“…I’m a sucker for grainy old recordings that feel like they’re reaching through time. Both my novels reflect this core nostalgia.”
Tag: playlists
“I listen to music in a way that feels very utilitarian. I look for music that helps me do the work of excavating memories.”
“The order of songs here aligns with the arrangement of the stories in the book, which may feel a bit discordant for listeners; this discordance, however, is also a reflection of the spaces of discomfort my characters inhabit.”
“These are mostly crossover songs that enriched the novel, but also helped me feel less insane about my own circumstances so I could muster the energy and wherewithal to write. “
“…fiction is either false or true. It depends on the depth of imagination and empathy; style, rhythm, silence; honesty and depth of feeling and meticulousness; and an irrepressible desire to make sentences so tight they ping.”
“Tamara loves the maudlin. Any song about death is all right by her.”
“Beyond my premise of zombie movies training us to react to a zombie-like scenario, my other working inspiration for the novel was that when the apocalypse happens, it will mostly be filtered through and to some extent, be felt through social media.”
“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.”
“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.”