couple weeks. From my perspective, it's as though you can trace the broad outline of the plot through these tracks. That's probably impossible, however. You will have no way of knowing what's going to happen in the story from just listening to this music.
However, might a fun exercise to try and guess! :)
At least it's not as long as the RoboNomics Book I soundtrack! Hope you enjoy it!
Showing posts with label Atmosphere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atmosphere. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
RoboNomics Book I Soundtrack
So, RoboNomics Book I is complete! At least, it is completely posted up on Wattpad now, entered into the Wattpad Prize, and as I just found out, has made it onto one of Wattpad's reading lists. The list is entitled "Time and Eternity". So cool. When they sent me the email explaining that the book is on the list, they said that they 'love' my story! Yay! :)
Before I leave the story, at last, to the care of the world, and start work on RoboNomics Book II, I would like to give it a good send off. And so, I've compiled the very best and most inspirational tracks from all of my previously 'Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter..." playlists into a master list.
And so, here it is kids, RoboNomics the Soundtrack. A massive list of the music I listened to while imagining the plot, coming up with character foibles, and revising -- the endless revising that I put into RoboNomics Book I.
Stay tuned for another little goodie next week...
Oh, I can't not tell you! I'm planning on releasing a preliminary music taste of Book II in the form of a RoboNomics Book II Soundtrack! Can't wait! :)
Before I leave the story, at last, to the care of the world, and start work on RoboNomics Book II, I would like to give it a good send off. And so, I've compiled the very best and most inspirational tracks from all of my previously 'Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter..." playlists into a master list.
And so, here it is kids, RoboNomics the Soundtrack. A massive list of the music I listened to while imagining the plot, coming up with character foibles, and revising -- the endless revising that I put into RoboNomics Book I.
Stay tuned for another little goodie next week...
Oh, I can't not tell you! I'm planning on releasing a preliminary music taste of Book II in the form of a RoboNomics Book II Soundtrack! Can't wait! :)
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 16!
Hey everyone! A little late in the week, I know. But it's a busy one. And now I have the last RoboNomics Book I inspiration playlist until I start posting RoboNomics Book II on September 1.
In the meantime, here's the inspiration playlist for Chapter 16. Remember to check out the story on Wattpad this coming Monday, April 28th at midnight EDT. Can't wait!
In the meantime, here's the inspiration playlist for Chapter 16. Remember to check out the story on Wattpad this coming Monday, April 28th at midnight EDT. Can't wait!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
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!
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!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
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? :)
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Sounds into Words into Settings
I once wrote on my other blog about the system I use for establishing, editing and revising description. In that post, I wrote that sound was the most important, for me, of the senses. When thinking about fictional settings, the sight of it is primary in its establishment. Smell is secondary because it gives fictional scenes texture and a history. But sound, perhaps because I am an audiophile, gives a sense life and dimension. Without sounds, I think, scenes can fall flat.
But sometimes it's difficult to remember what things sound like. So that's when I turn to my perennial friend, YouTube. I've heard academics, back when I was a part of that world, denigrate the internet as a tool of research. But I don't care. I am old enough to remember the world before all of its collected knowledge was uploaded to accessible servers, and I'd much rather things were this way. Where else would I be able to access such boring but essential recordings as these:
There are so many sound clips like this on YouTube, all that can be used for remembering how things sound. Nothing can replace being there on the scene with notebook at the ready to describe things, but sometimes life gets the way, memory fades, setting that require descriptions are not readily accessible. In those cases, thank you Internets! :)
But sometimes it's difficult to remember what things sound like. So that's when I turn to my perennial friend, YouTube. I've heard academics, back when I was a part of that world, denigrate the internet as a tool of research. But I don't care. I am old enough to remember the world before all of its collected knowledge was uploaded to accessible servers, and I'd much rather things were this way. Where else would I be able to access such boring but essential recordings as these:
There are so many sound clips like this on YouTube, all that can be used for remembering how things sound. Nothing can replace being there on the scene with notebook at the ready to describe things, but sometimes life gets the way, memory fades, setting that require descriptions are not readily accessible. In those cases, thank you Internets! :)
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 6
Hey everyone! Another edition of the RoboNomics soundtrack coming at you! RoboNomics Chapter 6 will be on Wattpad on Monday, February 10 at midnight EST! Chapter 6 is back to material that is more polished than Chapters 3 to 5 turned out to be. But if you go over to wattpad to check it out (I don't think you need an account to read), please let me know via wattpad comments or Google+ comments on this blog post or even via tweet what you thought of it. I need some constructive criticisms!!
