Finding the perfect love song

Music helps me write in many ways. Every story or series has a sound and usually even a playlist of specific songs. Finding the musical mood of a book can help me write it. If I have to take a break in the writing, listening to the music that goes with the story or series is a huge help to me for getting my head back into that world. Songs can help me understand characters on a level that generic character trait charts could never do for me.

I'm also finding that songs can help me understand the couples in my books better. During the writing of Trancehack, the first book in my Magic Born trilogy, there was a particular scene that was a turning point for Nate and Calla. It was intense and emotional and I took great care in trying to get every part of the scene just right. To set the mood, I played Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine over and over while working on the scene. From there on out, Cosmic Love became their song to me. I still think of Nate and Calla every time I hear the song.

Witchlight is the second book in the series, due out in June. I found the perfect song for Vadim and Lizzie very early in the writing process. They were more difficult characters to write and understand who they are as a couple. Or at least, that's what I thought would be the case when I started the book. Their identity as a couple came together for me rather suddenly when I saw the video for the first single from the latest Depeche Mode album - Heaven became their song immediately. Vadim and Lizzie see each other as an escape, then as refuge, and finally as where they belong.

Right now I'm working on the third book in the trilogy, Firewall. The couple in this book, Tuyet and Hayes, have a history together, though they were never really a couple in their shared past. They couldn't be a couple then, and it seems impossible in the present as well. I haven't found a song for them yet, but I hope to soon. Finding just the right song will help me get inside their love for each other and bring their story alive.

The Magic Born page on my site includes a widget for the series playlist on Spotify and a link to the series storyboard on Pinterest. And if you know any songs about getting a second chance at love that would fit with that playlist, please share in the comments!