Susanna Calkins, Author
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Do you write--or read--with a soundtrack...?

11/24/2012

11 Comments

 
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Wing / 2705:15
A recent post by author Eric Beetner on Holly West's blog has made me deeply reflect on the way I think about writing. Eric,  a musician as well as a writer, was discussing the important role that music plays in his crime fiction.

Eric uses music to add dimension to his characters, explaining "Music can be an effective way to get to know a character since music is very personal." We see this all the time in film, especially to set a mood, but I'm not sure how common this is in novels.

But as I thought about it, I have used music to emphasize key themes in my writing, but in a very different kind of way from what Eric describes.


The murders in my first novel, A Murder at Rosamund's Gate, are largely described through ballads, broadsides and other penny pieces... which is how 17th century Londoners would have learned about crimes within their community.

Murder was literally described in verse, sung by booksellers on street corners, in a sort of a half fictional, half truthful way.

Take, for example, this 1660s ballad which I chose at random from the Early English Books--a large collection of penny press from the 16th to the 19th centuries.  


As always, the title provides a synopsis to the reader (or listener, as neighbors and friends would read these ballads out loud): The downfall of William Grismond: or, A lamentable murder by him committed at Lainterdine in the county of Hereford, the 22 of March, 1650, with his woful [sic] lamentation. 

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If you just look at the first part, you'll see the author specifies that the murder ballad should be sung to the tune of "Where is my love."

(Ironic, of course, given that his love is lying on the ground, having been murdered at his hands. The audience would have gotten the joke).

But the point is that the story wasn't meant to be just read, but sung according to a well known popular tune.


Somewhere along the way we may have lost this connection between music and fiction-writing. Obviously,  a lot of musicians are story-tellers, but I'm not sure how many novelists frame their stories musically. 

So I'm curious...If you write, do you deliberately use music as a way to develop themes, characters, mood etc? If you are a reader, do you hear a soundtrack play as you read? Do you want to?
11 Comments
Matt
11/24/2012 10:29:39 am

What an interesting idea...to write (or read) with a soundtrack. Very cool to hear how music enters your story.

I've often wished that I was wealthy enough to hire a person to follow me with a guitar, putting a soundtrack to my life. I'd especially like to have 'room entering' music...something fast and dramatic, like flamenco music you'd hear when watching a bullfighter.

Sorry to digress. To answer you question--no, I haven't thought of music when I've read novels, but now I want to.

Reply
Susie link
11/27/2012 12:23:01 pm

Matt...that sounds like fun. Personally, I'd be worried if I started hearing the slow suspense music...

Reply
Eric Beetner link
11/25/2012 02:16:17 am

Im glad my post made you think. This is great information too. I was very shallow in my thinking and said to Holly that of course music would not effect a historical writer since you can't go listen to the songs. How wrong I was. I love that you use music and drew out the original uses of it. It's so true that songs were a way to spread news and tell stories back then, but I'd never thought of it that way. Fascinating.

Reply
Susie link
11/27/2012 12:25:24 pm

Eric, I must not have noticed that comment to Holly. :-) See M.M.Bennetts comment below! :-)

Reply
Holly link
11/25/2012 02:16:23 am

Great post! I even learned something about the period I write in.

Reply
Susie link
11/27/2012 12:26:37 pm

Holly-thanks! I've studied this period for years and I'm always learning stuff!

Reply
M.M. Bennetts link
11/25/2012 02:50:52 am

I always use music to keep me in the headspace of my novels. Obviously, certain cds will be more completely attached to one novel or one character than others...and sometimes a new cd will open up a character or a part of the plot that one hadn't seen before.

But I also depend on certain pieces of music to either create the rhythm of the sentences or of the work, or to keep me inside the head of a certain character or even to drive the emotion of a certain character.

When I was writing "May 1812"--which has a character with a bit of a rage-problem--to get myself into that mindset of anger, I would either play the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata on the piano, or there's a lied by Schumann which is very fast and very driven...I'd play that for a bit, then go write...It worked brilliantly...

Reply
Susie link
11/27/2012 12:28:48 pm

M.M.Bennetts...this is really interesting. I do so much of my writing in coffee shops that my pages seem to be only informed by the cadence of the coffee grinder. I really like that you use these pieces help you create the rhythm of your sentences!

Reply
Jaynes
11/26/2012 01:59:08 am

As Billy Joel says
"there's a new band in town"
"but you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine"

I get the two major reasons to use music...to convey or inspire..
The problem I see, is if I write with music in the background, the reader would need the same music playing while reading to fully appreciate the story from my perspective. The only way I see this happening is if you are doing a script for a movie and can actually put the soundtrack to be played in quotations - "queue Pet Shop Boys West End Girls".

If I reread the story with the music off, have I lost the spirit of what I was trying to convey? Now its not a big deal if I was using music just to focus my thoughts while taking pen to paper...I have used music (the lyrics) to advance the story and give it some depth...But I don't think I have ever used music (instrumentals) to move a story...very interesting concept though...I'm curious if it can work very well outside of Theater or a screenplay...

Reply
Susie link
11/27/2012 12:29:45 pm

Jaynes...try it!! try it!!!

Reply
Toby Grant link
6/13/2022 11:37:07 am

Great read thank youu

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    Susanna Calkins

    Historian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher.  Occasional blogger.

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  • Home
  • Lucy Campion Mysteries
    • A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
    • From the Charred Remains
    • The Masque of a Murderer
    • A Death Along the River Fleet
    • The Sign of the Gallows
    • The Cry of the Hangman
    • Death Among the Ruins
  • The Speakeasy Murders
    • Murder Knocks Twice
    • The Fate of a Flapper
  • Short Stories
  • Blog
  • News & Events
    • Event Photos
    • Archived Guest Posts & Interviews
  • The Roaring Twenties
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