Also, in the next day or so I will be uploading some sweet sweet Chapter 6 preview pictures to Twitter. So watch out for that. I have been seriously thinking of throwing up some bits of other projects onto wattpad. Especially that Epic Fantasy YA business I keep banging on about. But that will be more of a fun experiment to see what sort of response I get so I won't be compiling playlists or making pictures or promoting it very much. Basically I want to see if that work can stand on its on a website of stories that is populated by 65% young adults.
But enough about that. In the meantime, back to Chapter 6. In Chapter 6, we find Andrea struggling with unemployment and a world that is increasingly filled with automated processes and robots that replace humans in their jobs. She is worried about how her and Austin's income has been drastically cut, but then something unexpected happens that makes her troubles a lot more serious.
Also, in the next day or so I will be uploading some sweet sweet Chapter 6 preview pictures to Twitter. So watch out for that. I have been seriously thinking of throwing up some bits of other projects onto wattpad. Especially that Epic Fantasy YA business I keep banging on about. But that will be more of a fun experiment to see what sort of response I get so I won't be compiling playlists or making pictures or promoting it very much. Basically I want to see if that work can stand on its on a website of stories that is populated by 65% young adults.
But enough about that. In the meantime, back to Chapter 6. In Chapter 6, we find Andrea struggling with unemployment and a world that is increasingly filled with automated processes and robots that replace humans in their jobs. She is worried about how her and Austin's income has been drastically cut, but then something unexpected happens that makes her troubles a lot more serious.
Monday, February 3, 2014
The Origin Story
So I was initially going to put this on an 'About' page that I had plans to create for this blog. But I think the story actually deserves to have a post of its own, before it gets relegated to surrounding copy. And so I'll begin: the story of how I was first inspired by music.
Once Upon a Time...
There was a young seven year old girl -- me -- going to school in a suburban neighborhood east of the capital city of Canada. As was tradition for the schools in that part of the world (and still is, probably) one day a high school band came to visit my school. The teachers all rounded us up and brought us into the gym. We had to sit on the achingly cold floor with our legs crossed. It was torture. Or at least it was until the band began to play.
One can learn a lot from hindsight. For instance, later I joined my high school's band. And we were horrible musicians -- muddling through mostly pops, Broadway or jazz arrangements. But to my child's undeveloped ear, I felt as though I had never heard anything so beautiful. I remember that I closed my eyes and listened to the whole concert sitting still. And that's when it first happened. That's when I could picture -- I thought because of the music -- a story take place before my mind's eye. Characters came to life that I'd never heard of and had conflicts with each other that perhaps were not original but were still thrilling for a seven year old.
Later, when I was older, my high school band did the same thing as that one had -- we went on a tour of the "feeder schools" as the teachers called them and played for the little kids of the neighborhood. I remember looking out across the masses of children and seeing them bobbing around in places to the music -- dancing with abandon as only children can while the teachers attempted to keep them in one place. It struck me then as now how odd I must have looked to other seven year olds and teachers alike: this tiny kid sitting still with her eyes closed. But then that's just the sort of child I was. Sometimes, while I was in elementary school, I used to have contests with myself to see how long I could sit without moving a muscle. I never told anyone -- I'd just watch the clock on the classroom wall and keep track of how long I could be motionless. Just to know.
