  Fantasy
This week: Music, Fantasy and Novel Writing Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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An Elf (written) Fantasy Newsletter
Music is more than just an inspiration, it can help influence a novel. I discuss my use of playlists and the types of music that are great to listen to while working on fantasy and even sci-fi novels.
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I'm a big fan of fantasy, music playlists for stories, and writing novels. And often, those all can be combined whether it's during the crazy month like right now (aka National Novel Writing Month) or any time of the year. While there are many things we can talk about in relation to fantasy novel writing, this week, I’m going to talk about music.
Some people like to have complete silence whenever possible while writing. I am not that person. I like writing to the point where I made a playlist for every novel. In fact, I may have influenced the option to create the playlist during the October NaNo Prep Challenge.  That is because music, to me, is inspirational and can really bring me into a novel. This works for any type of novel, but in particular, I love how different songs can work in connection with fantasy.
If music is distracting for you, then this won’t be a good method, but for me, having music dedicated to a particular novel helps with a couple of things. It helps me get into writer mode. All I have to do is turn on the playlist and that’s my cue it’s time to focus on that novel and not any of the others I have in my head (I may have too many, just maybe). If I hear the playlist long enough, whenever I hear any of the songs even when I’m at work, it reminds me of the novel. I like having that connection and I can pick songs that feel right for different parts of the novel, for specific characters or even romance pairings. Silence is okay, but for me, I prefer to listen to music when I write.
What kind of music? That will vary. I know some people who prefer only instrumental because the words can be distracting. There are many great options when it comes to instrumental pieces and their uses during fantasy and sci-fi writing. Many movies will have soundtracks that include non-vocal music. These are great because like in novels, there are songs that are geared towards different necessary parts, including climatic aspects or even fight/battle scenes. Aside from film scores, consider video game music. Some of them are quite exceptional. I’ve used songs from Final Fantasy in particular and they are available on youtube.
However, most of the time, I prefer to listen to modern, vocal music while writing, even with fantasy novels. I tried an instrumental playlist for an epic fantasy novel and it just didn’t have the same feel or fit. And for me, the words don’t distract me but add to the connection in the stories and characters. I love having a song specific to the main character and I try not to use the same songs for different novels. For the MC Noah, I listen to Second Chance by Shinedown, for example. Whereas, with the YA fantasy I worked on in 2012, I listen to No Light, No Light by Florence & the Machine reminds me of the MC, Aeon. I listen to a lot of alternative and indie, though there ends up a variety of songs overall with almost every novel playlist. And that’s what works for me.
Once I get this fantasy novel done, I’ll need to make a new playlist for whichever novel I decide t work on next. Keep notes on your playlists, if you decide to make one. From experience, some web sites make changes and that can cause problems, or some songs can be deleted if using youtube. I used to use a site called playlist.com but now they are more like pandora. Pandora is a great place for general music styles, but not the best if you want only specific songs. I create playlists on youtube and on iTunes if I have all the songs for a given playlist. There are different options out there and it’s fun to play around, Just don’t forget to also start writing.
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And for those interested in what my playlists look like, here is the prep I did before NaNo 2012 and the 3 playlists I made:
"playlists (bonus)" |
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Do you listen to music while writing? Have you made a playlist?
Last time I wrote about death and how the information could come in handy for world building and writing stories. Here are just a few of the comments sent in by readers:
Annette 
This is a great newsletter. I never thought about death and culture around death in my books. I always thought humans are self-explanatory and elves only die in battle, but I never gave them any rites for this. Must think of something. Thank you for the kick in the head to use it and think!
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry 
In my one story, burying the dead is illegal, due to a certain plant that uses bodies to produce deadly toxins, and cremation is impractical over the long run. So, what do they do? They hold a feast in honor of that person. Say, could you pass me some of that Mystery Meat? Looks good.
Joto-Kai 
Hadn't thought of all those dimensions. Even a single difference can be monumental. For example, in "People of Glass," the difference is in answering the question, "Who is to blame?" One answer makes a race seem squeamish, cowardly and vindictive. Another might make them seem cold, rambunctious, bloodthirsty animals. Certainly these would not be compatible societies! War could burn indefinitely over such issues.
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Fantasy: November 12, 2014 Issue [#6656]
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