Today we have the wonderful Jus Accardo stopping by as a part of her Touch book tour! I would like to thank the people over at Entangled Publishing for making this possible!
Confession time. I’m a music whore. Any and all types—I can’t get enough.I write songs for a local band, have a fully loaded Zune that goes everywhere with me, and over 100 different playlists. I can look back to almost every major life event and tie it to a specific song or album. I can be standing in line at the food store, or driving down the road, and think, huh…this is totally a moment. The same goes for my characters. Some writers pen intricate back stories full of dates and places for each of their characters—mine are all musical. A lyrical map of their past, present, and future.
At the start of every book, each of my characters gets their own playlist (in addition to the playlists I have for each book). Take my heroine, Dez. Her personal playlist consists of a lot of Pink and Powerman 5000. Stuff that, like her, has tons of attitude. Kale on the other hand, is mostly instrumental and acoustic pieces—at least for this book. It changes a bit in book 2—for both of them. (Cue evil, taunting laugh)
I also have songs for each major scene. The opening scene of TOUCH played out to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face while Lords of Acid’s Glad I’m Not God was the song playing in my head during the last battle scene. One of my favorite scenes in the book (I’m not telling which – you’ll have to guess) was written and inspired entirely by This Night by Black Lab, and Secondhand Serenade’s Fall For You is all for Alex. Everyone, everything, has its own tune. Even Denazen has its own song! Powerman 5000 Horror Show.
The words aren’t always perfect—that’s not going to happen unless you write the thing yourself—but the feeling is there. Maybe it’s the beat of the music, or the chorus. Sometimes its nothing more than a single line. No matter what it is, all the songs on my playlists inspire a specific feeling. They bring me to a place where I can see the scene unfolding. It plays out like a movie in my brain.
Your turn. Share a song that takes you somewhere. Digs up a memory or just makes you smile!
Writing to a different tune…
Confession time. I’m a music whore. Any and all types—I can’t get enough.I write songs for a local band, have a fully loaded Zune that goes everywhere with me, and over 100 different playlists. I can look back to almost every major life event and tie it to a specific song or album. I can be standing in line at the food store, or driving down the road, and think, huh…this is totally a moment. The same goes for my characters. Some writers pen intricate back stories full of dates and places for each of their characters—mine are all musical. A lyrical map of their past, present, and future.
At the start of every book, each of my characters gets their own playlist (in addition to the playlists I have for each book). Take my heroine, Dez. Her personal playlist consists of a lot of Pink and Powerman 5000. Stuff that, like her, has tons of attitude. Kale on the other hand, is mostly instrumental and acoustic pieces—at least for this book. It changes a bit in book 2—for both of them. (Cue evil, taunting laugh)
I also have songs for each major scene. The opening scene of TOUCH played out to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face while Lords of Acid’s Glad I’m Not God was the song playing in my head during the last battle scene. One of my favorite scenes in the book (I’m not telling which – you’ll have to guess) was written and inspired entirely by This Night by Black Lab, and Secondhand Serenade’s Fall For You is all for Alex. Everyone, everything, has its own tune. Even Denazen has its own song! Powerman 5000 Horror Show.
The words aren’t always perfect—that’s not going to happen unless you write the thing yourself—but the feeling is there. Maybe it’s the beat of the music, or the chorus. Sometimes its nothing more than a single line. No matter what it is, all the songs on my playlists inspire a specific feeling. They bring me to a place where I can see the scene unfolding. It plays out like a movie in my brain.
Your turn. Share a song that takes you somewhere. Digs up a memory or just makes you smile!
Jus Accardo
Touch ~ Coming November 1, 2011 from Entangled Publishing
Touch ~ Coming November 1, 2011 from Entangled Publishing
Jus Accardo is the author of YA paranormal romance and urban fantasy fiction. A native NewYorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald. Her first book, Touch, is due out in November 2011 from Entangled Publishing. She is represented by Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.
Except there's something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she'll turn to dust if he touches her.
It's not until Dez's father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there's more to this boy, and her father's "law firm," than she realized. Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation -- an organization devoted to collecting "special" kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons -- his entire life.
And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills.
The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they're caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.
A secret Kale will kill to protect.
7 comments:
Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for having me here today, Sarah :)
This was a blast. I'll pop in and out during the day if anyone has any questions or wants to chat!
Fun post! I love hearing about how people pair books and music together. For me, any Bruce Hornsby song will take me right back to the 1990s, when I was a graduate student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, where Hornsby actually lived. Fun topic!
Congrats on the release of TOUCH, Jus!
I am a huge music fan too! I have about 50 playlists and I am constantly adding new ones and moving things around. I do in fact have lots of music “moments.” I am LOVING the new app I got for my android that identifies music for you. It almost always is able to pick up the sound... which is awesome. I am constantly pulling out my phone to pick up the music.
I hadn’t heard that particular Black Lab song before… but I love it. I already had I Believe It and Say Goodbye, but not This Night. I won’t lie; it’s kind of awesome.
Now.. for those music moments. I love when a song comes on and it takes you back to a specific time and place. The first one that comes to mind is Scar Tissue by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It always makes me think of a specific night in 8th grade. My group of friends were all hanging out in someone’s basement – just listening to music and talking. One of my friends picked up his guitar and started strumming Scar Tissue. Of course we were all Chili Pepper’s fans, so we joined in. I don’t really know why that sticks out to me, but it does.
What else? Oh, how about Van Morrison’s Moondance? I remember walking around MSU’s Campus with my friends in High School. It was one of those beautiful October evenings and that song just popped in my head. I said the line “it’s a marvelous night for a moondance” to my friend and she replied with the next line. Because that’s just how we work. I always want to talk in song lines :)
I know I have more; I just cannot come up with any right now. I will have to get back to you :)
Adelitas Way is my favorite fight scene song. Burning Season's Perfect is the build-up-to-the-mushy-stuff song. And for my current WIP, Pop Evil's song Monster You Made is damn near the theme song.
Can't wait to get my mitts on TOUCH!!
Hey Laura! I don't know much by Hornsby, but I do love End of the Innocence :)
Sarah - Ooo what's the name of the app? That would be awesome to have!
Ann - I don't think I've heard the Pop Evil song. Running to check it out. I've got a fight scene in TOXIC (book 2) that was totally inspired by Marilyn Manson's Ka-Boom. Awesome song!
Jus - I use Shazam, but there are a few different apps. But I love Shazam, it's super easy. You just open the app and tap the screen and it will match the song. You can then save it for later or download it immediately. It even works with lots of background noise - i'll use it in restaurants, stores.. whatever. It even can pick up music from TV Shows. It's pretty awesome.
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