Music Makes The World More Alive...

Well, here we are again with a stab at randomness...

Before I get too far gone - can I just say that "YAY!!!! Black Panther is out and I can watch it again!!"

So... music. Wait... is that where I'm going with this? Sure. Why not?


I personally think it has to be difficult to write a story with music in it. I mean - as soon as you use a current song, your dated. If you come up with your own song... nobody knows it. If you rely on "That one classic rock song by Jimmy Hendrix" there is a 90% chance everyone will know it. Now, if you're writing about time travel, you're golden. You can put in whatever you want and make that song an integral part of your book without the risk of being dated... I think. This is new territory for me.

Some of the books I've read have really used music well - The Time Traveler's Wife (YES... I am
aware that I talk about this book often. It's really good. You should read it. Then we can discuss it together! Which would be AWESOME) has a GREAT use of music in it. Live music when they see The Violent Femmes in concert in Chicago. His mother is Annette Lyn Robinson/Annette DeTamble who is a famous musician and the use of her past performances within the book are 100% spot-on.

But so many bands are mentioned....
The Femmes, Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Joni Mitchell, Sex Pistols... Und so weiter.... there is an extensive list of musical performers in that book. A full list can be found here...  And the narrators of the book did a great job of reading the lyrics when the songs were in the books. It was great!



In my opinion, it is one of the best uses of music within a book... followed closely by Ernest Clines Ready Player One - And he added the extra step of making his RP1 playlist on Spotify!  I listened to it quite a bit when I was reading the book. I didn't know all of the songs from memory - like Dead Man's Party. I didn't even know that song when I started reading the book and it is now in a few different playlists of mine. It's a good song.

And the thing I love about good music listed in the books I'm reading is that when I don't know the song or band being mentioned - I will sometimes stop reading, go find that song, and listen to it. It really helps me get into the book that much more.

Movies have an easy time of it... they find the music that matches the scene and BAM! You're already in the song. It's almost like cheating... but several movies have used music so well that it made up for a not-so-great movie. Thinking about Black Panther is why I have this on my mind - that movie was GREAT... and the music was so absolutely spot-on for every scene in the movie. I mean... damn. They really knocked that out of the park.

So - my point... shit. I think I forgot where I was actually going with this... OH, right... I love the idea of putting music relevant to your story into your story. ESPECIALLY if that helps your audience branch out and find new, awesome music. I, and my wife and kids, all love the score of Black Panther and the OST. We listen to them both. We also play a healthy dose of violin music, motion picture scores - The Fountain... SOooo good - and when I write - IF I get the time to write - I bust out my "Writing Playlist of Doom" which is a mixture of all sorts of songs from rock to pop, classical, hip-hop, scores, and even some J-Pop... I like to keep it open.

Maybe if/when I ever become a write - HA! - I'll make a spotify playlist to accompany my story. Right now, I'll keep making up short stories, random blogs, and add 6 new words to my outline every week... as it seems that is my speed.

Until then!  Go find some good music that you've not listened to before and drop that in your ear-holes!