This week will be five years since I self-published “The Dark Proposal”. It was the first book I’ve ever written, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment and excited as I sent my baby out into the real world.
Five years since, I have grown so much as a writer and person. It’s hard to recognize myself during that time, honestly. That is why it has taken so long to write the sequel to “The Dark Proposal”.
But I’m not going to ramble on why and how the sequel has been delayed. I’ve done that enough times on this blog.
So, I’m here to present one of the inspirations behind the sequel. A few years ago, I was contemplating whether or not I wanted to write the sequel. And then I heard the song, “Lost in Paradise” by Evanescence, and it blew me away. For a while, I could see Claire saying the words to the song to her friends, Samantha and Monica. Or I could see Hilde telling Claire those words. Or any of the vampires. After all, my vampire trilogy is about the vampire world being in trouble with modern technology and surveillance threatening their existence. And also, there is a wonder among the vampires if their own existence is worth it. After all, what are they truly living for?
But that’s for a later blog post. For now, enjoy this beautiful song, “Lost in Paradise” by Evanescence:
Yesterday marked the three year anniversary of when I published “The Dark Proposal” on Amazon Kindle. Since then, it has sold or been downloaded for free just under 800 times on either Amazon or Smashwords. Even I still can’t believe it.
As I work on its sequel, I am being inspired by some songs that I feel capture the essence of the follow-up, which are motivating my writing. While I won’t reveal which songs these are just yet 😉 I will reveal one song I feel really captures “The Dark Proposal”.
So basically, if my first book were to ever have a single theme song, I feel it would be Evanescence’s cover of the Korn song, “Thoughtless”. Not only do the lyrics and metal sound do TDP justice, but I feel Amy Lee’s anguished voice echoes Claire McCormick’s pain and terror.
Sometimes when I am writing, I wonder if there were ever a soundtrack to a book, what would mine sound like?
I usually do that when I am working on something, and my upcoming novel was no different. As I wrote The Dark Proposal, I could hear either rock/heavy metal sounds or even female singer-songwriter songs, depending on the scene. If there were a way I could create a soundtrack album to my book, it would sound like this:
Since my story is about a college graduate named Claire McCormick, I could hear the music of Swedish indie artist Lykke Li as I wrote about her. Yes, that singer had contributed the song “Possibility” to one of the soundtracks of the Twilight series, New Moon, but that is not why I think her music would work with Claire. Lykke Li’s voice sounds young and has a ring of innocence to it. Maybe that’s because it’s kind of high pitched. But either way, the upbeat songs of Lykke Li would work with Claire’s emotions over falling in love with Daniel Bertrand, and at the same time, the sad, dark tunes would echo Claire’s depression and terror over Daniel’s revelation that he is a vampire who wants to make her one too…or else.
For the intense vampire scenes, there were will a lot of rock music, particularly by Sleigh Bells, a new favorite act of mine. This hipster heavy metal duo literally shred at their guitars and bash at their percussion instruments. When I listen to their two albums Treats and Reign of Terror on my iTunes, I could envision the vampires in my book hitting the streets of New York City, looking for their next prey. Their fangs are growing out and they focus on the veins of passerby’s necks. Just the act of jabbing their fangs into someone in an alleyway, the victim’s blood pouring into their mouths, creates the sound of Sleigh Bells.
Along with that group would be Evanescence. The goth rock band would work because lead singer Amy Lee was inspired by the Underworld movies to create the songs from her band’s second album, The Open Door. Plus, there is some sadness and anguish towards the end of my novel, so that group definitely works – as well as Within Temptation. The Dutch symphonic-metal band have a soaring sound to their work, which seems to resonate emotions from both a long time ago, and the current times. Since vampires are immortal, they are creatures from bygone eras living in our days. Classical music mixed with heavy rock sounds would work perfectly with the vampire characters in my book.
I can’t help but wonder if someday books will come with music soundtracks. Hey, who knows? Technology is evolving, and there are video trailers for books – meaning, a medium that uses images and sounds for another medium that only relies on words across paper or a screen. I guess it is safe to say anything is possible.
What about you? Can you hear certain artists in your head while you write? What sort of music soundtrack would you create if your book needed one?
Megan Cashman 