Songs in the Key of Writing

Today, Scott Bury is back with me, and we’re talking about songs that describe a novel that you’re writing, or written.  And Scott . . . yeah, he’s got lots of music.

Enjoy.

 

 

 

The soundtrack

 

This week’s topic for the TTC Master Koda Virtual Blog Tour is songs that fit with their book. I have thought for a while that it might be possible to link a soundtrack to an ebook, especially if you’re reading on a tablet.

So, here is my suggestion for a soundtrack for my novel.

The Bones of the Earth begins with a moonlight fertility right led by the village shaman, Vorona. The music for that scene would have to start with a strong, complex and ancient drum-beat. Realistically, that would have to be an ancient Slavic rhythm. But to translate the feeling to today’s audience, Chris Isaak’s In the Heat of the Jungle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AN3TptvHo does it perfectly (the music does; this video is kind of stupid, but it’s the only one of this song on the ’net). If that’s not long enough, something like Soul Sacrifice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3Cjr32QyI) by Santana would flow nicely afterward.

Sturm und drang would fit the next chapter, where my main character and his best friend chase Avar horsemen across the meadows at the feet of the Carpathian mountains. The opening of Haydn’s Symphony no. 49 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ9-tYvTTOE) has the stressful, yet quiet tone right for the beginning, while the louder and more rhythmic later movements would be a good accompaniment for the tragedy at the end of the chapter.

Of course, the scene where Javor and Photius encounter Ghastog would be best accompanied by the music of Tom Waits. He’s got exactly the right kind of gravelly, tortured voice for the scene in the monster’s cave. As they approach the cave, something like Yesterday is Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbvzYii3z0I) has just the right tone, and suggests the antiquity of the scene; then in the cave, Way Down in the Hole (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymBaAsSqDE), and finally, Bad as Me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ta3H-ck6s&feature=related).

Now, you have to read the book (hint) to get these next few, but Train in Vain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYK7bEo1Z4M) by the Clash fits the next scene.

Part 2 could be accompanied by Bob Dylan’s Things Have Changed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9EKqQWPjyo&ob=av2e), Riders on the Storm by the Doors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_eQGsbHhDo)and then Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UOKCA2jHY) for the scenes across Dacia.

Later, Lost Together by Blue Rodeo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8JGk6Y6N3Y) works, followed by Like a Hurricane by Neil Young (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obfci1CIqq8). As our characters approach the Roman outpost, Tom Waits steps back to the microphone with A Little Drop of Poison (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aTvELXNXNU).

Then, back to some sturm und drang — more Haydn and Mozart, too, for the most epic scene ever according to one reviewer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lC1lRz5Z_s).

Part 3 could open with It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9aklSlMthc). You know I had to get Springsteen in there, somewhere. Then, it could blend into the Boss’s The Angel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnZOjMZaw8c).

Toward the end, I’d put in Love, Reign O’er Me by the Who (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygOaNo3M_Hw). Then we go back to Chris Isaak for Baby did a Bad, Bad Thing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWf7cT8CTDI). Then I would play more Tom Waits: for the arrival of Stuhach and its cronies and then the Kobolds, Raised Right Men (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9uTo_KBBAw) fits just right.

Everything is Broken by Bob Dylan could come next, then One of These Days by Pink Floyd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTrNQCYh70Y).

For the final confrontation, I’d start with the overture to Wagner’s Tannhauser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgpOctKSwp4), just to make sure the audience gets the myth I’m evoking. The Right Stuff from Brian Ferry’s glory 80s days (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW2cNGs5wnk) would follow nicely — just the right mood here. Then, if that’s not enough, how about Black Magic Woman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4gc8iBDaI) as performed by Santana (are you getting a feeling for my taste in music, yet?)

Finally, some really spooky stuff at the end: maybe Santana’s Jingo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAEcbNzLXiM), followed by Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8).

And for the epilogue: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, by U2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSv-lKwOQvE).

But now, I’d like to hear from you: make some suggestions for music to accompany my book (you’ll have to read it, first, though ). Or maybe in the Comments section, tell Raymond and me about some songs you think would accompany your favourite books.

 

Hope to see lots of comments!

 

 

 

Scott Bury is a journalist, editor and writer living in Ottawa. His articles have been published in newspapers and magazines in Canada, the US, UK and Australia.

The Bones of the Earth is his first novel to be published.

He has two sons, an orange cat and a loving wife who puts up with a lot. You can read more of Scott’s writing at Written Words and Scott’s Travel Blog, and on his website, The Written Word. Follow him on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.

