How to Use Music to Kickstart Your Next Novel
“After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
So, you want to write a novel, but you’re not too sure how to get the words down on the page. You’ve spent all day procrastinating by cleaning, tidying, baking, you’ve even reorganised the fridge like you’ve been meaning to do for years, but the page still sits blank in front of you. Where do you go from here?
How often do you find yourself transported by a song on the radio? You stare longingly out of the window and experience the nostalgia of the school disco or reflect on the time you truly got your heart broken. Music has this amazing ability to exploit our senses, it unlocks our memories, and ignites our imagination. Yet when you think about the Greats: King, Hemingway, Austen; it seems that writing is just something that comes naturally, and you start to think that you don’t have what it takes, that you don’t have the discipline. False. Don’t give up that easily, your writing career has just begun! Even the likes of Virginia Woolf swore by music as a source of inspiration for her work, so why can’t you?
Here’s an exercise on how to channel music into words for your new novel:
Start off with a well-loved song, it doesn’t have to fit the tone of your future novel for this exercise. Play it on repeat. Headphones, speakers, record player if you’re jazzy. Give the song your full attention, it deserves it.
Connect
Ask yourself these questions:
How does the song make me feel?
What do the lyrics mean to me? What do I think about?
What movie scene would this song be the soundtrack to?
The trick here is to tap into your emotions. Music makes us feel, it’s the reason we love playlists so much. Often lyrics will tell a story; expand on this story or begin planning a character who would blast this song on repeat after a breakup, or a successful job interview. Use the tone of the music to envision their setting and their moods. Build on the theme or message of the song.
See? The ball is already rolling.
Borrow
We as writers are able to connect with music more than just considering how it makes us feel. Songwriters are clever, the structure of their song often evokes more meaning than the lyrics do themselves. Take the same song and see how the most powerful lyrics are often lonely one-liners, sung after the chorus with more passion.
You’ve already discovered how the song makes you feel, and you’ve developed a character, a setting, a story. So, listen to it again, and this time try mimicking the pacing and rhythm of the sentences and line breaks.
Take particular words or phrases that resonate with you and incorporate these into your piece (you’re not stealing, merely borrowing for a writing exercise). Consider why these word choices appeal to you, start a list of phrases to build from for your novel if you fancy. See your writing flourish with fresh structure and embedded meaning.
Apply
Turn off your favourite song. Look at all the wonderful words you have on the page. These words may not be beneficial for the novel you’re now ready to write, but it’s clear to see how valuable music is for writing with dimension.
What is the genre and tone of your novel going to be? Is it a thriller, a fantasy, a romance? Either way, the internet is overloaded with mood-specific playlists for you to enjoy. Try this task again with a song that parallels the beginning scene of your novel; perhaps play some Tom Odell for an incredibly heart-breaking opener, or Fleetwood Mac for an in-your-face introductory powerwalk?
Music can act as a powerful tool for every writer. It opens the doorway to a world of new beginnings, new emotions, new depths, much like Alice and her magnificent rabbit hole. So, if you’ve still got a blank page in front of you, why not give this idea a try?
Go on, writer, you’ve got this!
Here are some of my playlist recommendations by Spotify:
Life Sucks, for the more poignant scenes.
Feelin' Good, the theme tunes for your favourite characters.
Serotonin, young, wild, and free.
Sad Indie, every melancholy moment will benefit from this one.
And if you’re looking for other fresh tips to help you on your writer’s journey, make sure to check out:
by Jess Hamilton
About the briefs and co-ops
On week 3 of the Post-Digital Content module, students where asked to respond to the brief of Writers and Beginnings. This piece from the Dauphin co-op was selected for publication by the editorial team of the module. Dauphin specialises on beginner audiences.