This is fun. Right now, I can safely say my favorite artist is Taylor Swift. Love her. I bought both of her CDs a few months ago and will still go weeks listening to nothing else.
My novel Perilous is the first of a 3-book series (potentially more). It's a thriller about four girls who are kidnapped and taken across the border where they are held for ransom by a desperate criminal.
But it's a lot more than that. It's also a love story (not with the criminal, EW!). The love story starts in book one but doesn't really take off until book three. It's innocent and fresh and emotional. (I hope.) Taylor's song "You Belong with Me" captures the feeling of a normal teenage girl who feels completely acceptable the way she is, even if she's not captain of the cheerleading team. It's the guy who needs to see her for what she is.
Her song "Fifteen" is the one that gets me, though. This is the song that talks about the insecurities of being a girl with a crush. The feeling of just wanting to be wanted. I remember that feeling from high school. Oh, it was awful! Just as Taylor talks about in her song, I remember watching friends sacrifice pieces of themselves because they thought it would give them something in return. It never did, and that was heartbreaking.
I want to capture that emotion in my books as accurately as Taylor did in her songs. When you read my series, if it doesn't sweep you away and make you feel something, then I failed!
My other stories have theme songs too. But I haven't written those books yet, so they don't merit being mentioned in the blog post.
Sequel revisions:
today's goal: 122/171
actual: 130/172
tomorrow's goal: page 140/172
6 comments:
That's an awesome picture of her. I have a special place in my heart for Taylor Swift because she went to my high school. Of course, she went there 20 years after I did and they've moved to a newer building now! But we're from the same hometown.
Yeah thats great and I am gonna let you talk about her but first I gotta say BEYONCE has the best video of the year!!!!!
LOL David!!!! You totally cracked me up!
that's a pretty good claim to fame Steph!
Fun topic, Tamara. I'm wondering what you think of dropping in music references in your work. Does it date the piece too much?
My MC's iPod playlist pops up a few times in my WIP as a means of giving a window into her emotional state. It's largely classical music and retro pieces that connect her to her dead father. In the sequel (also in progress) I don't anticipate using music quite so much.
I had never heard of Taylor Swift until that Kanye West episode. She sings nice, though.
Laurel--I might be crazy, but I think dating a piece is GOOD. I mean, we include all this stuff about setting so people know what time period and where it is and all that stuff, so how does music not accomplish the same thing? I don't care if I'm reading something that happened ten years ago or happens tens years in the future. I just want to know when it happened.
Could be just me, though.
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