The Power of Music

I got the music in me…

...Well, at least it’s on my iPod (which is PRACTICALLY an extension of my hipbone or shoulder, depending where I decide to “hook” it today). And it’s a beautiful day in the Midwest. One worthy of a long morning drive in my convertible with my dog… and the radio.

First let me explain a bit. Like most people, I’m pretty easy to decode within ten minutes. I prefer the woods to water. I’m artsy. I’m a bit off-center. I don’t like being “boxed” in.

And MUSIC moves me...

Inspires me. It takes me places pictures can’t. Music can cause change. Music is powerful!

The long and winding drive this morning happened in part because a song came on the radio. If you are like me, even if you are mere seconds away from your driveway, a good song can make you rethink your stop.

The song that created that diversion today was “Same Love” by Macklamore. It’s a beautiful song.

Recently, I downloaded the entire album, The Heist, to my iTunes. But before this album, I bet there wasn’t one rap song on my playlist. (Okay, maybe “Ice-ice, Baby” but that’s only because I was in college when it came out.)

I love nearly everything on this album. It’s bouncy, it’s energetic, and for the most part, it’s about story-telling.

But from the moment I heard, “Same Love”, I knew it was part of one of my story’s playlist.

The song, for those unfamiliar, shares the story of same-sex relations. Apparently the team of Ryan Lewis and Ben Haggerty wrote the song in support of equal rights laws in Washington state.

Give or take your personal views on marriage etc., what I heard in the song was “LOVE”. Unconditional. Non-judgmental. Simple-LOVE.

Maybe it’s Mary Lambert’s soulful hook, “I can’t change. Even if I tried. Even if I wanted too.” Whatever it is, it works for my story.

The manuscript I’ve attached this song to, one that is dear to my heart, is not about gay relations. It’s about friendship. The story is about a friendship with all the trappings and complications of society. The main characters are two preteen boys and a slightly older girl from different social classes.

Essentially, the story boils down to the depths of platonic relationships. And Walla! The song, “Same Love” fits for my purposes.

There are other songs that work for my WIP too. But this is my favorite.

I’ve made playlists for each of my WIPs. I have ‘20s and ‘30s music for a historical fiction. There are e-pop songs for a dystopian manuscript.

But like most writers I know, music can be distracting to listen to while in the actual writing stage. I use music for inspiration. It’s motivational to me for times I am wrestling with those deep, internal conversations with characters and story development. Music can set the mood. It can relate and recreate a time period. It can create a specific space and place for my characters.

Are there certain songs that you use when writing? If not, perhaps it’s time to search Pandora. Plop in key words that relate to your theme, characters, or setting and see what comes up!

It might be exactly what you need to get the story rolling!

Vintage Valentines and the Way I Work

By in large, a part of who I am is in what I chose to write about. I’m the kid you knew who loved the library. I’m fascinated by the past, especially what may at first seem like the intangible past. When I stumble across a detail or fact that I feel is essential in one of my historical fiction works, I want to possess it and I want to understand it thoroughly, as if I am the character, without question or doubt.

Take vintage Valentines for example.

My current work in progress pivots around Valentine’s Day in the 1920-1930s.  Most of the knowledge I get when I interview for a historical piece is second-hand accounts or, often-times, hearsay. I value every interpretation of history that I can get, but to get into my characters’ heads, I have to really understand—more!

So what’s a writer to do?

First, I research online. I remember scrolling through reels of micro-finch during my undergrad, but lucky, many pieces of history can now be found online. (Local colleges and universities still hold the “key” when it comes to their archives! Recordings done via the WPA or other grant-funded opportunities are incredible treasures!)

Another online resource I use is ebay. I don’t limit myself to the US either. Adding a “.co.uk” after “ebay” of the web address often opens up the search in amazing ways.

I’ve also used the National Archives time and again. They have photographs and sound recordings as well as documents that help to set the scene or tone of your story.

Research in general isn’t a new concept. Most writers I know are avid fact-finders.

But when my research leaves me with bigger questions and that unsatisfied feeling, I take to the streets. I go on what Julia Cameron, writer of The Artists’ Way, would call an Artist’s Date.  I don’t set my sights high and narrow my vision. I go out, hoping that what I need at the moment to get me through a stumbling block in my writing or to help a character “play” in their environment, finds its way to me.

It may be to a park, a museum, a walk through the woods, or even shopping. Getting out, away from the “search” has proved to be my way through when I’ve become neurotic over the little things.

That’s what happened with the Valentines. I wasn’t really looking for them, but they found me.

Vintage valentines are all over the internet. (I have many of them “pinned” on a board on my Pinterest page.) Some of the Victorian era cards pop open. My mother has many of these matted and displayed in her house. But I needed something else.

About a month ago, when I was on one of my “writer’s retreats”, I decided to wander through a local antique store that I had always brushed aside. In the past, I had found this particular store had too much ‘70s and not enough of what I really considered “antique”.

But the cards found me.

The curator of this particular booth had bundled Zip-lock baggies of cards, prints, postcards and coloring books together in a random collection and stuck them all in a wicker basket under a bench on the floor. Thank goodness I have a habit of looking on the ground for pennies! The first bag I grabbed held the gold mine I needed.