At any rate, it wasn't until a couple years later that I put pen to paper in an attempt to record a story for the first time. By that time, the infamous concert how grown into legend in my mind and I remembered it as being a symphony of the highest caliber. This idea was exaggerated by the fact that for Christmas that year I received a two volume set of "Classical Essentials" or some such other title. Did I forget to mention it was two tapes? Yes, I am that old!
That's when things really took off, in terms of imagining to music. And it's also why even now, some of my most inspiring tracks are classical ones. But that's not where it ended. I started to imagine things when I looked out the window of the car on those long drives to Grandma's house. On those occasions, the car radio was usually take over by my parents, who had a penchant for hits of the '60s and Leonard Cohen:
It strikes me that early exposure to a poet/songwriter might be behind the fact that lyrics are probably the most important aspects of pop songs for me. Whatever it was, it wasn't a far jump from imagining stories to those types of songs to transferring that skill to all songs with words. And so a habit was formed that would last my entire life: the habit of listening to music as a way of avoiding writer's block. Like they say, music can soothe the savage beast -- which I interpret to mean that music has a way of coaxing the (sometimes) savage muse to come out and play! :)
How about you? Is listening to music a habit that you have in your writing or creating?
Once Upon a Time...
One can learn a lot from hindsight. For instance, later I joined my high school's band. And we were horrible musicians -- muddling through mostly pops, Broadway or jazz arrangements. But to my child's undeveloped ear, I felt as though I had never heard anything so beautiful. I remember that I closed my eyes and listened to the whole concert sitting still. And that's when it first happened. That's when I could picture -- I thought because of the music -- a story take place before my mind's eye. Characters came to life that I'd never heard of and had conflicts with each other that perhaps were not original but were still thrilling for a seven year old.
Later, when I was older, my high school band did the same thing as that one had -- we went on a tour of the "feeder schools" as the teachers called them and played for the little kids of the neighborhood. I remember looking out across the masses of children and seeing them bobbing around in places to the music -- dancing with abandon as only children can while the teachers attempted to keep them in one place. It struck me then as now how odd I must have looked to other seven year olds and teachers alike: this tiny kid sitting still with her eyes closed. But then that's just the sort of child I was. Sometimes, while I was in elementary school, I used to have contests with myself to see how long I could sit without moving a muscle. I never told anyone -- I'd just watch the clock on the classroom wall and keep track of how long I could be motionless. Just to know.
At any rate, it wasn't until a couple years later that I put pen to paper in an attempt to record a story for the first time. By that time, the infamous concert how grown into legend in my mind and I remembered it as being a symphony of the highest caliber. This idea was exaggerated by the fact that for Christmas that year I received a two volume set of "Classical Essentials" or some such other title. Did I forget to mention it was two tapes? Yes, I am that old!
That's when things really took off, in terms of imagining to music. And it's also why even now, some of my most inspiring tracks are classical ones. But that's not where it ended. I started to imagine things when I looked out the window of the car on those long drives to Grandma's house. On those occasions, the car radio was usually take over by my parents, who had a penchant for hits of the '60s and Leonard Cohen:
It strikes me that early exposure to a poet/songwriter might be behind the fact that lyrics are probably the most important aspects of pop songs for me. Whatever it was, it wasn't a far jump from imagining stories to those types of songs to transferring that skill to all songs with words. And so a habit was formed that would last my entire life: the habit of listening to music as a way of avoiding writer's block. Like they say, music can soothe the savage beast -- which I interpret to mean that music has a way of coaxing the (sometimes) savage muse to come out and play! :)
How about you? Is listening to music a habit that you have in your writing or creating?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
The Problem with Movie Music
I'll admit it: I listen to quite a lot of soundtracks. Having no lyrics, I find that movie soundtracks are great background music for times when I really have to focus on the written word: when imagining new scenes, when drafting those scenes or when revising. They are atmospheric enough to make me feel what I am trying to write without being too distracting.
Most of the time.
