I was just preparing my review of Ann Aguirre‘s Grimspace, and in one of her interviews, I came across a comment she made about the songs she was listening to when she wrote that book:

Ms. Aguirre writes (over at the Bradford Bunch) that she was listening to the following when writing Grimspace:

I wrote Grimspace over a year ago, was finishing up summer of ‘06. Let me look at my playlist and see what I was listening to back then. Looks like Placebo and Blue October. Here are some songs that influenced Jax and March:

Hate Me – Blue October
Sound of Pulling Heaven Down

Because I Want You – Placebo
Song to Say Goodbye
Infrared
Blind

Music has always been important to me, but it had never occurred to me that writers can use music to enhance their muse (I know. Duh.). This past spring, I was having a slightly difficult time. I can’t complain, because I was choosing between two good things, but one of them would have meant cataclysmic change, and let’s just say not everyone was happy for me. Luckily, I had my husband and other folks to help me process it all.  But I couldn’t have gotten through it without music, and I had three songs in particular on a constant loop: Annie Lennox’s A Thousand Beautiful Things, The Flaming Lips’ Love The World You Find, and, when I felt like saying a big “fuck you” to everyone, the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army.

So, I thought I would look around and see what some authors I like have to say about the music that inspired them. Here’s what I found:

A couple of years ago, Sarah Wendell wrote something for Romancing the Blog about music, and several authors chimed in to talk about the songs they listen to write writing. Alison Kent, for example, wrote: “Adore by the Pumpkins is one I always listen to, and Bruce’s The Rising”.

Lauren Dane, whose Giving Chase I recently read and liked, says that music is a “huge part of her creative life” here. Hmm, I wonder if the Chase brothers are Pearl Jam fans.

Meljean Brook makes a playlist for her WIPs, and Bree Sharp was on it in 2007. Ms. Brook recently blogged about this, saying that she listened to CCR’s Fortunate Son for Demon Bound.

Another author I really like, Megan Hart, said in an interview the following:

“I usually have a list of current favorites that might not fit the book, but are on the playlist, but I always have a certain few special songs picked out. They can be older, or current songs that just “hit” me. For Broken it was ‘What if You’ by Joshua Radin. For Tempted it was ‘Everything Changes’ by Staind. For Second Verse I have a few including the more recent ‘Stolen’ by Dashboard Confessional and ‘Ocean Size Love’ by Leigh Nash.”

Here’s a long thread at Fangs, Fur and Fey where authors write in to suggest songs to go with their writing. Jocelynn Drake, for example, likes a lot of Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, and Linkin Park.

These are all contemporary authors. How about those who write historicals? Can they be inspired by music, and must it be the music of the period?

Well, I found this essay at Gather.com by Duke of Shadows author Meredith Duran, another book I really liked, where she talks about the songs that inspired her. She has a different playlist for the parts of her book that take place in India and England, but songs are modern on both of them, including Sarah Maclachlan, Coldplay, and Nickelback. Here’s what she says about the MacLachlan song: “When I lost track of the isolation and melancholy enveloping Emma, ‘Fear’ by Sarah MacLachlan put me right back in her head.”

I admit, I haven’t had the time to reread any of these with the music playing, but it might be a neat experiment!

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