I love music. I write, play, and clean to music - heck, in the hospital, I even slept to music! My tastes run the gamut. It's difficult for me to say what I like because it changes so frequently. My husband informed me that I like whiny and flow-y music - like Coldplay or X Ambassadors. To his credit, Torches was playing at the time on my flash drive (I don't listen to the radio, woe-oh-radio). Four points to you for catching the reference.
While writing THE ARRIVAL, my playlist changed very little and included mainstream music (like Stone Sour's Through the Glass during Chapter 2 from Eric's POV), classical (Beethoven's Sonatas), Enigma (album MCMXC a.D.) and anime and game soundtracks. And therein lies another gamut of options: Bleach, Blood+, Trinity Blood, Hitman (love Jesper Kyd), Martian Successor Nadesico (Dearest during the latter part of Chapter 7), Devil May Cry, Ghost in the Shell, Mirage of Blaze, Monster, Speed Grapher, Witch Hunter Robin, and Texhnolyze. Just to name a few.
I mixed and matched based on scene and mood. Enigma had just released MCMXC a.D. when I had the nightmare/dream series that birthed THE ARRIVAL, so it fit in anywhere (and still does). It's a safe assumption that readers could loop only Sadeness and Mea Culpa and hear the book's basic soundtrack. When I write, it's like watching a movie in my head, and movies use music to invoke certain emotions. My writing style is no different. Chapters 2, 4, 7, and 14+ required special playlists to keep my mind and the scenes in sync.
With that in mind, some readers have asked about a sequence in the last few chapters. No spoilers, I promise.
I did have a short list of certain songs, in a specific order, looped for the scene in question. Most were classical-esque or opera-y (like Ave Maria sung by Christina England). However, two were key: White Room & Main Title by Jesper Kyd (Hitman's OST - game) and Good by my Master by Yoko Kanno (Ghost in the Shell's OST - anime). If you listen to these two songs during that moment, you'll get it. ^_-
1 comment:
I remember very well the Enigma album. I would do puzzles in your bedroom while you wrote or slept. I fell in love with their music and since you mentioned it, I can hear their music in the book. It's strange how much I pick up of your life in The Arrival. Perhaps that you're my oldest daughter relates to that or how close we became while editing the book. However, I will say that I don't know a lot of the other music. Great blog!
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