It happened a few years ago for me. I was listening to Lips of an Angel by Hinder and the idea for a story just came to me. I'm sure the basic storyline is a cliche. The love triangle. But I always wonder how authors put their own twists on the same cliche to make it interesting, stop it from being boring and keep the readers engaged.
More recently, I've been listening to Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and it's inspiring me to write something about a woman finding her strength and standing up for herself. Or maybe not even a woman. Someone of a minority, or an underdog, a victim. Standing up and shaking off the pain. Learning to be strong.
What songs have inspired you?
- Bonnee.
Posts
Yes, I've definitely been inspired by songs.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was writing my first novel, there was a chapter which was inspired by the song Winter by Joshua Radin, and I literally had it on repeat until I finished the chapter!
I also love listening to 30 Seconds to Mars when I'm writing scenes or chapters which are fast-paced - usually I listen to them when I'm at the climax of a novel.
I have a few other songs which I like to put on whilst writing, and I've definitely been inspired by a few more songs. This was a really great post, Bonnee!
I always love to listen to music that resounds with a particular mood when I'm writing :) 30 Second to Mars is pretty good like that, though admittedly, I've only started listening to them in the past week. (Spotify, yay!)
DeleteGlad you liked the post, Fiona :)
It's always interesting where stories come from, and how things we see/hear/experience can help shape them while being written. I've told this on my blog, but early on in the writing of my first novel, I heard Bob Dylan's 'Tangled Up In Blue' on the radio when I started my car. That's always been one of my favorite Dylan tunes, but it just struck me in a completely different way, as I could see how it kind of related to the tale I was telling. I just sat in the car, not moving until it was over, looking like a total dork, no doubt, and listened to it obsessively over the next few weeks. It just clicked, somehow.
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of the second piece you're toying with. Nothing wrong with the love triangle, but the second one seems more...powerful, maybe. Good luck either way.
Hahahahahaha :) Oh I know what that's like listening to something obsessively. At one point there was a song that my dad asked me to stop playing for a while because I'd been listening to it on repeat for like a whole day...
DeleteI prefer the second idea as well, but the first one is currently more developed and has been stuck in my head for a lot longer... but I'm not going to be working on either of them in the near future haha. Thank you :)
Hmm ... I don't know that I've ever been inspired to write something solely because of a song, but there are several whose lyrics resonate strongly with different scenes and characters. I adore when that happens! It adds something special to the story, I think, another layer to help bring it to life.
ReplyDeleteI love both your ideas! :)
I love when a certain set of lyrics makes me actually envision a person or character :) I agree, it makes everything seem more in-depth, even if it's just to the writer. Thank you, Shari :)
DeleteNice songs by American rock bands. I only know from Australia about old bands like Air Supply and INXS, and about Keith Urban. Have no idea about current singers and bands from Australia. I listen to songs from the foreign country when I write to supposedly inspire me, and also the Heroines in my novels listens to songs and I put them in the storyline, altough I have the feeling that the editors/publishers will cut out the songs from the books. To make a love triangle interesting, you have the two choices in a love triangle to be very different, so the main character has a difficult choice. Do I choose A that gives me this and this, or with B that gives me that and that? In most YA fiction they want the Heroine to grow up during the novel, like starting shy and becoming stronger with the struggles in the storyline. But there are so many choices. It's up to you as an author to pick up what you want to write about.
ReplyDeleteACDC is an Aussie band! More currently popular are The Veronicas (their current hit titled Lolita) and Reece Mastin who won X-Factor Australia last year... I don't like him much, reminds me of Justin Bieber. And it's not really Australian, he's British. So there's a couple you can look into if you ever write a story with a character in or from Australia :)
DeleteI'll have to think long and hard about the love triangle situation. I have a reasonably good idea :) Thanks Giora for your support and suggestions!
About Love Triangle, you might wish to go to the blog of literary agent Sarah Lapolla, called Glass Cases. Once you are inside the website, go down on the right side and in the search box type "love triangle" and you'll get her posts about it. She has many good posts about writing YA fiction.
ReplyDeleteummm, huuuuuuuge question, because pretty much every song makes me emotional in one way or another!!! Lol I know right, way to melancholy!! But songs can go either way for me, either I get inspired to write, or I get inspired to write another song~
ReplyDeleteHaha I get what you mean :)
Deletei usually listen to beethoven's moonlighting whenever i feel like i need extra inspiration to get into the writing zone.
ReplyDeleteI've often been told that classical and orchestrated music is good for helping to concentrate. But it doesn't work for me :( Though there is one piano artist who absolutely blows my mind and I can listen to him all day, studying, writing, relaxing, anything! Yiruma :)
Delete"At this point, Carragher thinks Werner cannot match Liverpool's three offensive line..>> The future is still uncertain."
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