2 posts tagged “inspiration”
People talk about having playlists while they write or songs that make a soundtrack of a certain book. WS doesn't have a soundtrack. I used a lot of classical music while I wrote WS b/c I like to use period music and when I wrote the early drafts, it's not like I could get evocative 1930s music. I did use some contemporary stuffto write certain scenes, stuff that made a reaction in me that translated to paper. I also listened to a lot of Tori Amos when I wrote the diary bit, which helped give it a different feel than the parts Jake narrates.
"Nine" is being written almost exclusively to "American Idiot." I don't know how that started. Probably b/c it was the CD in the laptop. I'm branching out now and when it's complete, I'll post a "soundtrack."
This evening I was supposed to get my hair done and I didn't get the phone call canceling the appointment (hairdresser had a wreck & is fine but had no transportation). As I walked back out to the car, I thought, "Well what shall I do w/ my free evening?" When I got in the car and the radio came on, the song playing was "Don't Bring Me Down." The Great Mother was giving me an answer to the question I posed inside my head; "Don't Bring Me Down" is the "theme song" of RFM (which I may have mentioned here). BTW: When I told Hawk this story and I got to the song title he said, "So you robbed a convenience store?" Yes: that's how RFM opens. And no I did not.
So just now I thought, "Hey, I could put the RFM 'soundtrack' on my writing blog b/c I've made a rough playlist." Keep in mind I didn't use iTunes or anything while I wrote RFM. I just put CDs on. I then got a little free mp3 player and I put some music on it and I've since added to it. These are most of the songs that helped me create RFM. Music, especially lyric, figures heavily into the symbolic structure of the story.
The ones before the little break actually figure into the story and I listed them here in the order in which they appear. The other songs I think came up alpha by artist. See if you can tell offhand in what what year RFM is set.
Don't Bring Me Down ELO
867-5309/Jenny Tommy Tutone
Bodies Sex Pistols
Baba O'Riley The Who
Smells Like Teen Spirit Nirvana
April Come She Will (live) Simon & Garfunkel
Enter Sandman Metallica
I'm Too Sexy Right Said Fred
Rockin In The Free World Neil Young
Drain You Nirvana
One U2
Purple Rain Prince
Silent All These Years Tori Amos
God Only Knows The Beach Boys
With Or Without You U2
All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix
The Wind Cat Stevens
How Soon Is Now The Smiths
Been Caught Stealing Jane's Addiction
Atlantic City Bruce Springsteen
London Calling The Clash
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For U2
I Will Follow U2
About A Girl Nirvana
So Lonely The Police
Behind Blue Eyes The Who
The Chain Fleetwood Mac
America (live) Simon & Garfunkel
King Of Pain The Police
Girl Tori Amos
Crucify Tori Amos
Redemption Song Bob Marley
Absolute Beginners The Jam
Nothing Else Matters Metallica
In Bloom Nirvana
Come As You Are Nirvana
Breed Nirvana
Lithium Nirvana
Polly Nirvana
On A Plain Nirvana
Something In The Way Nirvana
Down By The Water PJ Harvey
I'll Stand By You The Pretenders
Brass In Pocket The Pretenders
Losing My Religion R.E.M.
Beat On The Brat The Ramones
You Can't Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones
Well I've been trying to come up with story ideas and I got nuthin'. I thought one of my dreams might yield something but that lasted about as long as it took me to get out of bed. I did dream that a friend of mine had a radio show/podcast and that I had to hose Clay Aiken down outside a drugstore.
Which brings me to the fact that I've written about 2k worth of filth in the last few days. I found an old snippet on the laptop and continued writing it just for the practice. Today I found where I'd outlined my ideas for the lengthy story and I'd ended up taking it in a bit of a different direction. I could bring it back around to the original easily. Some of my ideas made me say, "What kind of mood was I in when I came up with that?" It's creative but it's also fetish-heavy. Not that there's not a market for that but I'm wondering how I'll be able to write it with kids crawling around.
I think that I'm going to have to do my writing while H naps. It's too much to run around after the both of them. Z is being uncooperative and I have a head cold that has rendered me practically voiceless. So to yell at her, well, I can't. Most of my yelling is "leave him alone" or "stop kicking him" or "get off him" or "give that back to him" or similar.
It's been quite a change having nothing to write and wanting to write. I'm almost ready to edit again just b/c I enjoyed doing it so much.
So if I could just get an idea for a nice vanilla story, I would write it. As it is, I haven't and now I have to go feed a child.
