Music and Me and Did Anyone Else Think Mumford & Sons Were From Tennessee?

I didn’t used to have specific songs or playlists for my stories as I work on them. But these past couple of years, I’ve been finding myself picking out songs and thinking, “Hey, that’s exactly how Character X feels and/or went through!”

I think it has something to do with the fact that these past couple of years I’ve actually been working on longer projects for extended periods of time. When your mind is so deep into a story, it’s going to make connections all over the place. Some songs have lyrics that fit perfectly for specific characters or relationships between characters. Others just have a feel to them that fits my story in some way or another even if the lyrics aren’t an exact match.

So here’s my current WIP playlist:

There’s one song missing. “Annie” by Elefant which goes right before “Thistle & Weeds.” They didn’t have it available on Playlist.com. So here it is from Youtube:

Is it just me or does this playlist make my story seem kinda dark, or at the very least on the downer side?

My inner goth is pleased, but I think I need a playlist part two. Subtitle: Hey, some characters in my story are actually happy and functioning people! I swear.

“No One’s Gonna Love You” and “Thistle & Weeds” are sorta my cornerstone songs. They were the firsts on my list and speak to certain characters/relationships in a very definite way (which may diverge from the songwriters’ original intent, but whatevs. It’s art. It’s interpretable). When I was stuck in my writing once, I listened to the two versions of “No One’s Gonna Love You” (Band of Horses is the original) over and over for like 30 minutes until I figured out what I needed to do.

I love “Thistle & Weeds” because I can really see and feel a storm building and escalating when I listen to it. (It's best to listen to it SUPER loud to really get the effect). I also feel it aptly represents a certain character of mine’s back story. She’s kinda scary crazy, but she wasn’t always like that. It built up over time and escalated to the point where she is now.

Also, the lyric “The sky above us shoots to kill.” Awesome! What a way to describe lightning! I wish I was as good at describing stuff.

Speaking of Mumford & Sons, I wasn’t the only one who thought they were from Tennessee, was I? Maybe this exposes my shameful preconceived notions about banjos, but I pretty much assumed that anyone playing them is from a southern state of the U.S. (Don’t get me wrong, I can get down with some Bluegrass. The banjo is an instrument to be respected.) I’d probably listened to the Mumford & Sons CD about 30 times before I was like, “Hey! Heeeey. Southern people don’t say ‘can’t’ like that. Or ‘plant.’ Or ‘all.‘ Or ‘been’! What is this deception!?!”

Plus, to me the leader sing from this band has a similar tone to the lead singer from Kings of Leon and Kings of Leon are from the South(-slash-Midwest). So, you know, associations. And apparently one of the guys in the band is called Country! And were is country music from?

Whatever! My assumption was valid leap in misjudgment!

…

Mumford & Sons really gets down with some banjo.

Anyway, what about you? Do you have a playlist to go with your novel? What’s on it? I loves music and to know what other folks are listening to. If’n you ain’t got no playlist, tell me yourn favorite song from 2011.

Or of the week. This here’s one of mine. This song is loud and discordant and brief and fast, and I loves it.

And oh, my gosh! I just found out this band is from Bowling Green, Kentucky! It has just been a southern-fied second half of my post, hasn't it?!

I think I got too excited about that...

Happy Friday, ya'll!

When You Can't Retreat, Vacation!

I found myself on an impromptu mini-vacation this weekend. Naturally there are certain items I never leave town without. At minimum, it’s several books, a couple of notebooks, a couple of sketchbooks, and – last, but not least – my computer.

Because for me, the word “vacation” is synonymous with “writer’s retreat.”

Since this was just going to be a weekend trip with only one full day actually spent out of town and because it was a big group of people going, making this - in theory – a social vacation, I didn’t really think I’d get any writing done.

Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising considering I’m me), I did manage to get in a few hours of alone time with my computer. My borderline-reclusive leanings helped in this regards. But seriously, watching a movie together doesn’t really count as a social activity, right? So it was okay to skip out on that. And I played a round of dominoes on Friday night so I didn’t need to join in on a game of cards on Saturday.

I’m happy that I went back to my room, slipped on my earphones and commenced to writing because I had a pretty exciting character revelation as I tipity-tapped away on my keyboard. This thing that I realized fits right in with the other dynamics already on the table for these characters and the back story that’s already been established, and while it doesn’t change the events I foresee writing in future chapters, it adds to everything an undercurrent so awesome that it makes me want to hug myself and squeal with glee whilst I do a little happy dance.

