a spoiler (of sorts)

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Want to know how the Victorian book is going to end?

Here you go:

So there’s a funny story behind this. We’re in India, going from (I think) Mysore to Bangalore, and I’m staring out the window listening to music. My iPod’s on shuffle, and this song comes up. And the following mental conversation ensues.

SUBCONSCIOUS: We’re totally putting this on the soundtrack for the Victorian book.
ME: What?
SUBCONSCIOUS: For the end. Or rather, the Climactic Moment.
ME: Self, we don’t know what the Climactic Moment is going to be. Because we don’t know how the book is going to end.
SUBCONSCIOUS: It’s going to end like this, of course!
ME: It doesn’t work that way. We fit the music to the book, not the book to the music.
SUBCONSCIOUS: Uh-huh. That’s why the second half of Doppelganger maps perfectly to “Amazonia.”
ME: That’s different.
SUBCONSCIOUS: How?
ME: Listening to the song gave me plot ideas. You’re saying I have to generate plot ideas to fit the song.
SUBCONSCIOUS: Exactly. Now get to work.

The subconscious always wins these fights. I gave it some thought, and realized that of the two-three very vague ways I had thought of ending the book, one of them fit much better with the mood of the piece than the others did — specifically the last minute. (It’s instrumental, if you haven’t listened to it yet; hence not really a spoiler.) Odds are rather good that we’ll be going down that path.

Now I just have to figure out why the book will end that way . . . .

0 Responses to “a spoiler (of sorts)”

  1. Anonymous

    I have a big epic Star Wars table-top game I plan on running someday, I think I may have told you about it once I don’t remember. About half of the game was designed exactly this way.

    Tony

  2. arielstarshadow

    I love this soundtrack (I own it myself)! I would, however, love to see a post about how your plots “map” to a particular piece of music, as that fascinates me. I realize it may take a while before you can tell us how the Victorian book maps to Death is the Road to Awe, but maybe someday?

    • Marie Brennan

      It won’t be the whole book, just that one bit. I could post about Doppelganger and “Amazonia,” though, or talk in greater detail about the Midnight and Ashes soundtracks. Is that the kind of thing you’re thinking of?

      • arielstarshadow

        Yes, I’d LOVE that. I hear a lot of writers say they have soundtracks for their books, but they seem to be talking more just about mood music, as opposed to the music actually helping to shape the story.

        I would eventually love to hear about this piece when it won’t give away anything, simply because I know this particular piece so well.

        Let me add that I’d love to know how you go about creating a playlist/soundtrack for your books. I feel that’s something I really should be doing myself, but with 4,767 songs, the task feels Herculean.

      • arielstarshadow

        And on a different subject, if you haven’t already discovered him, you might find you like Ludovico Einaudi. I have his Divenire, and it’s lovely.

        In checking out his website, you can have a listen to some samples from the songs by clicking on the CDs on the right side.

        http://www.einaudiwebsite.com/

  3. drydem

    given that random events in India indicated the end of the Victorian age, it’s appropriate that random music heard in India indicates the end of the Victorian book.

  4. moonandserpent

    Heh. Funny, that’s pretty much what is in my head when I think of the ending of LACUNA. I mean, not that I’m actually going to finish LACUNA but that song is on my soundtrack for the final arc of it.

  5. marumae

    Ha! 90% of my writing conversations with my friend online are JUST like this, my brain/subconscious insisting the song we’re listening to is going to fit a particular scene.

  6. kizmet_42

    Oddly, on my flist page, this link shows up as an ad for boots from Sears. Here, it’s a link to some beautiful music.

    But it is beautiful. I’ll put this in Pandora. I’d like to hear more. Thanks.

    • Marie Brennan

      I’ve noticed that Youtube embeds in LJ tend to grab onto one particular video for a while and insist that every video posted after them is the same one. But if you click through to the actual LJ post, it shows up okay.

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