playlists for a novel.

working out the songs for the next book.

Just like a film, music can be the heart of a novel. I love when books come with playlists. Even if I don’t love the listed songs, it gives me a feel for where the author was when they wrote their story, with the music that was important enough to them that they’d share it with me, the reader.

For my first book, I included a QR code linked playlist myself because I was so excited about all of the music that shaped and inspired my characters. So much that I packed the shit out of the story with song.

Sometimes I think I went a little overboard.

But that’s part of the growing process with writing. We’re supposed to look at older works and see how much we’ve developed as a writer by knowing what we could have done differently and seeing it in a more matured light. But I’ll never change it or edit to be tighter to perhaps make it more mainstream because that’s where my head was back when I was writing it. The story behind the story is also an autobiographical element in writing, I think.

For the second novel (which I’m excited to share all of the details with you soon), I lightened the sonic load to leave more room for the characters who like me, are also growing. Now they’re older and have other things to think about like rent, car insurance, health insurance (!!), rather than the next cool album because they’re out on their own, which has greatly reduced their record budget. But also, the kids have other things on their minds (hi there, sex), life’s obstacles (oh hey there, first jobs that suck) and weird situations (bad dates, ahoy!)

Saying that….it’s set in 2004. So there has to be music.

And to give you a little flava flav of the direction of the next novel, here’s a sneak peek of the music that’s been bouncing in my head these past two years.

So, rock on and I’ll see you soon with some more novel details and of course, the chaos of my untidy thoughts!

LCM