As a writer, one of the first things I do when I start working on a new project is create a playlist of songs that match the mood or voice or tone of what I want to work on.
I do this for everything, not just when I write: when I’m having a bad day, a great day, when I’m feeling fat, when I’m feeling melancholy, when I’m about to start a new semester of teaching, when I’m feeling constipated and need to give my bowels some motivation, when I go to the gym and want to feel #empowered, when it’s raining (best song for a rainy day, btw: “No Rain” by Blind Melon), when I’m feeling ultra-dramatic (I listen to Beyonce, obvi), and so on and so forth.
When I was close to finishing the manuscript for the novel that I’m currently shopping around to a few agents (whose title I will reveal to y’all once an agent scoops me up and signs me! I’m superstitious that way), I was, of course, dreaming of it eventually becoming a movie. I think every author at one point fantasizes about their work becoming adapted for the silver screen. I began to dream cast the roles for all the main characters, and I started to organize the playlist that I’d been compiling, correlating each song to the scene it inspired.
The playlist is about 65 songs deep, but being the completely rational human being that I am, I knew that the soundtrack for my book-to-film adaptation could never be that long.
So I whittled it down to 32 essential tracks.
Yesterday, a friend wrote on Facebook that he had compiled a 16-track soundtrack for the movie adaptation of his memoir.
Obviously that made me open up my iTunes and check out the playlist I had made a long time ago for mine. This prompted me to pop on my headphones and listen to it from beginning to end and think, “WOW THIS IS SO EPIC.”
Anywho, I figured I’d post my 32-track soundtrack.
- “Speeding Cars” by Imogen Heap [Opening Scene]
- “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” by Stars
- “The Seed 2.0” by The Roots
- “The Roof” by Mariah Carey
- “Set Fire to the Rain” by ADELE
- “Honest Mistake” by The Bravery
- “Spiralling” by Keane
- “Too Many Questions” by Sam Sparro
- “Canvas” by Imogen Heap
- “Revelry” by Kings of Leon
- “Manhattan” by Kings of Leon
- “Strawberry Fields Forever” by The Beatles
- “Set Yourself On Fire” by Stars
- “Beating Heart Baby” by Head Automatica
- “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons
- “Start the Fire” by No Doubt
- “Read My Mind” by The Killers
- “Teenage Dream” by Darren Criss
- “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane
- “One More Summer” by No Doubt
- “Time To Pretend” by MGMT
- “Street Lights” by Kanye West
- “Wait It Out” by Imogen Heap
- “Ride” by Lana Del Rey
- “The Lovers Are Losing” by Keane
- “Speechless” by Lady GaGa
- “Sam’s Town (Abbey Road Version)” by The Killers
- “Someday” by Rob Thomas
- “Bel Air” by Lana Del Rey
- “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals
- “This is Your Life” by The Killers
- “Carry On” by Fun. [End Credits]
Are you working on a novel? Do you have a playlist or a soundtrack wish-list? Post yours in the comment section or on your own blog!
Thanks to Nic DiDomizio for the inspiration on this post! If you haven’t done so already, check out his awesome blog here: KeyChanges
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