Why I Create Playlists for my Books
BY GINA DETWILER
Every chapter title in the Forlorn series (excluding the prequel) is the title of an actual song, and every book has a playlist of those songs that can be accessed on Spotify.
It all started because Forlorn is a book with and about music. Because there were actual songs in the book (written by my daughter Dominique), I originally wanted to create a digital book that would play the songs aloud as a part of the reading experience. That dream of having a fully integrated book/music package has yet to be realized.
Music is not only essential to the book series, it’s also essential to my writing process. Music helps me focus and process ideas. I think this runs in my family. My older brother Mark used to study with headphones on, music blaring in his ears. Other people might find this distracting. Not us.
When I start working on a novel, I look for songs that will channel certain emotions and ideas that I’m going for in the story. The playlists and the novels evolve simultaneously, the playlists becoming a kind of roadmap for the books.
Certain artists lent themselves to certain books. The first book, Forlorn, was dominated by Thirty Seconds to Mars. I saw a lot of similarities in the angst of Jared Lorn and Jared Leto—not to mention their weirdly similar names. (Totally coincidental, by the way—Jared Lorn was named long before I even heard of Jared Leto.)
I “discovered” Thousand Foot Krutch while writing Forsaken and again was amazed at how so many of their songs fit perfectly with the plot of the novel. TFK happens to be a Christian band, which was wonderful, although I don’t limit myself to Christian bands in my playlists. In fact, sometimes, the spiritual struggles of secular artists are more enlightening.
I named each of the parts of the book Forgiven after an album from The Muse because their sound is more electronic, and their themes of scientific, technological and government oppression fit with the spiritual worldview of that novel. I mean, how perfect is Black Holes and Revelations in a novel about theoretical physics possibly destroying the world?
Forbidden, the newest book coming out March 29, doesn’t have a single dominant artist, but several of a particular genre: ADONA, Ruelle, Lawless, Klergy, UNSECRET, Neoni, Fleurie. The theme, if I have to name it, is Unraveling. The world coming apart at the seams. Those artists all have a flair for dramatic, spiritual anguish.
I try to use female artists for the Grace chapters and male artists for the Jared or Angel chapters. I’m not totally consistent on that because sometimes there’s a song that’s just too good to pass up, but I do my best.
Sometimes it’s the title that grabs me; sometimes it’s the lyrics. Sometimes I’m blown away by how perfect a song is for a particular chapter. In Forbidden, a character introduced early on claims she can speak to the Watchers—they come to her in her dreams. The song for that chapter is Here Come the Monsters by ADONA:
I’ve got you at my fingertips
Feel the breath in your chest shift
Devil underneath your skin
Listen to the whisper and give in…
It was like the character wrote those words! (By the way, I’m thrilled that Spotify now displays lyrics with most of their songs—it makes my job so much easier!)
Suppose I’m missing a song for a certain chapter. In that case, I’ll do various word searches based upon that chapter on Spotify to find a song that is both lyrically and stylistically appropriate. That’s how I found Thirty Seconds to Mars. I needed a song about the Aurora Borealis. I searched and found the song Northern Lights. Not only that song, but the whole album was perfect.
Once in a while, a song will inspire a chapter. A band called Saint Mesa captures the kind of spooky, ritualistic rhythm of the supernatural world of my novels. I’ve used several of their songs in my playlists, and I created an entire chapter around one of them, Blackest Hand.
I listen to the playlists over and over, especially during the editing process. I can’t quite explain how this works, but it helps me to process through the narrative arc of each book in a unique way. Someday, I hope to get Dominique’s songs professionally recorded and inserted into a digital book, or maybe an audio book. In the meantime, you can access the Forlorn songs as well as all the playlists using the links below.
DOMINIQUE DETWILER’S FORLORN PLAYLIST ON SOUNDCLOUD
THE FORLORN PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
THE FORSAKEN PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
THE FORGIVEN PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
THE FORBIDDEN PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
Gina Detwiler’s newest novel, Forbidden, Part Four of the YA Supernatural Forlorn series, releases March 2022. In addition to Forlorn, she is the co-author of the middle-grade fantasy series The Prince Warriors with Priscilla Shirer. She’s also written The Ultimate Bible Character Guide for LifeWay.