I’ve been working on this story for what feels like a lot longer than what should have been necessary, and it has been a pain in the butt to write, I mean really. It. Has. Sucked. But now I’m thinking, maybe I’m glad I didn’t finish it sooner. If it took me this long to come to this wonderful, wonderful realization, maybe it’s better I didn’t finish it months ago…but if I had finished it months ago, would I have come to this realization anyway?….or maybe the story would have been completely different because I would have never hit upon other slow-to-come realizations and therefore I would have never reached this weekend’s awesome insight? And oh, the circles of thought continue to go round.

It’s the same thing I wondered when I used to wait to the very last minute to write what turned out to be an excellent paper in college. Did it turn out brilliant because I waited until 2am to write something due for my 8am class? Would I have been able to string these same thoughts together if I did it slowly over the course of the several weeks I was given?

Inspiration, when it comes to putting together a story, is a series of thoughts falling into each other like dominoes, except that it isn’t a single, predetermined line of dominoes but a journey with many forks in the road that could lead you anywhere. At least that's how it seems to me; and sometimes, they’re slow to fall.

I don’t exactly advocate waiting for the muse to hit you upside the head with inspiration, but I do believe that there are times when you just can’t – or shouldn’t – push a story that isn’t ready to go anywhere. Like so many things, it’s about learning to balance between the two, getting a feel for when to push on through to the other side or when to take a break.

I’ll tell you one thing. When the dominoes are consistently slow to fall, when you have to stop pushing and take a break for no other reason but for the sake of your sanity, it really makes you appreciate every page, every little line of dialogue, every period at the end of a sentence, every space between two words.

Image by Justina Kochansky/articulatematter.com

There has been many a day that I’ve hated this particular story. Capital H-A-T-E-D, HATED with a deep-seeded passion that sat in the core of my being like a lump of dry, stale bread stuck in my throat, but on the other hand, by the time I get to the end of it - if I ever get to the end of it – I think I’ll really feel like I’ve earned this story. That this story decided that I was going to work for and, boy, have I—like a dog works for his tail.

…I just hope it doesn’t suck.

Webcomic Update: Preview of First Completed Page Posted! (Click on image for larger version)

The Stuff of Dreams

This has only happened to me once before.

Early this morning, I woke up from a dream and had to write it down before it slipped away. It was the makings of a great story (maybe.)

I don’t often remember my dreams and the one other time I ever started writing a story based off a dream, that dream had been like watching a cartoon. I wasn’t featured anywhere in it except maybe as an invisible spectator.

The dream I just woke up from a few hours ago wasn’t like that. In the dream, I was myself and I was given a writing prompt or exercise. I never really liked participating in prompts and exercises, but dream me went with it and started writing out a brilliant scene. Then somewhere along the way, I became aware of the fact that I was dreaming and needed to write this scene down before I forgot it. So dream me started frantically writing the scene down wherever she could find somewhere to write. (I specifically remember dream me writing dialogue on the flap of a cardboard box.) Never mind that dream me had already just written out the scene earlier in the dream. I had to write it down, had to write it down, had to write it down!

Okay! Message received, subconscious mind.

I woke up, sprung out of the bed, and grabbed my lab top. Already, I had the feeling that I was only remembering a fragment of the scene, but that was enough for me to keep writing beyond that little fragment for several pages. Automatically, my mind started filling in some of the blanks of why this scene was occurring and where things might be headed. I even wrote a dialogue for a new scene featuring a character that didn't make an appearance anywhere in the dream. I’m a long way from really knowing what’s going to happen in this story, but you know what, I think it just might make for some pretty cool reading.

What about you? Do your dreams ever become fodder for your fiction?

Doctor Who’da Thunk It?

If I’d had any idea what Doctor Who was about all this time, I probably would have started watching it a lot sooner than a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes, not having cable really sucks. You know, being all out of the loop and having to be entertained by books instead of by flipping through 500 random channels.

But oh well. I’m catching up now and that’s all that matters. I spent all of Saturday in front of my laptop watching a significant chunk of season series four and those bits that came between four and five. I barely got out of bed all day and never did get around to changing out if my pajamas.

That was a lot of Doctor Who. I might have overdosed on it. I definitely felt like a zombie by the time I looked up and realized that I was watching Doctor Who in the dark.