But there's a problem with Movie Music. Take one of my favorite tracks in any movie ever, Yoda's Theme:
It's an amazing piece of music. But just try and listen to it without automatically visualizing Yoda. He's using the force, isn't he? He's using the force to lift Luke's fighter-plane-spaceship thingy out of the swamp, isn't he? It can be a huge problem when trying to imagine new scenes or plot points for a novel or for trying to imagine new stories. It also distracts when attempting to draft those scenes and during revision. The visuals that are undeniably called up when listening to an iconic track can be just as distracting, for me, as lyrics tend to be.
I find that there are two really good ways around this. The first is to listen to soundtracks of movies I've never seen. Philip Glass is usually a pretty good bet:
Unless you've seen the movie "Koyaanisqatsi" I'm guessing that you're like me and you have absolutely no mental pictures attached to that track.
The other way around becoming distracted by movie soundtrack is to have a bad memory. Now, I realize that not everyone can achieve this. I am a little lucky in this respect, in that if I've seen a movie once, I don't remember it. Unless it was completely and utterly mind blowing, I couldn't tell you anything about the characters' names or more importantly the plot points of a movie after having seen it a single time. And so I get to listen to some fun tracks from iconic movie without having any distracting mental activity. Such as:
Yep, I've only seen that movie once. Yes, it was an interesting movie, of the sort that I enjoy most: speculative, makes you think. But I don't really remember the scene that corresponds to that track in any detail. Maybe people were falling? Or am I thinking of the Simpsons send-up of Inception? I have no idea.
So I'm free, because of my own bad memory, to allow the music to help me imagine whatever scene or plot point I like. Or rather, I am free experience whatever my fertile imagination comes up with when I listen to that track. As for Yoda's Theme -- it, for good or bad, will always be Yoda's Theme and nothing else.
Most of the time.
But there's a problem with Movie Music. Take one of my favorite tracks in any movie ever, Yoda's Theme:
It's an amazing piece of music. But just try and listen to it without automatically visualizing Yoda. He's using the force, isn't he? He's using the force to lift Luke's fighter-plane-spaceship thingy out of the swamp, isn't he? It can be a huge problem when trying to imagine new scenes or plot points for a novel or for trying to imagine new stories. It also distracts when attempting to draft those scenes and during revision. The visuals that are undeniably called up when listening to an iconic track can be just as distracting, for me, as lyrics tend to be.
I find that there are two really good ways around this. The first is to listen to soundtracks of movies I've never seen. Philip Glass is usually a pretty good bet:
Unless you've seen the movie "Koyaanisqatsi" I'm guessing that you're like me and you have absolutely no mental pictures attached to that track.
The other way around becoming distracted by movie soundtrack is to have a bad memory. Now, I realize that not everyone can achieve this. I am a little lucky in this respect, in that if I've seen a movie once, I don't remember it. Unless it was completely and utterly mind blowing, I couldn't tell you anything about the characters' names or more importantly the plot points of a movie after having seen it a single time. And so I get to listen to some fun tracks from iconic movie without having any distracting mental activity. Such as:
Yep, I've only seen that movie once. Yes, it was an interesting movie, of the sort that I enjoy most: speculative, makes you think. But I don't really remember the scene that corresponds to that track in any detail. Maybe people were falling? Or am I thinking of the Simpsons send-up of Inception? I have no idea.
So I'm free, because of my own bad memory, to allow the music to help me imagine whatever scene or plot point I like. Or rather, I am free experience whatever my fertile imagination comes up with when I listen to that track. As for Yoda's Theme -- it, for good or bad, will always be Yoda's Theme and nothing else.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 4
Hey, all! Welcome to another installment of soundtrack preview for RoboNomics. Chapter 4 is coming out on Wattpad Monday, January 27th at midnight EST! Excited? I know I'm excited for you to read it!
