“Some songs were indispensable at the start, when I had only the seed of an idea; I’d listen to them on repeat walking around the Sacramento grid to sink into the right mood for a productive insomnia.”
Category: Author Playlists
“I keep a playlist going every time I’m working on a book.”
“There is no liberation without music, pure and simple.”
“As someone who writes mostly nonfiction, the skeleton of the playlist I construct for each book project are songs from particular times of my life, its muscles and sinew evoke mood. Eventually, the songs become background noise.”
“Some lullabies are written especially to sing to children, and others are just songs, sung low, sung slow. When the lyrics are dark, they hint at a world where a tired adult croons alone in the dead of night, and lets their own fears and anxieties roam over things they wouldn’t admit to in the daylit hours.”
“Music plays a part in the story, but for this playlist I wanted to gather songs that trace the coming-of-age of my main character, a small-town misfit who grows into a spirited, self-possessed young woman. They’re songs about innocence, longing, connection, grief, hope, and the messy process of growing up.”
“First off, Upstate New York people rock together and you’re going to get that vibe throughout this playlist. We all came from those same woods where no one could see us.”
“When I was writing Furious Violet, I made two different playlists—one with instrumental music that I would often listen to as I worked (I usually find vocals to be too distracting while I’m writing), and then another playlist of songs with vocals that helped me channel a certain mood or era, which I would listen to when I was just thinking about the novel.”
“I write to explore the texture of different emotions, and listening to music is another way to access those textures.”
“My novel The Flayed Man is a monster story in a literal sense—the main character will turn into a gruesome, violent creature if she fails to regularly consume blood—but also in the way the trauma-driven, codependent relationship she has with her mother turns their interactions monstrous.”