Has music ever influenced your writing or somehow worked its way into your stories?  Both have happened to me.   When I first started writing my novels, I had a CD in my car, only one CD and I kept listening to it over and over an over again.  It was The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1.  Many of the songs on this CD influenced the mood of my first novel (The Purity of Blood, Volume I)  They have a darkly haunting melody and lyrics that wove into the fabric of my writing.   One of my main characters, Daniel Bennett, got a theme song from this album.  It’s “Dream On.”  So much of the lyrics of this song embody who Daniel is at the beginning of the story.    Other songs like “Walking in my Shoes” seemed symbolic of the character Randall Walker.    The song “Martyr” seemed perfect for the scene where Sara ends up going out to a local bar to get drunk and ends up on the dance floor.

But there are also actual songs in the book.  In my second novel (Purity Lost)  Ben and Sara take a dance class and work on a final project.  It’s in the fourth book in the series that they actually dance to it.  At the time, I had a bunch of Ricky Martin songs on my ipod that I dance walked to for my morning exercise.  Since the dance in the novel is to a spicy Latin song, in my mind they are dancing to “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin.   I never mention the actual song in the book as it didn’t seem important, and let’s face it, some folks just don’t like Ricky Martin.

In my fourth novel (Purity’s Progeny) Sara and Daniel share a dance out on the deck of the house on the mountain.  It’s a waltz.  I wanted it to be something a little on the timeless side since Daniel is VERY old.   Around that time I got introduced to the soundtrack of the movie “Crazy Heart.”  I’ve never seen the movie, but I instantly feel in love with the song “Reflecting Light” by Sam Phillips.  It’s an acoustic piece with a modern yet old-fashioned sound to it that just seemed perfect.  Again, although not mentioned by name in the book, this is the song they are dancing to.

So have you found your writing inspiration in music?

-Jennifer