On April 21st, I'm going to be a guest, well, Majesty technically, the sports loving yapper from Kings & Queens, is going to be a guest on the Indie Writers Review blog. She hip checked me out of the Q&A. Can you believe it? Well, you know how she is, all gabby with a tongue of fire and whatnot, and if you don't know about her, you should find out. My eBooks only $0.99 currently, so it's a cheap way to meet some new friends and delve into a dark and twisted young adult thriller.
Well, anyway, at the IWR, Blogger Michelle Cornwall-Jordan has this cool thing called Mind Tracks, where writers can share the songs that inspired their book. So if you want to see what mine is, you'll have to check it out on the 21st. So, I included several songs, I'm not sure which couple she'll pick, but I included six or seven songs, so I hope she chooses Stuck on Me by Lionel Richie because I made my very own, and first, love montage for it. The song inspired the love journey in my book and even gets a mention in the book.
I had a blast fun making it. I'm not sure how long it will last because Youtube is inconsistent about their copyright rules, but montages and covers are everywhere, I even have some favorited.
But, here's my montage for Stuck on You by Lionel Richie.
Let me know what you think. If you like it, please like it and comment on youtube, so it can rise in the ranks. Thanks!
I've been pondering my love of music. I enjoy all different kinds. I listen to more styles than anyone I've ever heard of. And there's something kinda cool about Indie bands, untapped musicians who are trying to make it, playing their hearts out, writing because they're passionate about the art they create. Some indie musicians, like writers, are truly awful, but in the vast sea of sludge there are some true gems to be found. And when you discover one, your day feels a little bit brighter.
Kris Allen's unlabeled CD Brand New Shoes for instance, features songs that are quite lowkey and James Taylorish but definitely awesome in their own right. And I'm not trying to knock him, but his new album with 19, entitled Kris Allen, lacks something.
I'll attach the singles Beautiful Moon and Live Like We're Dying so you can see what I mean.
Beautiful Moon
Live Like We're Dying
Beautiful Moon is gorgeous, right? Live is a good song too, but it's a little too commercial, a little too polished. You know what I mean? See how bluesy and free and sung-from-the-heart Beautiful Moon is? And sure he sings Live full gusto, but Kris's unique style gets lost in all the gloss.
And take jazz on another note. Yeah, you can listen to those greats like Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis and his glorious sextet with the amazing John Coltrane, all remastered on CD, stripped of all grit with the tracks separated and then remixed the way Scotty at the controls thinks they should be, but you end up with much less than what you had before.
You see, there's something amazing and enjoyable about kicking back and listening to old music on LPs a.k.a. records. (Those vinyl discs with the holes in the middle for all you sprouts who've never seen them outside of Flickr.) Vinyl showcases more. The crackles. Vocal glitches. That one part where the sax rules the room. I love those imperfections, as though the musicians are just jammin' in a room somewhere. And you can picture your grandma or great grandma swinging on her porch and sipping lemonade as she daydreams of dancing with her true love who's off at war.
The glossed-over, perfectly mixed, auto-tuned music of today is slapped together for mass consumption, but it's vastly empty. It lacks substance and, more often than not, fails to move people.
1960's tunes, on the other hand, encapsulate history. Pick up nearly any album and you'll get a stance on war, drug culture, loss of innocence, civil rights or free love. Where is that today? Sure, you get the occasional Linkin Park song or whatever, but where is the urgency, the fury, the fire, the passion, the drive to sing about the things that matter, the things that affect our world and threaten out freedom?
And sometimes when you write, what comes out of you first, all raw and passionate, IS what's best. You CAN over-edit, where your work ends up so very pretty on the outside but a shell of what it once was. Taking the advice of too many critters can strip your work of its original rawness, of its best stuff. Use your judgment. Only you can tell your story and know the best way to tell it.
I think I've done this with Kings & Queens to a degree. Don't get me wrong, the novel did need major help, I was way too wordy and used too many be-verbs, but I inadvertently removed some of my best stuff. I let others alter my voice and scrub my work too much. My stupid drive for excellence! It's too late really to go back now, and I am liking the way it is, but it gives me something to keep in mind as I go forward.
For future novels, I'm going to handle the red pen a little more delicately and not be quite so vicious. I don't want a work to lose ALL its rawness and the passion with which I wrote it. Because just like camps of CD listeners versus LP, someone will notice the difference.
I'm kind of weird, in case you haven't guessed. Okay, not kind of. A lot weird. For instance, I don't read the way normal people read. Most people can grab a book and sit down in a library or curl up on the couch in a quiet house with some tea in hand and read away.
Not me.
I've always needed some kind of noise to read: people talking, the TV on, music in the background. For some strange reason, needing to block out noise helps me focus and I can then absorb the information. The more boring and complex the book, article or essay, the more chaos I need to actually HEAR the words.
In college whenever I had to read something dry and dull like Economics or Government, I'd show up early to a basketball game and read chapters during the warm-up. That worked perfectly. I could get my homework in and then have fun by watching basketball.
