While I don’t tend to listen to music when I write, as I find it distracting, I do tend to associate certain songs with characters in my stories, or scenes I’ve written. I think it’s probably because I’ve become quite a visual thinker over the years, and fanvids were something I really enjoyed making. Now I have a clear idea of what my own characters look like, I tend to set their scenes to music in my head, just as I used to physically do when I was vidding. For those readers unclear of what vidding is, here’s a quick definition. And here’s an example of one of mine:

Now that I’m playing in my own universe, I still tend to think in fanvidding terms, and I’ve got playlists on my ipod that consist both of songs I associate with certain characters and moments in the story, and also those I think a character him/herself might listen to on their own devices! For example, the song Blue Denim by Stevie Nicks reminds me hugely of my male protagonist, Matthew Carter, even though the eye colour in the song doesn’t match Matthew’s. It’s that visual of seeing Matthew in blue jeans that stays with me.

And for my female protagonist, Anna Hemingway, the song Come Away With Me  by Norah Jones instantly reminds me of her – the calm, yet sexy vibe of it seems to suit her perfectly. There’s a vulnerability about the lyrics that works really well with my understanding of her and her motivations.

Perhaps it would be giving away too many spoilers to list any more examples of songs that make me think of key scenes in the novel, but I will sign off which the song I’ve recently discovered to be Matthew’s favourite – this would be one he has on his own ipod!