Haunting Melodies

I know I posted about this months ago, but I wanted to post again. Do you have novel “theme songs” or music that helps inspire your story?

I sometimes lose track of all the songs I have. 😛 I haven’t found too many for Lady of the Snow yet, but one that I simply love comes from the popular anime movie by Miyazaki called Princess Mononoke. Both versions are short but the lyrics are so powerful and really make me think of Miyuki, even though the song was written for a completely different fictional character.

Here’s the English version of the song. It’s only about a minute and I encourage you to give it a listen. To me it’s one of the most haunting melodies I’ve heard:

Here’s the Japanese version. It’s a little longer and I’m not sure the lyrics are quite correct, but it’s haunting just the same:

Each version nearly moves me to tears every time (of course I’m uber sensitive :)).

Do you have songs that make you think of your story? Or do you have any songs that are just simply haunting and stay in your mind forever?

In the Spirit of the Season

Here are a few Christmas songs for your listening pleasure. Each of these songs is great in their own way 🙂

Hallelujah (Light Has Come)–BarlowGirl

O Come O Come Emmanuel–Selah

His Favorite Christmas Story–Capital Lights

 I’ll be traveling to my childhood town to spend the holidays with my family. I may not get to post until sometime next week.

Merry Christmas!

Theme Songs for My Novel

A couple posts ago, I mentioned how there were certain songs and soundtracks I liked to listen to when working on Chrysanthemum Promise. And then I finally noticed I could actually post music on here 😛

Anyway, here’s what I consider the “theme” for my novel. Sort of. It’s called Nara by E.S. Posthumus. I can picture it all in my head like a preview for an upcoming movie. (Perhaps because it’s been used in movie previews…)

It’s YouTube videos with the songs; I couldn’t link to the actual songs anywhere.

The other theme song would be “Rebirthing” by Skillet–for me, all the characters (not counting the antagonist) are looking for some sort of a new life and this song captures that feeling.

Perhaps when I can actually find just the song files, I’ll load the rest of the “soundtrack” 😛

The Connection Between Music and Writing

I find that I’m deeply affected by music when I’m writing. I don’t know about you, but I always see my story play through my brain like a movie–complete with a full orchestral soundtrack. 

Anyway, I have a “soundtrack” of sorts that I listen to when I’m writing. They help me visualize the scenes better. Most of the time, it’s instrumental in nature, though I do have a few songs with lyrics to them.

For example, one of my favorite “songs” for my book is The Chairman’s Waltz from Memoirs of a Geisha. Something about the way the violin plays so beautfully in that song just makes me envision my MC up in the Snow Country of Japan,learning to adapt to a different life. It also displays the budding romance that’s occuring in her life.

Then there’s Nara by E.S. Posthumous. It’s a song that’s normally been used in movie previews. It helps me to envision my book as a whole, as I can see the story progressing much as a preview would. I always listen to this before I start writing.

There are many others; some classical pieces like Schubert’s Ave Maria as well as the Bach/Gounod version of the same song; Pachebel’s Canon in D is another one too. Then there’s about a dozen or so various songs (like Waiting for the World to Fall by Jars of Clay and Stand in the Rain by Superchick) that I feel describe my characters. The list is ever growing!

I know I’m not the only one who does this; my younger sister is in the middle of writing a fantasy and she has certain “theme” songs for her book too. I think music helps to open the mind and stimulate those creative juices.

What Gets Your Creative Juices Flowing?

So, I’m posing a question to all writers/artists/musicians/bloggers–anyone really–and wondering: What gets your creative juices flowing?

It’s a variety of things for me, but I find that I come up with my best stuff while I’m in the shower. I don’t know why–perhaps the hot water opens up the pores or something–but that’s when it normally comes. I’ve worked my way through many countless writer block occurences and come up with many of my short story ideas (in fact, the only one I had published came while I was in the shower at college).

Of course it’s not the ideal place…especially since you can’t really take a pen and paper in there or leave it on the side, for water will still get all over it. That and there are times I may get so caught up in a storyline that I’m seeing in my head that I don’t realize how long I’ve been in there…so that can’t be too good for my water bill 😛 I’ve debated taking those bath crayons in there but I can’t very well write all over the walls every time–that would be a lot of cleaning to do afterwords and I’d still have to transfer it to something more permanent.

I find that listening to certain music, especially music soundtracks, will also put me in the mood to write. The ideas may not flow as well as they do in the shower, but I’ve done a great deal of writing while listening to my favorite soundtracks.

Anyway, I’m curious–I’d like to know what makes the ideas/words/pictures flow in your head. 🙂 (And Yes, I came up with the idea for this post when I was–you guessed it–in the shower).