My Muse
Every once in a while I hear a song
that throws a scene into my head. It could be a song I've heard a million times
before, it could be a song I'm hearing for the first time. Sometimes, I'll be
in my car, sometimes I'm browsing through the iTunes store and sometimes I'm
curled up on the couch watching something I've dvr'd. It doesn't matter where I
am or what I'm doing or if I've heard the song a million times before,
when that scene pops into my head, I need a pencil and paper immediately.
There was one song in particular
that carved out a path for TORN. I don't remember the date I first heard the
song but I do remember exactly what I was doing - watching Vampire Diaries. It
was the Founder's Day episode. (If you watch, then you remember. If you don't,
you should.) In this particular episode, Stefan went a little nutso and
Damon had to step in and dance with Elena. The song they danced to was
"All I Need" by Within Temptation. I'm not sure what it was about the
song, maybe I was influenced my the scene in the show, but I knew my main
character, Samantha, needed to feel the emotion I pictured when I heard that
song.
At the time, I had only a few pages
completed. I looked up the song, found the video on YouTube and downloaded it
from iTunes. Then I searched for a few more songs and eventually had a playlist
of a hundred or so that I would shuffle when I wrote. Sometimes, I would add a
few more songs, delete one or two that didn't match the vibe I was going for.
But every time my fingers hit the
keys on my mac, I needed to hear that playlist.
Mind you, I am in no way musically
inclined. I can't hold a note and can't play any more than chopsticks on a
piano. But I can, like many others, feel the emotion in a song. Not every song
and not every time, but music has become such a huge part of my writing, I
can't imagine writing without it.
If you have any favorite songs that
inspire you, feel free to comment below. I love to hear about new music. Maybe
I'll add it to my next playlist.
~Christine
Christine Hughes
http://christine-hughes.com
http://christine-hughes.com
TORN BLURB
When Samantha's father dies and she he was an angel because of
what he was protecting, she must join
the fight between two groups of fallen angels, the Faithful and the Exiled, in
a race to save humanity. In spite of the unforgivable betrayal of her best
friend, the newly acknowledged love for her guardian angel, the face to face
confrontation of the dark angel who killed her father and the growing need to
allow darkness to take over her being, Samantha has been charged making the
choice between fighting alongside the Faithful or succumbing to the darkness of
the Exiled.