But this little issue of mine made it impossible for me to take reading comprehension tests. The actual testing method contradicts my strange process of absorption and comprehension.
First, you must read boring material—and several blocks, not just one—in a fast amount of time in total silence, except for the blasted, ticking clock. Of course you can hear the clock eating away at your grades, dragging you closer and closer to an F or a dunce cap with each deafening second. Then you must answer questions to prove you can read those boring tidbits, but you can't really READ said paragraphs because that's NOT how you read. Awesome!
In Third Grade, they even stuck me in Special Ed because they were concerned about my "inability to comprehend", but being 8, I couldn't explain that the test just didn't work for me. If I could have had a walkman and no dripping hourglass, I would have aced the test every time. I've never had a problem comprehending anything, aside from maybe medical jargon or legalese.Noise is just a necessity for me and not just with reading.
Now, I require some kind of background noise while penning a novel to keep straight and finish off my various threads. Being a just-wing-it girl rather than an outliner, music helps me to stay focused and on track. And often times, music feeds my fire and drive as well.
Here are a few of the songs that I found inspiration in while penning Sapphire Reign—which I'm close to wrapping up.
Field of Innocence by Evanescence. This completely encompasses my storyline and tone. If I can acquire the rights for a reasonable cost, I want to use this song for my long trailer.
When the Children Cry by White Lion.
Another Brick in the Wall (Here's part 2)by Pink Floyd.
Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis
So, when you're writing do you prefer the silence of a snowy day or some kind of noise like music, TV or people talking? And do you find inspiration in music? Just wondering.
Haha. This is so funny and cool. Just thought I'd share it.
More than 200 dancers performed their version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. With just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! It was a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".
When are you most creative? First thing in the morning? After an espresso shot, a run or a shower? In the dead of night? I find inspiration bites me at sporadic times. I’ll have a dream so lively and strange, that I wake up with an urgent need to pen it. Or I’ll be up late, stuck in the sillies and an idea will come to me.
The concept for Sapphire Reign, the book I’m working on now, came to me from a dream, two actually, now spliced together, as did its prequel, Kings & Queens, so I guess that says something about dreams for me. Dreams are beyond our conscious imagination so that’s where interesting plots are born, characters introduce themselves, and circumstances aren’t hemmed in by time or space or practicality or realism. One night you’re attempting to evade shark jaws while surfing and the next, you’re under a purple sky in a land where everyone, man and beast, gets along until you arrive and destroy the balance, and as you strive to make things right, you only make them worse.
One night at 2 AM, I was writing a forum post and jotting down songs singers should avoid on American Idol. Some are so owned, they should never grace the stage again, some were the kiss of death, some totally bit—TOTALLY—, and some are just not, um, Idol material. In my post, which was making me crack up, a story emerged, so I arranged the song titles into a lose poem. Here’s that 2 AM creative burst:
~ Songs to Avoid on American Idol ~
Hello Imagine Yesterday I Am I Said Dust in the Wind Welcome to My Life The Long and Winding Road
I Feel So Like a Virgin Cherry Pie I'm Too Sexy Born to be Wild Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (You Gotta ) Fight For Your Right (to Party) It's My Life
I Drove All Night I Want Your Sex Eight Days a Week Time After Time Any Way You Want It All I Want Is You Faithfully
I'm On Fire Burning Love Outta My Head Hungry Like the Wolf Crazy for You My Immortal Desire
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For Livin La Vida Loca It's All Wrong, But It's All Right Is This Love Love Bites Love Is A Battlefield Fallin' Going Under Bring Me to Life
Devil Inside Highway to Hell Some Like It Hot Inside the Fire I Have Nothing Total Eclipse of the Heart Smashed Into Pieces Helplessly Hoping
I Wanna Know What Love Is Wake Me Up Before You Go Go How Do I Live My Life Good Enough Empty Me Save a Prayer Pour Some Sugar on Me
A Change is Gonna Come Karma Chameleon Today Macarena Shake Your Love Shout to the Lord Dare You to Move
I Believe I'm a Believer Travelin' Thru The Greatest Love of All Jesus Christ Superstar A Perfect Love Love of a Lifetime Stairway to Heaven
Tomorrow I'll Fly Away High Enough Inside Your Heaven To Be With You Forever Always Somewhere Over the Rainbow Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
This is just a crazy list of song titles, but it tells a story, a journey about life. There’s a character here who’s searching for true love and finds it in an unexpected place.
During a moment when you’re most likely to be creative or even a moment when you're totally not, like exhausted maybe or distraught, pick a topic and brainstorm. Go with it, write whatever crazy thing comes to your mind. You could end up with a poem, a song, a short story sketch, a new plot concept for a novel or character who wants his story told. Never assume your random thoughts are just rubbish. Often times, when you clear away the haze and dust and look at something in a different way, you’ll discover your junk is actually precious art. Inspiration is waiting in the oddest places and during the most unthinkable times, so go find it.
Posts
