HOW MUSIC IMPACTS WRITING

I don’t know about you, but music has a special way of evoking memories, stirring emotions, and inspiring me. Gems like The Song That Never Ends take me back to my childhood. Do You Hear What I Hear reminds me of fun times in college. Mansion Over the Hilltop breaks my heart, because it was my favorite teacher’s song, and he’s not alive to sing it anymore.

Even though music has the ability to send me on a time machine to the past, it also inspires my writing. Sometimes an inspirational song helps me envision what my main character’s spiritual arc should be. Other times, I run across super creepy songs that give my insight into my villain. One such song is The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. In a book I wrote that is currently waiting for a publisher, my villain leaves this song at one of his scavenger hunt locations, and my main character discovers that the music is a window into his soul.

Just like the characters in my stories, I tend to have songs that reflect my place in life, and these songs are in a constant state of change. Life changes and, hopefully, I grow along with it. The current song on repeat in my head is His Mercy is More. It’s encouraged me so much to see that God’s love and mercy is bigger than anything I might flub up. He is so good. But, who knows, my song might change next week. Or tomorrow.

Do you have a song that sums up where you are in life? If you share it below, I’ll enter you in a drawing for an ebook copy of Firefly Diaries by one of my favorite authors, C.C. Warrens.

Alicia Haney is the winner of last month’s drawing! I’ll send an ebook copy of The Purple Nightgown to the email address you provided, Alicia.