What is it about these cards that make them different than the ones I found online? I’m not completely sure, but I’d bet it has a lot to do with the physical connection. They smell, they have a texture, there is a fading message and signature that almost has a life of its own.

They aren’t exactly the cards I pictured when I wrote the Valentine’s Day scene, but they are the cards that took me there to write it.

  

                     

   

IDEAS: Naming Characters


"A rose by any other name..." this one simple section of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet holds so much meaning to me. Why? As a writer of fiction, I am forever in the process of choosing names.

In my classroom, I provide baby-naming books. I find these to be very helpful (more so than the internet because of the alphabetical listing and the ability of the writer to visually compare the names). I’ll pull out history books, encyclopedia novels, popular names of the times etc. But beyond the name books, I look for potential names everywhere.

On recent travels I saw a billboard for someone running for office. The last name was printed in blue across the board shouting out in large letters, "CHASEN". I liked it. I grabbed my notebook out of my purse and jotted it down. (Boys/men...this is why you must always either wear a sports coat with pockets, carry a bookbag, buy small, slim notebooks or ditch those stereotypes and carry a purse...a notebook on hand at all times is essential!!) The name reminded me of Jason and Chase combined. Many of the books I've enjoyed had handsome characters with these names. Of course, they are overused. Thus, ta-da! I introduce: Chasen.

At this point, my character, Chasen, has no form. No physical features, no background. Yet he does have a few things I might build on. 1. He's male. 2. His NAME is attractive (maybe he isn't...that might be his problem). 3. His name might be connected to another similar sounding word: chasten. Hmmm…4. He has lots of possible nicknames. I like characters to have at least one pet name. Something mom or grandma calls them. Maybe even the pet name is the prominent name in the story. Non-the-less, I find having pet name possibilities helpful.

If I've not been "gifted" with a name in the way I found "Chasen", I might rely on using the next best thing for my story. An advantage of being a teacher/writer is the plethora of character types that I've come across. Let's say my character is a wall-flower. She has friends, but tends to wait for decisions to be made. I'll plop a name from one of my former students (years and years ago) to hold the place until I am "gifted" with the right name for her. At least, in this way, I'm able to stay close to the character through their name as well as the action.

If you have any great suggestions for how your characters’ names develop, please share them with us. Although the name, Chasen, doesn't have a place yet in a story, it's waiting in my notebook and you’re free to try it out too!

IDEAS from a Rainbow

As we were driving home from a vacation today, the sun peaked over the horizon enough to allow its rays to pass through a smattering of rain. I’ve always loved science, and the physics of nature’s prism--a rainbow--is truly fascinating. For almost five minutes the rainbow was full and contained all the required colors in an artist’s palette: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. But then, the clouds and moisture floated south, and the sun began to dip a bit more on the Western horizon. Bit by bit the colors tore apart and melted back into the sky.


I couldn't help but think of all the things that I could write about rainbows. From the simple acrostic style poem to the personal moments I've had in the presence of rainbows. My family is a Stargate family and the comparison between a stargate and a rainbow is all too easy. Even Dorothy went OVER the rainbow, so why not through the rainbow, under the rainbow or past the rainbow into another dimension?

Then there is always the folksy pot-of-gold story. Leprechauns and all. Irish heritage helps here; however, I'm not sure that I've ever trusted the red-bearded wee-ones. Images of Lucky on the cereal box jump to the forefront of my mind. But if I need a character, this could be the place to start.

While I’m making connections, unicorns and rainbows naturally go together. Growing up in the 80s, I've always like unicorns and the combination of the two creates images of peacefulness and dreams.

One simple image out of a day, in this case, my rainbow, can open many doors in my writing. Tonight I’ll try one out.

IDEAS. IDEAS. IDEAS.


I seem to be full of them at the moment. I love that, but then, as they say, too much of a good thing...too much--A Problem—heck YES! When I'm really full of those ideas, when they pop around in my mind like the beads in a kid's toy vacuum, there IS a problem. I lose focus. I'm not sure which one to latch on to. I don't know which one I should pick or where I should start.

I could choose the memoir. The short bits of anecdotal life that help me work out a stress in my current life. For instance, my grandma is about to undergo surgery. The family has cleared out her apartment to help make the fast transition to assisted living. Photos that are grandma’s and hers alone have surfaced. Those photos have memories that have lain dormant for decades. Ideas, ideas, ideas.

Then there are the realistic YAs. I read them; I write them; I have fun with them. My characters are reflective of my friends, my students, myself. It's summer and I can't help thinking about how my characters' summer vacations are going. Ideas, ideas, ideas.

And of course, there are the historical fictions. OMG...I'm stirred by them at the moment. After attending the summer writing workshop with KATHI APPELT I can't help thinking about their personal goals. A blog that I follow recently covered the idea of writing the premise of your story as a guide. Despite my stories having a clear outline already, I can't help but think about putting the goal and the premise out and letting go of sections I have already developed, but that don't really belong in the novels.

Oh. And there are the stories, genres, and characters that really haven't played out at all yet that are swimming around inside my head using my eyeballs as their source of light. They dart in and out of my consciousness, teasing me. Ideas, ideas, ideas.

There isn't enough time in the day to write them all! What's a girl to do?