In Chapter 4, we find Andrea coping with the day of day of her post-teaching existence. She's come back to the United Workers Protest Group headquarters and she's working at her robot technician job part-time at her old school. However, things are not straightforward in the new job. She makes a discover about the teaching android, the I.I.U., that is frightening...but also opens up a possibility for the Protest Group to really make some waves. The question is, will Andrea let them?
While I was working on the chapter this week, here's some of the tracks that inspired me:
In Chapter 4, we find Andrea coping with the day of day of her post-teaching existence. She's come back to the United Workers Protest Group headquarters and she's working at her robot technician job part-time at her old school. However, things are not straightforward in the new job. She makes a discover about the teaching android, the I.I.U., that is frightening...but also opens up a possibility for the Protest Group to really make some waves. The question is, will Andrea let them?
While I was working on the chapter this week, here's some of the tracks that inspired me:
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Fantastical Music
Today I thought I'd take you through some of my classics of inspiration when it comes to writing fantasy plots.
It's quite a mix, isn't it? And yet it is so easy for to curate all the songs that have, throughout the years, inspired me to write fantasy. It is my first genre. Some of the tracks are not surprising: In the Hall of the Mountain King and the Lord of the Rings-inspired Ramble On.
However it also struck me, while I was putting together this playlist, that many of my "fantastical" songs are very young and hopeful in nature. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I think fantasy, I think young adult novels. Just the nature of my project, I suppose.
I've tried to front-load some of the more peppy, youthful songs and have the list of the list contain more of the predictable or strange, dark songs. Songs about traveling, songs about far-off places. This is my personal list of songs that inspire fables, fairy tales, fantastical adventures. I hope you enjoy!
It's quite a mix, isn't it? And yet it is so easy for to curate all the songs that have, throughout the years, inspired me to write fantasy. It is my first genre. Some of the tracks are not surprising: In the Hall of the Mountain King and the Lord of the Rings-inspired Ramble On.
However it also struck me, while I was putting together this playlist, that many of my "fantastical" songs are very young and hopeful in nature. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I think fantasy, I think young adult novels. Just the nature of my project, I suppose.
I've tried to front-load some of the more peppy, youthful songs and have the list of the list contain more of the predictable or strange, dark songs. Songs about traveling, songs about far-off places. This is my personal list of songs that inspire fables, fairy tales, fantastical adventures. I hope you enjoy!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 3
Hey everyone! I'm working on some stuff for my other blog, as well as working hard on RoboNomics Chapter 3! While you wait for all that to be complete, enjoy the soundtrack to Chapter 3:
Hey at least I managed to get a Chapter 3 preview pic out! Lots of work this week!
Hey at least I managed to get a Chapter 3 preview pic out! Lots of work this week!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Music for Revision
I'm working on some editing and revision bits today and so I thought I'd post up a playlist of the songs I prefer to listen to while undertaking such tasks. For me, I need to do my revisions and editing with as little distraction as possible. Since the tasks involve heavy amounts of reading one's own work, what I need most is focus. And being a wordy sort, I just can't focus when someone is singing words that I understand or want to understand.
Drafting is a different story. When I am writing a first draft or when I am brainstorming I can let my mind wander as much as I want. I can sit at a desk with music playing of any sort and just let the ideas come. But for revision, I turn to one of three main types of music for concentration: symphonies/classical music, trippy or sparse ambient soundscapes, or movie scores.
You'll notice a lot of those tracks are looooong. That's good for me. The longer, the better. Even a jarring transition from one short song to the next can be distraction enough. But the funniest thing about editing and revision, for me, is that I pretty much always need to have music playing. If I don't, the silence is almost as distracting as having lyric-heavy ditties playing in the background.
What about you? Can you concentrate on editing if you're listening to singing?
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Music that Inspired RoboNomics Chapter 2
See? I told you! RoboNomics is taking over this blog! But I promise this will be the last week that I will have two posts concerning the serial novel since I intend these playlists in particular to be little tantalizing previews of Next Monday's Chapter. That first chapter playlist was just a catch-up since this is the first week back from holidays.