That’s what I call a low energy day…because that feels better than calling myself a lazy, no good slacker. I’m going to let myself believe that Saturday was actually a productive day because the whole reason I started watching this show was in preparation for reading this book:

...which chronicles, through email correspondence, two years in the creative life of Russell T. Davies as he shapes series four of the show while heading towards the end of his reign as the show’s head writer and executive producer. When I learned of this book, it sounded like a useful read for a writer such as myself. But seeing as how it apparently divulges all the behind-the-scenes story making, I thought, “Hmm, maybe I should actually watch the show first since I have a DEEP AND ABIDING HATRED OF SPOILERS (even for stuff I'd never thought to watch). Oh, and I guess that watching it will help me understand what all Mr. Davies is talking about, too.” So without having a clue as to what it was about, I signed into Netflix and clicked “play” on the first episode, which led to this…

That there is a depiction of instant fandom. And sure, I’m a couple of years late on this, but I now know what I want to dress up as for Halloween.

Anyway, this month has to be the opposite of Saturday. Doing nothing but watching TV all day really did make me feel like a bigger slacker than usual. So I’m making a “to do” list and everything. Who knows? I may even have time between Doctor Who episodes to check a couple of items off of it.

Something for Awkward Girls Everywhere

If you've ever in your life been the opposite of cool (you know, said the wrong thing because you didn't know what to say, stood silently and grinned like a weirdo because you didn't know what to do, etc) you'll totally get The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, a webseries by Issa Rae. And I guess if you're super cool and always know how to charm your way through the most awkward of situations you can watch it too.




I'm so bummed this series only has five episodes so far - and I have to wait a whole month for the next one! - because this chick (Issa Rae) and this cast is seriously funny, especially the other awkward people she comes across. For more episodes or to watch from the beginning, check out her site. If you only watch one more episode definitely look at episode 4: "The Icebreaker," which includes - from our protagonist's best friends rap - the following lyric:

Issa: I'm like Saved By the Bell--

CeCe: And I'm California Dreams

Any show that includes random references to the corny 90's teen shows of my youth is fine by me!

It’s Not Fan Art, It’s Practice! Practice I Tell You!

Although I am a fan of Ted Naifeh’s and I would recommend Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (as well as the three graphic novels that come after) to readers of any age who enjoy creepy stories about fairies. Oops! I mean faeries. And seriously, man! I need him to come out with Polly and the Pirates Vol. 2. Like now.

I got comics on the brain. Even when I don’t, I stumble upon this article. So some folks out there are really pissed off that there’s a (fictional) Muslim Batman out there in the (fictional) world and because Idris Elba plays an Asgardian in the coming Thor movie (also fictional). Like really pissed off. Like you haven’t seen a bunch of racists and white supremacists this mad since Nov. 4, 2008 (…ahem, when Obama won the presidential election). How can something be funny and scary at the same time? Read some of the remarks of outrage quoted in the article.

Sometimes I manage to forget that there are people out there like that. But at least it provides the Daily Show with material.

But in less depressing comic news, I recently learned of an awesome web comic created by Canadian cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks: The Adventures of Superhero Girl!

I’m going to the comic book store today. Her graphic novels Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere are so on my list. I’m also going to check out her other web comics. It may be too soon to call it, but suspect I may be a fan.

Also, I stumbled across this really cool podcast 3 Chicks Review Comics. The episodes get kinda long, but I usually do something that needs getting done while I’m listening. Yea, for multitasking!

I gots me two new books (just arrived in the mail this weekend.) Who likes reading about making comics? I likes reading about making comics.

And now I want a third.

Oh, how I covet thee.

But maybe I should finish reading that one book I was super excited to get but have yet to finish because it doesn’t matter if it’s explained using comic book format, books about drawing perspective are confusing!

I should mention South, since I'm here. Technically, this is a picture book and not a comic book or graphic novel, but it was created by cartoonist Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) and I absolutely loved it.

A month or so ago, I picked it up for $3 at my neighborhood discount store with a mind to give it to my niece and nephews. But then I read it. Now I don’t want them anywhere near it with their grubby, sticky little fingers.

And I just realized I can’t find a certain graphic novel which I know for sure I own.

Or this one.

And now that I think about it, I haven’t seen them in a while…

This is very upsetting. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is the graphic novel that got me all hot for comics in the first place.

Look at that foxy page. That sexy panel layout.

And Marvels is just excellent, showing writer Kurt Busiek doing what he does best and Alex Ross isn’t really my favorite comics artist (though I have great respect and reverence for what he is able to do) but he really rocks the pages in this one!

See!

Hmm…

Yes, I’m very concerned.

Oops. I have a blog!

Somehow I hadn’t felt much like writing these the past couple of weeks. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but…

It was almost like there was something physical in the way.

I don’t know it was probably a mental block or something. But yesterday, I started to feel a little opening of possibility.

Like my muse was slowly crawling out from under some rubble of uninspiration.

All I know is that suddenly I could think clearly and wrap my brain around the idea that, you know what?

I’m getting some writing done today!