Check Out Some of My Playlists!

Flesh Failure, Samhain Publishing July 2014

Every author uses music differently in the inspiration and creation of his or her work.

Sometimes a song gets stuck in my head and it won't go away until I write a story inspired by it. These days, we have Facebook so I'm able to multiply scream, "I can't get that damn What Does the Fox Say? out of my head" without having to actually use it in a story. I think even Baby Beluga has swum its way into my work before we had the Internet.

I grew up in a musical family, my parents are classical musicians and my dad is an award-winning composer. I played violin for about twenty years in various orchestras and travelled to festivals in Scotland and  London, England when I was fourteen. I can kind of play piano, love to sing (though am not fabulous or anything), have attempted guitar but my fingers are way too short and chubby (great for violin!), dance, and love to rock and roll.

I've spent many years in musical theatre and when I was little was really into opera and operettas such as The Medium. I loved how music told a story.

Almost everything I've ever written was inspired by a song or snatches of songs. I guess this is why we have soundtracks for movies; there's opportunity to marry story with music.

I've been working on and off creating various playlists that reflect the inspirations for various books and stories that have been published over the past twenty years. Some playlists include me reading or acting out parts of my work. Others include clips from movies, music videos, and other inspiring or relative medium.

These days, technology makes it so easy for any author to read snatches from her book on instagram or add a song to a playlist. I personally find it great fun to have an opportunity to interpret my own work, even if I don't actually look like any of my characters. Being able to point to songs and say, "Hey, I loved that "Voodoo" song and video by Godsmack and it inspired both "Sycophantic Rapture" and the new novella with the working title of A Penny Saved."

I imagine other horror fans and creators also have found inspiration in many of the same works as me which I've decided to start compiling various playlists.. I find it fascinating to see how what we experience through music impacts our work. I find it interesting too that some of my favourite songs have never inspired a story in me.

Here are some of my playlists on YouTube:

Captured Souls (Samhain Horror, 2014) Playlist

Flesh Failure (Samhain Horror) 2014

Frankenstein Compilation

A Penny Saved (Working title for Samhain Horror novella) 2015 

Assorted Author Readings