 

Links:

 

Blue Rodeo:

Lost Together, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8JGk6Y6N3Y

The Clash:

Train in Vain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYK7bEo1Z4M)

Bob Dylan:

Things Have Changed, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9EKqQWPjyo&ob=av2e

The Doors:

Riders on the Storm, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_eQGsbHhDo

Brian Ferry:

The Right Stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW2cNGs5wnk

Josef Haydn:

Symphony no. 45, “Farewell,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm_OLznua6g Symphony no. 49, “The Passion”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ9-tYvTTOE

Chris Isaak:

In the Heat of the Jungle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AN3TptvHo

Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWf7cT8CTDI

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, performed by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, conducted by Neville Mariner

Modeste Mussorgsky:

Night on Bald Mountain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCEDfZgDPS8

Carl Orff:

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi from Carmina Burana, performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01UOKCA2jHY

Pink Floyd:

One of These Days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTrNQCYh70Y

Carlos Santana:

Black Magic Woman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij4gc8iBDaI Soul Sacrifice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3Cjr32QyI Jingo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAEcbNzLXiM

Bruce Springsteen:

The Angel, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnZOjMZaw8c It’s Hard to be a Saint in the City, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9aklSlMthc

U2:

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSv-lKwOQvE

Richard Wagner, Tannhauser Overture, performed by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgpOctKSwp4

The Who:

Love, Reign O’er Me, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygOaNo3M_Hw

Tom Waits:

A Little Drop of Poison, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aTvELXNXNU Raised Right Men, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9uTo_KBBAw Yesterday is Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbvzYii3z0I Way Down in the Hole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ymBaAsSqDE Bad as Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ta3H-ck6s&feature=related

Neil Young, Like a Hurricane, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obfci1CIqq8

Meant to be Read at Maximum Insanity

Why do I believe this weekend is going crazy?

Sunday was pretty nuts in terms of keeping busy, though I suppose the term “keeping busy” doesn’t really express the real feelings behind what yesterday was like–

Try “Burning that candle down until I needed a third end.”  Yeah, that’s how it was going for me.

I’m not complaining, but I did find myself falling behind a little yesterday.  Today, after I do this point, I need to put up another guest post.  I’ve already put up another post for Monday, and it’s 4:50 AM this very moment.  It’s going to be a three-for day today, and I haven’t even gotten into my stories.  Write, sucker, write!

I didn’t get a lot of editing in yesterday, but I did manage to add almost a thousand words to Part Three of Diner’s at the Memory’s End, and I have to say, while it took me longer than I expected, I had fun putting that part together.  There were three paragraphs that I put together that benefited from me designing the solar system that my female character, Meredith Llywelyn, calls home.  That’s it–well, four paragraphs is you count the follow-up line that Albert speaks:

 

He smiled up at her. “K-Class star.”

 

Yeah, he knows how to be smooth with the ladies, doesn’t he?

I’m maybe two-thirds of the way through Part Three, and I’m already sitting at 5,143 words for Diners.  I have the story target in Scrivener set at 15,000 words, but I know that scale is going to slide.  I might go ahead and move it to 20,000 . . . there we go.  All better now.

To be honest I don’t remember how long the original story was.  I’m certain it was over twenty five thousand words, and may have been closer to thirty.  I know Diners is going to be long, because–well, it’s me.  That’s what I do.  I tell a story, and it takes however many words it takes to get it told.

But I can already tell, the feel of the story is already different.  In the original story, Albert was more panicked and neurotic; Meredith was a lot more desperate, and didn’t seem to have much of a personality; Cytheria was, as always, cool and distant, and came across as not giving much of a shit if her flatmate did things with other women . . .

That’s all changed, because my characters were change the moment I finished Transporting, which is really something of a lead in for Diners.  There is a comment in Part Two of Diners (now up at Storytime Trysts!) about how Albert died twice saving people, and that comes from things he did in Transporting.  So now, while he is worried about what he’s getting himself into, class-wise, he’s not as crazy as before.  Meredith isn’t a totally conniving women, but rather comes to her conclusions after a series of events show her that Albert has something valuable that she desires.  Cytheria . . . well, Ms. Cool and Collected will only go so far in this story, before she reaches an understanding that not only can’t she ignore an event that happens, but she’s extremely pissed off about it.

That’s called evolution of the character.  And it’s brought about by the evolution of the writer.

I know where the story will end, but getting there is going to be very interesting.  And a lot of fun.  With Her Demonic Majesty almost finished–just two chapters and a query letter to go–I’ll be able to concentrate on Diners and likely finished it by the end of June.  I’ll be excerpting the first half of it on another blog for others to read, and maybe . . . maybe that’ll generate interest not only in that story, but in Transporting.

It’s going to be a crazy summer, I can tell already.

For Your Monday Madness

Over on the Storytime Trysts blog, Part Two of Diners at the Memory’s End is waiting.

Enjoy.