Words hide.
Sometimes it is playful, but often they’re just being jerks.
There is a sentence, a paragraph, a story that needs a word. Just one word, one particular word, but it’s elusive, off laughing in some dark corner. Other words are always at the ready, prepared to jump in at a moments notice, but really, we all know they’re nothing more than a placeholder with grand hopes of being left in when the real owner of the space fails to fulfill its destiny due to any number of reasons.
And so it is that squatters sometimes make the final edit.
One of the factors that can coax an evasive word, phrase, sentence to glide effortlessly into their paper residence is music. But not just any music, the correct corresponding music that, when paired properly, makes all involved into a cohesive whole, much stronger than the sub total of their individual parts.
Recently The Tumbled Sea’s record “Songs by the Tumbled Sea” has played this role as I began working on my novel in earnest for the first time in nearly two years. The Tumbled Sea is a one-man project from a guy in Boston. Both records are available through futurerecordings, a post-rock/ambient label that has a bunch of great artists. You can stream the full records on their site, but if possible (and you like it of course), please consider supporting them. The sound is minimalist, with lots of piano, but is never boring. Some really beautiful pieces which I find perfect for the type of fiction writing I’m doing.
What do you write to? Does it vary by piece to piece?
More in this series to follow…
Words will keep us together 