I think I'll blog about music and how it affects what I write today. Or more precisely, the way that music changes things. When writing my novel Cross Roads, my taste in music took a dramatic turn, from die hard country music fan to die hard alternative rock fan. Interesting, maybe, but what is more intriguing to me is the fact that it seemed to change the tone of the story I was writing.
What started out as an innocent romance turned into a tale of love mixed with abuse and violence. In other words, something much different then I would have ever imagined I could write. That's not to say that the book is completely dark, like alternative music, it has sweet and funny points mixed in with the darkness.
I found myself listening to Muse, Green Day, Linkin Park, The Killers, The Vines and many others that have become personal favorites now. The surprise for me was, I'd always thought I didn't like that particular kind of music. Depending on how I felt at any given time, I listened to various alternative music obsessively while writing. As the words of the violent scenes flowed from me, I listened to heavy metal songs like Godsmack's I Fucking Hate You, or the darker alternative songs like Jimmy Eat World's Pain, or The Vines Fuck The World. (Two awesome songs with driving beats, both a little dark.)
Writing the love scenes and the light and humorous parts was easier, because that's more who I am. They were greatly influenced by songs with beautiful melodies and quirky lyrics like Grapevine Fires By Death Cab For Cutie, that while not exactly cheerful, spoke to my soul. I listened to a lot of Green Day while writing, songs like American Idiot and Longview, Everclear's Santa Monica, and Loser by Beck. Fun songs, in other words, and they contributed to the lightest parts of the story.
All in all, I guess that the reason I credit music so much in the way that my book turned out, is that before writing it, I'd never even heard of half of these bands. Since finishing my story, I still haven't gone back to country music. It's not that I don't like it, it's more that I've grown beyond it. Just like my writing style, I'm not sure that my taste in music will ever be exactly as it was before starting out on this obsessive compulsive writing journey, but I'm pretty happy with both just now. :)
