“In the spirit of those long-ago music videos—alas, lost to history—I present an emotional road map of my novel, To Stay, To Stay, To Stay. If you listen to this playlist all the way through, the music video in your mind should recreate the plot of the novel with 99% accuracy… allowing, of course, for some differences in budget and casting.”
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to […]
“I rarely listen to music when I write. It distracts me from the rhythm and musicality I strive to build into prose. Plus, I have an internal playlist that rarely stops, even when I try my best to quiet it.”
“Working in solitude, alone in a tiny closet, would have been maddening without music.”
“World News from Waverley High is set against the backdrop of national unrest and some of the most vital music ever created.”
“I love the difference between authors who have favorite songs on deep background, giving them the feeling of their life, and authors who play particular songs in their head while they write, or the difference between authors who cite songs in their writing, and authors who hide them.”
“Without music, this book wouldn’t exist. I’d just have a volcano, but with no place to put it.”
“One of my favorite scenes in the book shows Tom being so heartbroken by listening to this song that his wife realizes he is in love with someone else—the person who bought him the record.”
“Short stories and songs, especially pop songs, are very similar forms. Both are capable of structural perfection (unlike the novel, an essentially imperfectible form).”
“What’s reflected here is the music that first shaped me into a poet and songs that have specifically been in conversation with my six poetry collections as I was writing them.”