So the format of this blog will go from a once a week entry to a twice a week entry: one concerning RoboNomics inspiration, and the other concerning music that inspires other aspects of the writing process in general. Cool. All right. Now onto the list!
There's no way you can figure out what will happen in the chapter by listening to the music. That's not really the point of the list. Think of it more as a soundtrack to the chapter or the soundtrack to my frame of mind when I wrote the first draft.
So the format of this blog will go from a once a week entry to a twice a week entry: one concerning RoboNomics inspiration, and the other concerning music that inspires other aspects of the writing process in general. Cool. All right. Now onto the list!
There's no way you can figure out what will happen in the chapter by listening to the music. That's not really the point of the list. Think of it more as a soundtrack to the chapter or the soundtrack to my frame of mind when I wrote the first draft.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Scenes of Romance
I don't know about you, but I find writing love scenes of any sort extremely awkward. Whenever my characters happen to be a pair of lovers -- they are involved in a scene of romance or a quarrel -- I have to stop partway through the drafting of it. I try to let go of whatever hang-ups I have by writing out the phrase "So Awkward" in the midst of the happenings.
My theory is that I have an allergy to cheese. As soon as things stray into romance territory -- whenever a plot calls for a love scene -- I feel myself cringing. I always want my writing to be at least somewhat believable. I don't want it to become saccharine. Besides, gooey sweet love stories are not something that I personally enjoy. And so I balk at the prospect altogether.
But plots will call for what they will. Characters, fictional as they may be, don't always do what we want them to. And so I present to you my playlist for writing romance scenes. There is quite a bit of cheese included here, but that's because I need it in order to bring out my inner (deeply buried) romantic.
I used to have a playlist player here. It's not working for me anymore -- don't ask me why. However, the list lives on on YouTube! You can see it if you follow the link above.
Oh, what? You don't think it's that corny? I could do much, much worse I guess. I could indulge in a lot of songs that are as phony as artificial sweetener. But that's it. That's as much cheese as I can handle, thank you very much.
It's not like I think fictional characters shouldn't fall in love or something. It's more that I know a million and a half ways to screw up romantic subplots. And I am terrified of screwing them up. So, here's to silencing the inner censor with love songs.
What do you think of my list? Is it too romantic for you, or not quite sweet enough? What do you listen to while writing love scenes?
My theory is that I have an allergy to cheese. As soon as things stray into romance territory -- whenever a plot calls for a love scene -- I feel myself cringing. I always want my writing to be at least somewhat believable. I don't want it to become saccharine. Besides, gooey sweet love stories are not something that I personally enjoy. And so I balk at the prospect altogether.
But plots will call for what they will. Characters, fictional as they may be, don't always do what we want them to. And so I present to you my playlist for writing romance scenes. There is quite a bit of cheese included here, but that's because I need it in order to bring out my inner (deeply buried) romantic.
I used to have a playlist player here. It's not working for me anymore -- don't ask me why. However, the list lives on on YouTube! You can see it if you follow the link above.
Oh, what? You don't think it's that corny? I could do much, much worse I guess. I could indulge in a lot of songs that are as phony as artificial sweetener. But that's it. That's as much cheese as I can handle, thank you very much.
It's not like I think fictional characters shouldn't fall in love or something. It's more that I know a million and a half ways to screw up romantic subplots. And I am terrified of screwing them up. So, here's to silencing the inner censor with love songs.
What do you think of my list? Is it too romantic for you, or not quite sweet enough? What do you listen to while writing love scenes?
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Action Scenes
Yesterday, I was revising one of my high-paced action scenes and I was having a little bit of trouble with it. What happens next? I kept having to ask myself, but I couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer. My characters were reacting to high-stakes happenings by meandering. They dawdled in replying to demanding questions and didn't seem to care that time was of the essence.
