Happy Songs

Here's a post for anyone who needs a bit of a cheer up. Some happy, pick-me-up songs for you:

Ok, maybe the last one isn't really a cheer up, happy song (Midnight Train), but it's one that always cheers me up.

-A

Playlists4Writing - Talkin' bout ROMANCE (ish)

So, seeing as Twitter is broken (SERIOUSLY broken, I give up!), I decided I would run up a post.

I'm pretty sure all you writers out there are like me in the sense that music is a good helper/inspirer for you and your WiPs (no matter how small the music plays a part). I think I will do a blog post every now and then with a list of songs related to a certain mood/genre/action, etc, for any of y'all who would like to cruise on by and see if any of them strike your fancy. I know I LOVE finding new songs that click something in the back of my head and makes me go "OH. I can use this. I think a scene is beginning to form for later use... Muahaha!"

Anyways, tonight's topic of choice is *gasp* ROMANCE (or... more physical forms of such things). Here are a few to get you going (heh. Not literally, perverts!)

1) Roads - Portishead (I've said it before, and I will include this bloody song in any playlist! Fantastic.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYsGWh_vpE

2) Playground Love - Air (You may recognize this song from the Virgin Suicides. Very slow, sweet, something that can be applied to multiple scenes.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAgX1jO3No0

3) Crazy on You - Heart (Ok, so Heart is one of my fav bands, and this song just proves why. Faster for those more intense romantic, passionate type scenes.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuW6BH_Vak

4) Sometime Around Midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event (How can you not love this song. It's just so cute. True story - inspired a scene I otherwise wouldn't have thought of for one of my WiPs.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJi2z3tGKIg

5) How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - Al Green (Confession: I hardly listen to this song. But came across it on my iTunes. I hear Al Green is pretty good when talking about this genre.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO6Rknx5xyI

6) Colorblind - Counting Crows (This, by far, has got to be one of my favorite ever 'slower' songs for the... more 'physical' (GENTLE physical, not.. sigh.. anyways,) romantic dealings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0s7ycdUcHk

7) I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie (This song is just so overly cute, I had to include it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6XZsau7CSk

8) Lucky You - Deftones (Ok, strangely enough, YES this did inspire a physically enhanced {perhaps not as 'romantic'} scene for a WiP of mine, though it may have been a drug induced-like scene. Nonetheless, I couldn't have a playlist without including Deftones.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80wz3_CAlg4

9) Ride A White Horse - Goldfrapp (Ok, confession again, yes I have used this scene in the mood of choice. Hey, I'm going for variety, ok?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Qw8gN4uag

10) Iris - Goo Goo Dolls (What can I say... A cute classic.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-scESgTnoUM

11) Wicked Game - Chris Isaak (Another slow, lovely song. Though I do like HIM's rocked out version better, figured this one would apply more for the post.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oaHHrNQVrg

12) Fade into You - Mazzy Star (Mazzy Star is another main one for me and writing. This song has also inspired me for a scene. A great, slow one.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF0lRYhhiwI

13) Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers (What can I say, I love this song. Though, I do have to point out that it MAY possibly be because of the spoof in Naked Gun 2 1/2.....)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6xb_ddP4nM

14) Paint the Silence - South (Suuuuuuch a cute song. I absolutely love this one.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qIyUpCPVkI&feature=related


I think that's enough for now. What do you guys think? Should I do up a specified playslist post every now and then? Any specific mood/genre anyone is looking for? Let me know!

Happy writing :)
-A

Music as Inspiration

One of the main inspirations that gets me going when writing is music. Whether it be soft and melody-like or a hard rock song from the 80s, this has been one of my go-to's when I can't figure out what to write.

Sometimes I will go to bed early just so I can lay in the dark, close my eyes and turn on my iPod - then I let my imagination flow. I even have a playlist on my iPod called "Inspire for iPod" (no joke). When I'm going through the gazillions of songs on my iTunes, or if I hear a song on a commercial or the radio the sparks a little something, I download it for future inspection.

This has helped me IMMENSELY with writing, especially the huge 3-part novel that I'm writing with my BFF. It's the longest piece of fiction I (or we) have ever written and music has played such a big part in it that whenever I hear a certain song I will instantly relate it back to a certain scene in the story.

For example: There's a slow, ominous song that I like and one night I was listening to it while laying in bed (Lucky You by Deftones), and I just try to "feel" the music (Ok, that may sound weird, but stay with me). Whenever I'm writing, probably 95% of the time I picture what is happening inside my head, almost as if it was a movie in my mind. As I listened to this song I could picture the exact way the characters were moving or talking, and it also made me think of grand ideas to go with. If you think of an idea you want to portray in your writing, grab some tunes and almost guaranteed you'll find a song that will match the mood of that scene and it almost boosts your imagination to think of how this scene will play out, or even spark ideas for what will happen before/after.

If I'm ever stuck (writer's block *cough* *cough*), I'll listen to songs that I know will relate to something in the story, whether it be a sad scene, intense scene, hate/fight scene, sex scene, etc, etc, and if I just listen to it a couple time your mind will relay what you want to happen and, in my head at least, plays out like a movie scene. Afterwards, when it comes to write that part (sometimes I'll know what can happen MUCH later in the story, just because I hear a song and know something will happen from it), I play the song and the reel starts going in my head, then transfers to paper (or computer screen).

All in all, music plays a HUGE part for me with plot ideas, inspiration, sparking the imagination, or even just something to have on in the background to relax so I can write.

As a special treat, here are a few songs from my iPod playlist "Inspire for iPod", that have really helped me out with scenes in my writing.

Apocalypse Please - Muse
Goodnight Boy - Arcade Fire
Asleep from Day - The Chemical Brothers
Change - Deftones
Crazy on You - Heart
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Eden - Hooverphonic
Fade into You - Mazzy Star
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
Lie in the Sound - Tresspassers William
Roads - Portishead
The Scientist - Coldplay
Heroes - David Bowie
Lucky You - Deftones
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones
Time to Pretend - MGMT
Within You - Ray LaMontagne
Wake Up - Arcade Fire

-A