I’ve often been told I have a very cinematic storytelling style, and I guess that fits; I was inspired as a child more by George Lucas than Isaac Asimov. And what would a movie be without a great soundtrack?
With that in mind, I’ve lately been revisiting an old idea of mine. When I was working on In Shining Armor originally, back in the early 90s, I had a “mix tape” I’d made up of songs that captured parts of the story in my mind. Even made a cassette case insert with the list and some art I’d done for the book (which was originally a graphic novel before I realized that as much as I loved drawing my characters, I sucked at drawing backgrounds). With modern-day collections of MP3s on hard drives, it recently dawned on me (okay, I’m slow) that I should rebuild and expand that mix tape as a playlist on my PC.
Well, I’ve got it on my PC and my phone now, and I’m just amazed at how much listening to these same 20 or so songs over and over again really pumps me up to write this story. There’s still a few gaps and songs I need to add, but what I’ve got so far really guides my mind through the major plot points of the novel in a very visceral, emotional way. Whoo!
In case you’re curious, here’s what I have so far:
- Bravado/Rush
- Invisible Man/Queen
- Shangri-La/Don Henley
- Inside Job/Don Henley
- Everybody Knows/Leonard Cohen (although I think I prefer the Concrete Blonde cover of this one)
- Rearviewmirror/Pearl Jam
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams/Green Day
- Just a Job To Do/Genesis
- Live and Let Die/Guns N Roses
- Breakdown/Guns N Roses
- Desperado/Eagles
- Man in the Long Black Coat/Joan Osborne
- Bring Me to Life/Evanescence
- My Immortal/Evanescence (yes, the same two E tracks on the Daredevil soundtrack; so?)
- Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own/U2
- Original Sin/Meatloaf
- Twilight Zone/Golden Earring
- Just Get Through This Night/Styx
- In the Air Tonight/Phil Collins
- Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door/Guns N Roses
- Pretty Maids All in a Row/Eagles
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