Then I realized the problem. I was listening to one my usual soundtrack for editing and revision: barely-there ambient soundscapes. So I switched to another revision soundtrack. This one was a mix of classical tracks. Still, not exactly helping me to get in the right frame of mind. Then I just broke down. Sure, I was in the midst of revising and not technically at the drafting stage, but I needed some drafting music. Specifically, music for drafting action scenes.
For me, nothing quite compares to thumping bass and action movie soundtracks for suggesting movement and urgency. When I played these tracks, a strange thing began to happen. My pen matched the rhythm of the scene. Suddenly, words were flying from it as fast as my imagination came up with them. My characters were running, fleeing, and getting it done. For me, it's the best way to get a scene moving when it's stalled. Plus, it's actually pretty fun. Maybe you'd prefer a different mix of music: metal or drum and bass or what have you -- but still, you should try it.
Then I realized the problem. I was listening to one my usual soundtrack for editing and revision: barely-there ambient soundscapes. So I switched to another revision soundtrack. This one was a mix of classical tracks. Still, not exactly helping me to get in the right frame of mind. Then I just broke down. Sure, I was in the midst of revising and not technically at the drafting stage, but I needed some drafting music. Specifically, music for drafting action scenes.
For me, nothing quite compares to thumping bass and action movie soundtracks for suggesting movement and urgency. When I played these tracks, a strange thing began to happen. My pen matched the rhythm of the scene. Suddenly, words were flying from it as fast as my imagination came up with them. My characters were running, fleeing, and getting it done. For me, it's the best way to get a scene moving when it's stalled. Plus, it's actually pretty fun. Maybe you'd prefer a different mix of music: metal or drum and bass or what have you -- but still, you should try it.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Futuristic/Robotic Music II
 |
| I approve of these songs (robotic voice) |
Here's a run down of the tracks I covered there:
1. ON AND ON - The Hunter: For amazing use of robotic-like vocals
2. Grimes - Genesis: Spooky, otherworldly, ethereal. Love anything weird for the use of inspiration.
3. Massive Attack - Karmacoma: Trip-hop may be a thing of the past, but its association in my mind with movies like The Matrix will forever mean that it is futuristic, for me.
4. Goldfrapp - Human: More trip-hop, but that actually asks, "Are you human?" Spooky.
5. Fever Ray - Concrete Walls: Because if you're writing speculative fiction, you just gotta have some Fever Ray.
6. Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating: Soundtrack for an automated world
7. Kanye West & Bon Iver: Lost in the Woods: Because nothing says robots quite like auto-tune.
Definitely has some holes. So here's some other tracks that are more emblematic of the atmosphere I am trying to capture in my manuscript:
1. Allez Allez - Weird Science: Electronic beats. Enough said. In fact, here's some more:
2. Kate Boy - Northern Lights: Yummy and atmospheric.
3. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive: For some reason, this song has been inspiring me lately. Maybe
it's a mixture of the particular sound with all those lyrics about apocalypse.
4. Portal 2 OST - The Future Starts with You: Definitely have to have some Portal 2 in there. If you want to write about an increasingly electronic world, this is kinda what it would sound like. Am I right?
5. Björk - Army of Me: How could I have even written that first blog post without a little Björk? How is it even possible to write any sci fi without a little bit of her weird playing in the background? Seriously??!
6. Florence + the Machine - Cosmic Love: Maybe I just love the mix of electro beats and the emotional vocals. Similarly,
7. Ellie Goulding - Under Control: Add some bleeps and blorps and we've got a future city.
8. Janelle Monae - Many Moons: No robotic playlist would be complete without a little Janelle Monae and her obsession with androids.
9. Röyksopp feat. Robyn - The Girl and the Robot: A song that's actually about human-robot love. Haha.
10. Tiësto feat. Tegan and Sara - Feel It in My Bones: Quite a lot of umlauts on this playlist. Germanic language speakers and robots = gold? Can this be a coincidence?
So what do you think about my playlist? Did I miss anything (other than sci fi movie soundtracks, which I left out on purpose). What do you listen to while writing sci fi?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)