So I have this thing about writing. I need music.
I don't really remember when I started really trying my writing consistently to music, but it became almost an addiction recently when I did a fun exercise with some fanfiction I was working on: I wrote a collection of pieces, each directly inspired by a song that I pulled up on my iTunes. Initially, this was supposed to be a random thing - I wasn't supposed to pick the songs - and the pieces were to be wholly written during the period of the song.
By the end of this "experiment" (which ended up going on for fifty songs in the original "short-work" form, and then culminating in a separate novella-length fanfiction in which each chapter had its own song) I realized that I absolutely write better with music that is selected appropriately for each scene.
It's because of this that all my stories have soundtracks now.
The one I just finished - and goddamn, do I need to come up with a working title or what? - works with a lot of concepts that are interesting to me: life after death, applying physics beyond our understanding with the result being "magic", the supernatural, and just plain old vanilla friendship. And the one song that really embodies the whole story, for me, and that I've listened to more times through the course of this monstrosity, is 'Something to Believe In' by Parachute.
And it's weird, listening to that song now that it's all finished. Not because the story is done, or maybe that is why. But when I listen to that song and read at the same time, everything is so damn vivid. I can see the scenery, the green of the swamp, I can see the characters. It's all flashes - almost like a music video - but it's kind of crazy.
Moreover, it kills me that no matter how hard I try, I will never ever be able to paint that picture for my readers. Not without exhausting the world's supply of adjectives. Not without shooting a movie straight out of my head. I'll try my damnedest, but I know that ultimately, it's impossible. But hopefully, when I fail it's not because I haven't done a good job. Hopefully it's because the readers are forming their own pictures, and I've given them enough material to do that. Take, oh, take Terry Pratchett for example. When I read a Pratchett book for the first time, it's a book - words on a page. I don't see the characters, I don't hear their voices. But then when I read it again, or when I sit and think about a scene, all of a sudden it's real. He didn't have to totally describe every single detail, because it would have been wasted the first time around and would make the whole thing too cumbersome to read. He just had to write enough that when I slow down and think about it, there's the picture, there's the character, there's the action, there it all is. And I really want to be able to do that.
Music helps, but not every reader is going to have the same picture as me, or the same soundtrack. When I was writing at first, I considered naming each chapter after the main song for it - the book woudl come ready-made with a soundtrack - but then I realized that the only person that would help would be me. For readers it would be confusing at best, and stifling at worst. Not everyone likes music when they read, anyway, and I can't imagine a lot of people willing to admit that they enjoy listening to 'Safety Dance' as many times as I did (I CAN LEAVE MY FRIENDS BEHIND).
But I'm going to keep listening, because maybe - just maybe - that'll help me pull it all together all the better.
In other news: I have thought more about writing in the past few days than I think I ever have in my life. Goddamn.
And no, this is no way is not procrastinating the work I need to be doing . . . Oh, wait. Dammit.
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