Since I began writing, I have always made a 'soundtrack' for every novel. It sets the tone for the story, the characters and in some cases, helps the development of the novel. I also like to think about it as the soundtrack I would want for the movie if I had a billion dollars. What are your characters theme songs? What songs would you want in the end credits of the movie version? What songs would you want the fans to create music videos with? What songs just are that book's songs? I want to know, so please share. Here's one I made for a novel I am developing:
This was playing when I wrote the main characters making their last stand. This would be fitting for the ending.
Heilung's entire discography is pretty much the soundtrack for the series I'm writing. If I need to get in the zone (Auto Zone), I'll put that on and away I go.
Oh this seems fun. I've never thought of music within the context of a story. Hmm... First, the current story is about two brothers. One brother is kidnapped. The other brother (MC) must rescue him. So this first song by Avicii is very fitting, Hey Brother. Chris Stapleton's Starting Over will be great for a final cut scene and ending of the story. Blackwall's cover of Knockin' On Heaven's Door will be a good fit for a scene when the MC is not having much success. Metallica's Nothing Else Matters will contrast the above scene and song, this is where the MC is determined to rebel against societal and political power to fulfill his mission. And thinking of sequences of scenes, Hey Boy Hey Girl by the Chemical Brothers has an interesting instrumental vibe (middle of song) for an action sequence where the final plan is enacted to rescue the brother. There are a lot of songs having small instrumental snippets that could work well for certain sequences, but the host-song itself is not a great fit. I have a couple, swirling around my head, that may work for a scene where the two brothers take vengeance on the antagonists near the end of the story.
I love the vibe this song gives your story. It feels warm and makes me understand how close the brothers are. This is a perfect end-credits song. By the tone, I can tell this story has a happy/maybe bittersweet ending. (Am I correct?) This song is iconic and this is a lovely cover. Again, I think the tone fits well with the other songs. Wow, I have never heard Acoustic Metallica. He has a really good voice and it sounds like a perfect 'I'm angry and want to rebel' song. Oh, this is a COOL song. You're right. It's perfect for a fight scene. I love songs like that. Can I recommend: Anyway, it's so cool to me to see how others think about songs in regards to writing. I think you have a whole movie soundtrack brewing here.
In the early days of developing this idea, back in the 90's, I would put on Dreamboat Annie and a few songs off other early Heart albums to set the right mood.That music always brings back the mid 70's as well as what feels like perfect fall weather, which can turn suddenly into intense storms. Dreamboat Annie Heart—Playlist That's a playlist of the entire album. Here are a couple more Heart songs that fit the mood: And also Metallica The Memory Remains: For the death lady (Marianne Faithfull). She sounds like she's got one foot in the grave, or like she's emerging from it to take you there, but there's power and wisdom in there was well. And I love the way everything else fades out at the end and all there is is her. Perfect Witch inspiration.
Thank you for this. I've been in a shit mood over the last few hours because of some seriously bad news, and I needed something like this. I love talking about this stuff. Music is extremely important to me, and what my characters listen to is a bigger deal to me than what they look like. I'm 100% serious. It's a character trait akin to their family dynamic growing up or something like that. I believe that favorite music tells a lot about a person, or can, at least. In my first novel, Reset, The two characters have voluntarily self-induced amnesia. They can't remember anything before waking up at the beginning of the book. Obviously, discovery is a major theme, and Mary, my first person narrator, has an affinity for music. So, along with everything else she gets to try for the first time, she gets to fall in love with The Beatles and Billie Holiday and Bright Eyes as if she's never heard them before, which, for all intents and purposes, she hasn't. The soundtrack for Reset would also include Charles Mingus, Dion, Nina Simone, Paul Simon, The Ronnettes, Iron and Wine and more. Here's the playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2I5VWXbqLcXSEsMTGeXcxJ?si=7046a64b07a54857 There's a more comprehensive list of 36 songs if anyone cares, lol. In my second book, Curios, various characters have their own taste in music that plays a roll. The book takes place in 1972, so the five stoner high school kids listen to late 60s and early 70s rock, of course. Bands like Yes, The Who, Mott the Hoople, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath all crop up at one point or another with references to many more. The 32-year-old deputy has an affinity for country music and rock-a-billy from his youth in the 50's, so he listens to a lot Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Marty Robins, Patsy Cline and Elvis among others. Finally, the 13-year-old tomboy listens to a lot of modern (1972) pop and rock but is absolutely obsessed with David Bowie, especially the album Hunky Dory. She and the Deputy (after she initially gives him some shit about his taste in music) bond over his 8-track of Bob Dylan's The Free Wheelin' Bob Dylan, which the deputy maintains sounds a little like Hank Williams. I don't have a Spotify list for that book, though.
