As some of you know, the project I’m working on for Nanowrimo this month is the sequel to OFF THE RAILS, so I’m finding myself revisiting a lot of the music I listened to when I wrote the first book, with the addition of a lot of new songs.
The first time around, I listened to this album on Amazon music over. And over. And over. I actually got really sick of it by the end, but it was so perfect for the book I couldn’t stop listening. I especially love Ashoken Farewell, Somebody’s Darling, and Hard Times, which actually appears once in the book. A good deal of OFF THE RAILS deals with mourning and loss, and while I was writing it my grandfather passed away. Vacant Chair makes me cry every single time.
Usually when I write, I listen to a lot of instrumental movie and television soundtracks. Two of my go-to’s are from Penny Dreadful (season one, especially) and Crimson Peak.
Mrs. Andrews and her entire family are of Irish descent, which has a lot of bearing on the story, so I also listen to a lot of Celtic and Irish music. I’m gravitating to two different extremes here–the quiet, old fashioned voice of Loreena McKennitt, especially ballads like The Lady of Shallot:
…And the Dropkick Murphys, who are actually American, but do a sort of Celtic punk rock style that I am really into right now.
What have you been listening to?
