One of the most challenging aspects of staying at Varuna for me was the peace and quiet. Yes, I know that’s kind of the point, but for a city gal like me who’s used to the constant rumble of traffic and the shrill cry of car alarms and drunks rolling home from buck’s nights, the quiet of the Blue Mountains was a little, well, daunting. Worse still, the iPod I had brought with me was only 8GB, and after a few days I had well and truly tired of listening to the same Sheryl Crow track over and over. Luckily for me fellow writer Alexa Moses had one of those big bad 30GB iPods that was totally packed to the brim with all sorts of musical goodies, and after much goading she reluctantly handed it over to me as a swap, and pretty much had to wrestle it back when my own meagre collection of tunes had well and truly worn out their welcome.
I’m a noisy writer. Every word I put down must be accompanied by a soundtrack pushing forward the creative process. Even as I write this I have the eclectic sounds of the Beatles’ White Album warbling in the background (although I usually skip over ‘Revolution 9’. Doesn’t everybody?). If I’m writing a depressing scene, Leonard Cohen may be what’s needed to push me into a despairing mindset; if it’s happiness I’m after, the Ramones always get me toe tappin’.
Recently there has been a rise in the phenomenon of author playlists: a list of songs accompanying a novel that either refer directly to the story itself or were listened to by the author during the writing process. This is especially prevalent in the YA genre, where readers are eager for ancillary material that will enhance their reading experience. Author playlists are sneered at a little in the adult world, but I find they can be very revealing. For example, the playlist for one of my favourite novels, Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, reveals the author of some of the most controversial literature in America to be quite a dork at heart (Kelly Clarkson anyone?).
I decided to create a playlist for my own novel Hollywood Ending because music is such an integral part of my writing process. The playlist for Hollywood Ending is a list of songs that chronologically accompany scenes in the novel. I hope that the list gives readers a different experience of the story, and the tone I was trying to convey. Here’s the list:
- Los Angeles by Frank Black
- Clap Hands by Tom Waits
- Eyes Without A Face by Billy Idol
- Surf City by The Ramones
- Malibu by Hole
- Minor Thing by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Everybody Needs Somebody to Love by The Blues Brothers
- Spitting Venom by Modest Mouse
- Goodbye by Grandaddy
- Graveyard Girl by M83
The manuscript I am working on at the moment is very dark and Marilyn Manson’s music has proven to be the perfect soundtrack, getting me in exactly the right kind of mood to delve into the world of serial killers. I’d love to write a novel with a softer soundtrack, something like Joni Mitchell, but alas, I don’t think I have it in me.
So, does your novel have a playlist? Do you think author playlists are useful? Is there any particular music you favour to get you in the writing mood? Or are you more likely to be wearing ear plugs as you write, determined to block out any extraneous sound so it doesn’t interfere with the world you are visualising in your head? Sound off below!
8 Comments
September 7, 2009 at 5:02 pm
My Varuna soundtrack was mainly The Doors, with some Bowie and Pink Floyd. My ms is set in 1970 so it makes sense, but I also adore 70s rock…!
September 8, 2009 at 9:15 am
Dear Kathy,
What a great start to you blogging week! I have not written a single story without a soundtrack. As Sci-Fi is my premier gig at the moment, I can’t go past Moby’s “Play.” Oddly enough La Traviata really pushes my emote and create buttons too. For anything earthier Dead Can Dance provide endless inspiration but my personal fave is “A Passage in Time.” This city gal really feels your funk for silence, it’s just not the 21st century way!
September 8, 2009 at 9:29 am
ooh, I like soundtracks. Songs and music feature throughout The Ice Age, so I was often imagining and sometimes tracking down songs, but I didn’t start collecting music for it in earnest until I began fantasizing about the subsequent road movie…. sigh *clasps hands*. My second novel (now shelved) had a soundtrack: early Cure, mostly. It got me into writing to a soundtrack– it’s fun, and I think it helps with mood and visualisation.
September 8, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Yep I like music when I’m writing…helps me blot out the world around me and takes into the zone. My playlist at present is fixated on The Necks and when that wears thin…dare I say it…Mozart’s clarinet concertos.
September 8, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Interesting – thanks, Kathy. We were all silent squirrels at Varuna and – at this moment the five of us are rather implausibly on another writing retreat together – we’re all silent here too. But Clap Hands is a great song. And I sort of envy you the ability to listen and write at the same time. I might just have to try it.
September 9, 2009 at 8:15 am
Isn’t ‘Clap Hands’ just stunning? It’s actually the ‘theme’ song for one of my main characters. I can’t think of him without that song coming into my head.
September 9, 2009 at 11:28 am
That’s very cool – now you’ve said that, I’ve got a little peripheral shadow in my mind while the song plays out, offering the merest hint of who your character might be. You must be having some dirty crazy fun with him.
September 14, 2009 at 9:50 am
Such an interesting post, Kathy. I’ve never been able to write in anything other than silence and now I wish I’d trained myself otherwise! I’m in a new job – speech writing, in a share warehouse in Collingwood with a bunch of young creatives who listen to music all day and can I focus? No!