I've made a couple of character and manuscript playlists on Spotify but these are the 3 manuscript ones. I write to vibes... but sometimes i'll hear a song or lyrics and i thing "this is definitely X character!" or a song will come one and i'll immediately think about one of my stories. those songs go on the list. THE PLAN was the only playlist where i intentionally sought out songs. the story takes place in the early 2000s, so i have a lot of late 90s songs on it. THE PLAN (genre: contemporary New Adult) CAVE STARS (genre: SFF/Romance) STORM QUEEN (genre: romantasy)
Robert Burns is a favourite of mine. National poet of Scotland, soldier, farmer and illegitimate father of half the central belt. The very archetype of a bard.
You're welcome. I hope life gets better for you and I am glad this thread brought you joy. I love talking about music in relation to books as well. Haha, I understand. For me, it's that certain artists tend to be the artist for that character. (Also vibe.) In the one I posted above, Taylor Swift music is just the vibe and feeling for my female main character. Also, the lyrics fit her story and character arc. I agree. Music says so much about a person. It always baffles me when I learn some people don't like music or listen to it.
Thanks for sharing! These are great lists and I totally get the vibes thing. For me, a lot of songs = events in the story that happen to a character or feelings they have. But yeah, some are just vibes. Like one of my stories, Katy Perry's Last Friday Night is the song for the 3 main characters. Because it's the kinda song that is almost all pure vibes. The chaos they get into, the irresponsible actions they take. Yeah. It's a great song.
Wow! I think I dreamed this once, after too many Nachos and too much bourbon. It made me think of this, but it's pretty off-track for this thread, so it's just going to be a link: Jason Mayhem Miller SuperMonkey The music is pure creative poetry, and so is the way Miller moves, whether he's fighting or dancing.
I love that song. It's what English language music sounds like to Italians, apparently. As a non-Italian-speaking opera fan, I get it.
I'm all in for using music as inspiration... The way I've always used it is when I'm on the bus. I just put my headphones on and play non-lyrical music as the scenery outside the window scrolls past. It's a truly peaceful time of the day where I can just imagine the scenes of my story freely. And the music really aids my imagination with that. In fact, this is a big reason why I listen to music. Even before I started writing stories, I had a huge imagination, and I always loved to let it go wild as the music played. If a musical piece didn't really move my imagination, I wasn't likely to listen to it more than 2 times. For that sort of purpose, I tend to listen to non-lyrical music. I love listening to instruments, both real and synthesized. I listen to lyrical music too but not as much. There is all kinds that I listen to. But something I often turned to is music the creator of Clannad (my favorite story ever) composed. He wrote the story and composed the music by himself, which is why it's so powerful. He was of course familiar with the emotions of his own story, and that enabled him to create music fitting for those emotions. The Clannad soundtrack has enough music to cover the entire emotional spectrum. It's happy, sad, melancholic, and even mysterious and intriguing. My favorite one is this: It's honestly genius, and it's how Clannad opens. The protagonist's story is really just about a high school kid who is not doing well in life. His mother is dead, his father is abusive, he is doing terrible at school because he has zero interest in it, and he is completely directionless, having no idea what he'll do after high school. When the story opens and we learn this information, it's done so very casually. There is not a lot of drama or sadness. Just melancholy veiled in a normality he's always known. That's why this song is perfect. It contemplates this feeling perfectly. I think it's meant to capture life itself in a way, hence the title (Town, Flow of Time, People). The protagonist just lives and goes with the flow. The protagonist reminds me of myself very much. It's why I like this song and the story in general. I wrote a similar character for a project and this song was a lot of inspiration to get started. Another one I really like: This one is deeply mysterious. It's meant to capture the feeling of the "Illusionary World". In Clannad, the Illusionary World doesn't actually exist. It's purely metaphysical. No new life is born, nothing dies. That's its basic description. And it doesn't have much to do with the main story line, but it does influence it indirectly. You occasionally capture "glimpses" of it between scenes. But that's why it's so great! It's intentionally vague to capture the mystery that is life. And the track itself does a good job to contemplate that. It's not conventional by any means, and it's unlike anything you've heard before, which I think is part why it works great. I could talk about this stuff all day long. But I'll stop here. Music is a powerful driver when used right. Of course, novels have no music, and they shouldn't be written with music in mind. For inspiration, however, it can be great aid.
Wow, these two pieces are amazing and clearly illustrate what the writer was going for. I think it's awesome he wrote the music for his own work. It fit so perfectly.
So, I have a Dark Souls 1 (and kinda 3?) fanfic I wanna write and it just won't leave me alone. Hence, I, Edgy McEdgeface made a soundtrack. So much edge in one playlist, I donno what else to say except I am looking forward to writing this edgy story.
