NaNoWriMo Prep: Training for the Marathon, Part 4

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More than one person has suggested making a play list for NaNoWriMo writing music. Actually, I came across that suggestion in a non-NaNo place. That author said that each book you write should have its own music, and named his. While writing, you listen to music matches the tone and the mood of your opus. 

All well and good for folks who do well for the music pie in Trivial Pursuit, but that wouldn’t be me. (“I” sounds funny here, doesn’t it? Not like real people talking. But I wanted you to know, I know!)

So, for The Quick and the Dedd I started auditioning CDs. My criteria were:
*Music has to have energy, but not too much; also some mellow for love scenes
*No words = no distraction, but if I don’t know the words it could work
*Nothing overtly classical since it isn’t who my characters are

Discarded 50 Shades of Grey, The Classical Album and Simone Dinnerstein, The Berlin Concert and other classical albums as well as most musicals with words I could sing along with. There were a lot I didn’t select to audition, but here are the few I did:

+The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the New Orleans Album, mostly no words--Jazz fits the mood of the story in many places

- Hiromi, A place to Be   distracting for writing, wanted to follow the piano technique

-Chicago, the musical Kept seeing the scenes since it’s such a well-integrated musical; sang along

+Chris Botti, When I Fall in Love    romantic, slow; fits mood for parts

-Three Tenors beautiful but too mellow; the Italian words were distracting

+ Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska  has that kind of rough edge that I need in some sections; Bruce is a lot like Riley

+ Holst, Planets    good energy also had mellow parts; could work for some sections

And the winner is:  Well, winners. I’m sure you could tell from my notes above that I’ll be playng The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Chris Botti, Bruce Springsteen, and Holst as I write The Quick and the Dedd over the course of 30 days. Is that eclectic or what??? I write on multiple manuscripts so why not have multiple CDs?

I’m sure this would have been easier had I DH’s deep knowledge of music, but I don’t. Nevertheless, this was a very instructive exercise since it caused me to examine how I work and the nature of my book. I highly recommend you pick your music for each book, too!

1 day and counting