writing to the sound of music

Katie McGarry does something that I find extremely interesting and have started to adopt. On her website (katielmcgarry.com), she has this extras tab. And on that tab, there is a section called playlists. She has created playlists of songs that inspired her writing. Certain songs depict specific scenes she was writing. Others show themes throughout her novels. Others are for her characters. And all these playlists that she creates are available on Spotify for readers to listen to. I mean how cool is that?

When I write my own books, I keep a playlist going on Spotify with the title of my novel. As I'm writing, I find songs that set the mood for whatever scene I'm writing or just songs that feel like my characters and my story. I listen to this the entire time I'm writing and I find it so helpful.

Music is a powerful tool. It is something I connect to deeply and I always have something playing in the background. Sometimes I hear a certain song and I see a scene play out in my mind. Or I see a scene and I search to find the perfect song. It's like when you watch a movie and the soundtrack feels like it was perfectly crafted for the movie and every event that happens. That's what I try and do with my books. I let the music fuel the scene that I am writing.

This isn't something that is a requirement for being a writer, but it is a tool that I use and find helpful. Then if you publish, you can make those songs available to your readers and give them more insight and emotion into what you were writing which is super fun.

Keep adding songs and let the music flow into your writing.

-Cath