Passions in my life – reading, writing and music.
Music is playing
When I need a break from writing I’ll go walking. Not only do I love the physical benefits I get from walking, but the magic begins when my ipod is whirling and churning out song after song.
My mind is distracted from writing and I’m humming along as I walk along the river bank surrounded by rows of grapevines. And all of a sudden the song that plays is the song of my character – whatever he/she is going through at the point in time – anger, love, anxiety, fear – there seems to be a song for it.
As my first novel, Haven River, started to take shape and Luke became a real person there were songs that just were him. I took a note of those songs and before long I had a playlist that was all about Luke.
I played his songs while I wrote his story and it somehow made Luke stronger as a character.
Luke’s playlist
Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day
Best of You – Foo Fighters
Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own – U2
Talk – Coldplay
Wake Me Up when September Ends – Green Day
Numb – Linkin Park
If You’re Gone – Matchbox Twenty
Talk by Coldplay is my favourite. It beautifully personifies the difficult relationship between Luke and his brother, Ryan.
Other playlists
Another writer who has compiled playlists for her characters is Holly Goldberg Sloan Check out the playlists for I’ll Be There.
readwritethink.org has an interesting assignment for students, which asks them to create a playlist for Holden from The Catcher in the Rye (man, I still have yet to read that book!).
Swoonreads is another website that addresses character playlists.
Songs make our characters come alive and are an integral part of the writing process. A character somehow seems incomplete if a song doesn’t tell their story.
If you’ve read Haven River would you agree with the list above? Would you add any other songs? Do you have a playlist for your characters?
Casey Fae Hewson 
I totally make playlists for my characters and/or books. I thought I was the only one who did this. Wow, who knew?
Hey, you’re not alone anymore!
It’s a relief to know there are other people who make up playlists too. How easy did you find it? It took me a while to find the right songs.
It’s usually not super hard. I look through my person library for songs that fit the character’s mindset. I normally find enough songs. Although, depending on which character I tried it for, that could get more difficult.
I usually just use the lyrics instead of the songs or the titles and then see if the song fits.
Makes sense. Personally I go with the “feel” of the song rather than the lyrics. Sometimes they don’t even have lyrics, or not in English anyway.
That sounds like it’d make it easier actually. I might try that.
I actually don’t go actively looking for songs. When I’m listening to music suddenly a song just screams out that says this is for my character. I hadn’t thought about music without lyrics though.
That’s how I prefer doing it but when I need a song then I’ll use lyrics and titles to find the right one.
Never have I ever thought of creating a playlist for a character while I was writing some stuff in the past lol!
It’s a very cool concept indeed. Especially when it comes to the personality of the character. I believe creating a playlist for them can be a really good way to get to know them and it’ll help in character development too.
Very nice post here for other aspiring authors, bud 😉
Your pal,
Benjamin
http://www.projectbiy.com
Thanks for your kind words. Writing a playlist really helps me get into my character’s head.
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