Making Amends With Music

Many writers use music as a means to get where the words are. Stephen King is reputed to listen to AC/DC at full blast, for example.
For me, instrumental music is usually best. And depending on the genre or scene I'm working on, I will change the energy of the music. Sometimes industrial (Chemical Brothers is best for violence), Sade (for love scenes), and other artists for general mood. For example, I found Brian Fechino's "Painting in a Dream" good for nostalgia and that insecure feeling of rejection in high school.
However, the artist I listened to the most when writing "Lives" by far was Coldplay. I liked Coldplay before starting the book, but once I got into the draft, I found that the central theme of Lives simply wouldn't come out unless I had Coldplay's mix on my iPod.
After a while, I began to hate Coldplay. I hated having to listen to it in order to get what I needed and if I heard Coldplay on the radio, or in any other setting other than at my writing desk, I immediately changed the station or left the room. It was that bad.
Having finished the book a couple of months ago has given me some good distance, though. Just now, I had on a Pandora mix of U2 and Coldplay came on (Trouble). My instinct was to change the station... but then I realized that I liked it again. Kind of like "Stairway to Heaven", the music will always hold a special place in my heart, only in this case, Coldplay will bring me back to that wondrous feeling I had when I was discovering the "Lives" characters for the first time.
Yeah, I can live with that:-)
-JJ McMoon 2/16/10
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