NaNo will be here before we know it, and I’m really looking forward to it this year. I missed last year, on account of visiting Russ in Alabama, and getting engaged, and a bunch of other things that were going on, but this year I’m thinking…full speed ahead! I have a story idea, I’ve taken some notes, I even know some of the names of my characters. My hero is named William Wesley Ward, oh, and btw, he happens to look like James Marsters. So yeah, I’ve even got this thing *cast* to some extent. But what I don’t have yet…is a soundtrack.
Now, every good writer knows that every good story has its own soundtrack, the music that “goes with” the story, especially if it should ever be made into a movie. But even if that never happens, you just need something appropriate to listen to while you write the thing! (Preferably on your laptop, in a coffee shop, sipping iced coffee and wearing headphones.) And NaNo is a great time to have a soundtrack, because with the time limitations put upon you, you need as many “cues” as possible to get you in the mood to write, and get you into the atmosphere of the story as quickly as possible.
Now here’s the thing about my upcoming story. It is NOT a comedy, no, not at all. It’s sort of…dark…sort of mysterious, full of vaguely supernatural themes, full of spirituality and the search for the meaning of life. And also full of angsty self-doubt. Confused yet? I don’t want to give away too much of the plot this early in the game, but suffice it to say that this afternoon, driving home from work, I was listening to a CD of random songs, and the theme from the TV show Angel came on, and I said, “That’s it! That’s one of the songs for my soundtrack!”
So that’s the direction I’m going in, and I’m going to continue to search. Looking for deep, dark, instrumental music, kind of mystical, kind of…BIG, if you know what I mean. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.