Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Considering our purpose is to worship and glorify God, it's no surprise to me how much music impacts my writing. With each novel I write, I usually have a song or mix of songs I listen to as I write. Now, I know a lot of writers who can't listen to music while they write, but there's a certain level of music that becomes like 'white noise' to me and my characters. Kutless manages this beautifully nearly every album.
For my latest WIP, a military thriller series, I've had to push the envelope as far as I what I normally listen to. Max, the main character is a hard-edged, angry former Navy SEAL. While my favorite band is Kutless (you REALLY have to get their latests album where they return to their rock roots, although I love their worship albums too!!), Max demands the 'screaming' songs, as I refer to them. Since I have a noise sensitivity due to severe TMJ, it's a challenge to listen to the screaming. LOL However, I have tried to write to lesser songs, only to find Max will not budge. I think he's a metal head, in real life. LOLOL (speaking of, when he discovers his estranged wife is pregnant with his son, he wants to name him Dillon, after Matt Dillon--again, no surprise there!).
Anyway, I was in the store the very day Kutless released their new album, TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE ALIVE. It wasn't until we moved (about two weeks later) and I aws trying to write on of Max's scenes that this one particular song's lyrics leapt out at me. I realized "that's Max. They're singing about Max." Okay, we won't go into the fact that MAx is a fictional character made up by me (I think). LOL So,I wanted to post a YouTube video here, but for some reason, the codes won't work. Check them out on myspace becuase the song leads the opening of the page: www.myspace.com/kutless
Be sure to post a comment and let me know if you do this too.
Here are their lyrics:
The black of night is closing in around you
The crippling fear moves in as they strap you down
Will you let a moment get the best of you
Will this situation bring you around
When the blood stains dry
Will it bring you around
Will it pass you by
Right now you're bruised and bleeding
I see the hurt within your eyes
I know your pain is for a reason
You need to feel just to know that You're alive
The days have turned to weeks but it's not over
The bandages rewind you to where you've been
These memories will remind you
When life takes you out will it bring you around
When it's said and done
Will it bring you around
What will you become
Right now you're bruised and bleeding
I see the hurt within your eyes
I know your pain is for a reason
You need to feel just to know that You're alive
OH YEAH, BABY!!!!!
Of course, two of my CPs and I are lovingly arguing over this epilogue. I find it a tad cheesy, but one pointed out to me that it's classic HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Well, I normally don't write fuzzy stuff, so maybe that's it. I'm not convinced. LOL
Now, I get to do the editing and layering for depth. This story really gave me a run for my time and energy. I bascially had to start over--too many changes just to do some minor rewriting. I didn't feel connected to my story for the first several (okay, six ) chapters. Now that I'm done, my prayer is that after all these changes, the editor will want this book and see that I'm willing to be flexible. LOL Regardless, as Steve encouraged me to, I viewed this as a part of my education as a writer. I learned a LOT about myself, about writing for a particular market, about the insanity of this industry, and about how very much -- no matter what--I LOVE WRITING!!!
What about you? What are you working on? You learning anything through it??
Okay, so I got jealous *grin* of seeing everyone's blurb for their books. LOL And granted, mine's not even contracted yet. But I just couldn't resist designing this. Waddya think???
Well, not literally, but the other day, I was chatting witha friend on IM. And I changed my avatar to a diver with a shark swimming by. I told her the scene reminded me of Dead Reckoning. And she said, "and Midnight Zone." Immediately, I was like--Oh, remember when Declan was diving and he got nudged by the shark that sliced his rebreather, which is how Declan got that scar." I was nearly giddy reliving that moment. How he fought for his life and ended up being saved when Joselyn had to crack his dive helmet off with an oxygen bottle...
Sigh.
That part isn't in the book. It's the backstory. And Declan isn't real, although I retold the event as if I'd just shared a day in the life of the Kendig family--like when my son lost his tooth eating a sandwich.
Blurring the lines of fiction and real life comes easy to me. LOL Only because my characters are "real" people with depth and replete with events that have colored their world to the mural they're living now.
So--have you done this lately? Been so involved in your characters, that you suddenly find them coming to life in YOUR life?? Seen your hero in the grocery store? Have you ever had a character stalk you through your house as you're trying to do laundry with him demanding you fix this situation the heroine has caused?
Sigh.
Me too.