My high school self did a little squawk of delight at "My Sacrifice" and then I laughed because of my own gooberness. I know I said Heilung's discography is the soundtrack, and it mostly is, but what really gets me focused on the feelings I want to write is usually Ramin Djawadi's Game of Thrones soundtracks. Season 8 may have been a tank as a story, but god dang, he wrote that soundtrack like his own dragons were dying, especially "Farewell" and "Stay A Thousand Years." "Farewell" is the one I repeat when I need to dig deeper into a sadness. I also listen to Phobia, by Breaking Benjamin pretty much non-stop while writing for my series. I think there will always be specific songs for characters, but I don't always want to listen to them to "see" them, if that makes sense. I think the songs help others see the characters better. For example, one I always give is the theme song for my favorite dude, a guy named Naim, and it's King Rat by Modest Mouse, specifically the 00:37-00:56 mark. I see him so clearly in that 20 seconds and it's one of the coolest things. Should you wish to hear it, I give it here:
Haha, I get it! I always cheer when I see people listening to music I listened to as a teen. I listened to and still listen to all of these. I love my emo music and edgy books/fanfics. (Also original works, too.) I love Creed's Weathered album as it has so many good songs. Always listen to your favorite songs! Anyway, I forgot to break down the soundtrack. (I should have.) "Frozen" is for our main character of this fic, Dragonslayer Orenstein. Because it works for the plot as he finds himself branded with the Dark Sign that causes people to turn into violent zombies after death. (Gamers, if you are wonder where the hell this is going, I will explain. I swear it will make sense. In short, plauges spare no one and I always thought DS2 was a dream realm. Most likely where the hollows minds wander when they go hollow. Since the Old Dragonslayer's in that game, it makes sense. Also, I wanted to play around with hollows and the lore. And I needed a reason for Orenstein to be forced to work with Smough. What's better than forcing the undead to work with someone who would be happy to eat him?) "Eat Your Young" is for Orenstein's strange canniballistic partner he is assigned to work with. Executioner Smough who is all too happy to prey on anyone's weakness and wants to be a Knight of Gywn. (Gywn is the Zeus-like God who rose up and fought the dragons.) Through a series of events, Smough ends up working with Orenstein and the dragonslayer is NOT happy. "Failure" is for another of the 'knights of the round table', so to speak. Artorias who goes off to stop the darkness that is taking over the world. (Again, it's complicated.) and in the game, he doesn't succeed and part of this story is about that plot. How he fails and the results of that. "Not the Only One" is for the 3rd of for knights, Ciaran who I don't know a lot about. But she's there in the game after Artorias dies and I figure she really wants to the world to be saved. But she also knows she's not the one who can do it, because only the Undead, those who bear the Dark Sign can save the world. "Light Behind Your Eyes" is for the last knight, Gough. At some point, he is blinded and is imprisoned in a tower. (*Cue the evil laugher*) And for plot reasons, he's forced to watch the world crumble. Anyway, looks like I'm wrong about the lore about the Darksign. But whatever. I will figure it out. At least it's less confusing than current Star Wars lore. Wow, I need to look into both of these. Sometimes, the soundtrack IS better than the movie (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith). Aw, yes. The songs we need for sad scenes. I once listened to Adele's Skyfall on loop for a sad scene. Also, because it makes me sad every time I heard it, My Immortal is off the soundtrack table. Like, I seriously cry. YES! I love that album. I listened to it NON-stop, too! Donno why, but I get in moods where this one artist/album is all I want to hear. Everything else is boring. Phobia is such a good CD. That book is sure to be amazing.
Talking about Heilung, Anoana definitely serves as a sort of theme in my head for the protagonist when I imagine him actually showing what he can really do. He hasn't had the chance in this story, but I aim to let him loose in the next one. He's an Earth Mage, so think 'D&D druid without the weather spells' and you're not a million miles away. Funnily enough, my chapter titles are all song titles, but for wordplay purposes, not because the song fits the chapter. David Gilmour - Murder (Official Audio) (youtube.com) This one probably fits the protagonist's general state of mind through a lot of the story, if you consider that he'd be addressing the song to himself.
I love this thread. Not a novel writer, shorts and flash fiction only, but some do have their songs. Harry's story, which is currently unnamed, as I grew disillusioned with previous title. but its basically about a culling of "undesirables." Marilyn Manson, The Nobodies And for Miriam in another unnamed story, (I'm terrible with titles apparently) a hippy dippy morning on the beach turns into a slow motion end of life scenario. This plays the morning before it starts. Joan Jett, Crimson and Clover remake.
