Welcome to the latest Bonus Material post for the Project Renovatio series. This one’s gonna get a little musical.
Some writers use music for inspiration. I know of a couple who got whole story ideas from a song (I had one for a short story). This isn’t quite like that. As I write, I hear songs that hit me as fitting with the story or with a character. I’m not actively seeking songs to go with the story. They just kind of happen. But when they do, listening to them helps me focus on whatever elements align with them.
The Project Renovatio series has a few songs that fell into place with it – three that matched characters and one that went with a crucial plot point in Liberatio (I’ll discuss that song last in this post, so if you haven’t read Liberatio yet stop reading after the third song so you don’t stumble onto the spoiler).
If you like to sing along, clear your throat now.
The first song, Daylight by Maroon 5, struck me as Levin’s song the second I heard it. More specifically, it aligns with his relationship to Maggie in Liberatio – so much so that I couldn’t listen to it without getting misty-eyed for a little while.
The next song is Rana’s, and it’s a bit non-specific. I imagined her as a Taylor Swift fan, and in Ancora she hears a favorite song while she’s waiting in her car. I thought it was probably this one.
The next song jumped out at me as Dante’s song (he first appears in Liberatio and has a VERY important role in Ancora, so if you don’t know who he is or why he gets to be on the list, keep reading!). Dante is a warrior but he’s also a hopeless romantic, and this song started becoming popular as I was writing him a lot. It’s one of my favorite songs, and he’s one of my favorite characters, so it works out nicely.
The last song is a little strange in the setup but bear with me. It also contains that giant spoiler, so STOP READING THIS POST NOW if you’re not at least halfway through Liberatio.
It aligns with the middle plot point of not only that book but of the entire series. I imagined it as a movie – when Peter shoots Maggie, Levin’s world goes into slow motion, and I heard this song covering all the sounds that would accompany that moment and those that follow, until Dr. Craig comes and stops Levin from beating up Peter. It also fits with Levin’s head space in the following chapters.
There you have it! These songs will forever remind me of the stories. I hope you enjoyed integrating them a little.
Allison Maruska 
It’s great linking songs with stories. From an author’s perspective a song can capture the atmosphere, time and experience of his/her story. It can also explain so much about the singer. Annie’s song by John Denver was composed after he’d rowed with his wife and was sat in a ski lift. In ten minutes he came up with the words to Annie’s song and set it to music on his return from skiing. That’s creative genius! Full of ambition for my first novel I audio recorded after the print and Kindle editions. The idea was to introduce atmosphere with Rachmaninov’s Second piano concerto, because for me, the second movement captured the mysterious atmosphere of this sea adventure. Also within the movement there’s a powerful percussion piece- this to portray the rescuers boarding the ship to capture the hostage takers and reclaim the cargo ship This was never to be and there will never be an audio edition, in all likelihood, but as an author you can catch a tune on the radio, a popular song or musical expression that captures what you feel portrays much of the essence of your story. Obviously this is a personal opinion. Perhaps for others their first novel was not invested with so much excitement. There have been good reader comments, but my first novel will never be on Richard and Judy’s shortlist or eulogized about in a Guardian novel review. I’ve just started a sequel, and the characters are older and perhaps more interesting than before. Brave or foolhardy?
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I don’t think older and more interesting is ever a bad thing. LOL 😊
I didn’t know that story about John Denver. That is genius!
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Those fit nicely. 🙂
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I think so too. 😊
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Song lyrics can be very inspirational, and I love the way you have used these in this post. I am beta reading Project Ancora as I speak, and although I am enjoying it very much, I have the feeling I should have read the previous books first. Something I will be doing in the future!
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Cool! Some parts in Ancora will make more sense when you read the first books. 😉
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And I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying it! 😊
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Great post. I completely understand where you’re coming from. (I just love Say Something.)
Music’s moods and instruments write my scenes.
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Music is great for mood setting, for sure.
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I haven’t read it all as I don’t want the spoiler :). Oddly I actually write with certain music constantly playing in the background. Usually associated with the mood of the scene I’m writing…not sure if that’s weird or not lol 🙂
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If it’s weird, we’re both guilty. 😉
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