Not a Party Animal, but Wild Musical Tastes

No parties for me. Nope. Instead I somehow find myself working on my novel. Not that I mind. I love writing as anyone who reads my work can probably tell. I never shut up when it comes to the written word.

I've found myself somewhat inspired lately, on top of my usual writing habits, so my fiction work is benefiting from the burst of creativity. My problem has always been how my personal life affects my fiction. When life is boring or depressing, it makes it difficult for me to relate to a character who is living a different life. As a writer I have to push past that or I'm never going to be truly professional in my work. I've learned to create fantasy worlds in my head, which assist with creativity when I'm having trouble otherwise, but I still need to work at it.

So, why the inspiration? Well, there are a few reasons. Great feedback and encouragement are always helpful. I'm also back in the habit of writing all the time. Then there's more personal stuff where I see change on the horizon on several levels. I like consistency in my life, but I don't fear change. It's idiotic drama I can't stand, and people making up problems that aren't really problems just so they have something exciting going on.

Music is a huge inspiration for me, which taps directly into the fantasy world for me. I recently found a couple of songs that are likely familiar to everyone else, but I'd never listened to them before. One was Katy Perry's E.T., which I'd only heard through my daughter's headphones before. The second was Adam Lambert's For Your Entertainment. Wow! They're some kick-ass songs. They also tap directly into the erotic fantasy world if you're a writer who does that kind of work. Mine veers there from time to time. Okay, it veers there in all my fiction pretty much. It's one thing I have to say I'm very good at writing.

As much as I don't want to write specifically romance, there's no denying that most novels have an element of it, and it tends to work well as a device for engaging the emotions of a reader. They start to care even more about the characters. In my current crime novel, there's an element of both romance and eroticism, despite the main storyline being the catching of a serial killer.

So, when I find a song that impacts me on an emotional level, I use it. Finding a couple of them is even better. It helps me pull together the moment and the scene between two people, and it makes the chemistry believable. If you can visualize the whole scene in your head, as a writer, and that scene is doing something for you, then chances are good it will have that impact on the readers. That applies to eroticism as well as emotion.

I've managed to write about 6,000 words just on my book in the last couple of days. Of course, I went without sleep one of those days. It's been so long since I did that, which tells me my creativity is coming back full force. Bolts of inspiration, like lightning, strike me, and let me tell you that lightning does indeed strike more than once. On top of the fiction work I've been writing this blog, chatting with a fellow writer, and submitting a couple of articles. One of which was a writing assignment. The other was on the first known serial killer, which you can read here.

The second was inspired by the writer I've been chatting with. He asked me which serial killer intrigued me the most, so I told him. He suggested the article, since he'd never heard of her. So, I figured what the hell? Locusta the Poisoner is a bit of a mystery. There isn't much that's known about her, and I doubt there ever will be. Records indicate she was active starting 54 CE (or AD for you religious people), which is a long, long time ago. Damn near 2,000 years. If they haven't uncovered the information by now, they're unlikely to do so, and I'm no archaeologist.

When it comes to music, I sort mine according to the mood they inspire.  I classify them that way myself. Sometimes I have to use more than one term, but it helps me sort through them when I'm trying to create a play list. Of course, I have very eclectic tastes in music. I've got opera, operatic pop, country, pop, heavy metal, jazz, classical, rock, alt-rock, zydeco/cajun, rap, hip-hop, you name it. Mostly I like hip-hop. Maybe that seems weird for someone my age. I don't think forty-one is old or anything, but it's generally beyond the age someone listens to a music genre that's currently popular with teenagers.

I think the reason I like a younger style of music is because I used to be a dancer. I've studied a few different styles, including jazz, ballet, hip-hop, belly dancing and highland dancing. I was about to take up Krumping, actually, when my injuries smacked me down. It was one my daughter expressed an interest in, and I love the energy of it. We watch almost no television, but So You Think You Can Dance became a favourite. Haven't watched the last few seasons, but I'll get around to it eventually. In the meantime, I've got some fiction to create. Maybe when I'm back on my feet I'll be more interested in dancing again, because then I'll be able to do it again myself.