The music that built my books, Part 1

Lots of writers work to music. The chances are, your favourite epic fantasy or SF or crime thriller was written to the tunes of a soundtrack, especially if those moments are epic or emotional in nature.

While I can’t do lyrics while writing, since it distracts me, plugging into a few tunes really does help me get into the zone and into the mood. Some of the best scenes from Stormblood and Blindspace were written while listening to Sigur Ros or Explosions in the Sky. The titular chapter “Stormblood” was written to the melancholy and mournful strings of “Never Forget” from the Halo 3 soundtrack. If you’ve read the chapter, you’ll know why.

And, of course, many chapters were written to “Samskeyti” by Sigur Ros and “Ashes in the Snow” by Mono. Even if you’re not a post-rock aficionado, they’re well worth listening to.

In the future, I’d like to do a few more posts, fleshing out the songs and soundtracks that helped with the creation of certain characters, and how they helped me find the emotional foundation for those sections of the books.