Drawing from the Well
Queries Sent: 1
Total Queries: 22*
Rejections: 3
Scenes Mapped: 1
Total Scenes: 282
*I messed up yesterday and forgot that I had sent a query over the weekend bringing the count to 21, thus yesterday’s query brings it to 22
I made a little progress which is better than none and I’m starting to get some direction for Meibor’s part of this Eighth. I also figured out that everything I had left for Rorian’s part of this Eighth folded into the Second Pinch Point so he’s done. Hooray!
Filling the Well
1984: 77%
Bloodwitch: 5%
News exploded yesterday over the Beta date and release date of World of Warcraft Classic…which means my YouTube playlist exploded right alongside it. I’m behind. No time to listen during the day. I should find some today AND get time to read tonight so I should have some progress tomorrow.
Polishing the Well
Last night we watched the penultimate episode of this season’s Supergirl and wow that was a lot. So much happened and changed. I did feel that one particularly…sunny part totally jumped the shark, but I’ll accept it only insofar as I have to so I can see how the season ends. It totally irritated me, though.
Well Chat
Using Music to Stir Mental Imagery
One thing I haven’t talked about much is music’s role in writing. When you watch a movie, the best scenes aren’t background silent (except in cases where that silence adds tension, but that in itself is music…okay, I’m getting off track). Movies add music to help evoke the appropriate emotion in the viewer. Tense scenes have tense music, heroic scenes have heroic music, and so forth.
Right, but writing isn’t a movie.
Isn’t it, though? Think about that for a minute. You’re writing a book that is going to put pictures in your reader’s mind. Those pictures aren’t stills, they move and do things, react and emote. You’re crafting a movie, you’re just letting the reader fill in some of the blanks instead of handing them the visuals directly into their optic nerves. So why not treat it that way?
My favorite scenes to write are action scenes, especially climactic ones. The imagery, and by extension the action itself, often manifests in my brain the first time alongside music. This kind of makes sense considering that I enjoy heavy metal most. It’s fast, it’s aggressive, the music itself is full of action, so it comes as no surprise that it evokes action in my brain.
You can use this too. Are you working on a sad song? Aria by Sarah McLaughlin should get you sobbing all by itself so that should put you in the right head space to make others cry. Writing a scene where your main character is introduced to a new, grandiose locale? Pick music that matches that local: tropical for tropical, stoic for stoic, etc. Crafting a big reveal? Replay the music when Luke finds out about his father from Empire Strikes Back and you should be right where you need to be.
The great thing about music is that there is so much of it that you can match the right tune to ANY scene you’re writing. That’s why many contemporary authors publish their writing playlists for a particular book on Spotify. They have specific music they used to get their mind right to write and they want to share it with their fans. Do the same. Pull together songs that inspire your writing and listen to them as you need that inspiration to compile your verbal imagery. Could change things forever.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG