One of the things that I find myself doing whenever I'm writing for the stage is creating a mix CD of songs that might have meaning for the characters. I'll hear a certain song and it will make me think, "Oh! Devin would like this song!" or "This is how Kelly feels when Devin is being a jack-wagon to her." So, I keep several files for each of my plays: one for each act of the script, one with the cast list, and one with notes or outlining, and now one with the compilation CD that I'm making for my characters.
Now that it's become a part of my process for stage writing, I find it creeping into my other writing as well. Just the other day, I heard the song "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train and it has a lyric about Mr. Mister in it. That just happens to be a band I was obsessed with in middle school. It made me think about the song "Kyrie" and as I listened to that song, all I could think about was that this was the lyric that my main character in this year's novel attempt, Beata, would have running through her head as she made the decision to run from the angels.
So, it might seem like wasted time, but that kind of thing not only puts me in the mood to write, but often it inspires certain plot twists.
Hey there. I know there's a chance you're just going to delete this thinking it's spam... But, that's the risk I take. I found your blog searching out others who like mix cds. I host a group of people who swap mix cds in the mail. There are easy ones (bands who start with The) or more difficult ones (scavenger hunts). But, if you're at all interested in this (or any others who read your comments) please feel free to email me at mixcdsforall at yahoo dot ca
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