Kootenai River in NW Montana, near Canadian Border

Kootenai River in NW Montana, near Canadian Border
photo by Gene Tunick of Eureka, Montana

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Tip O'Day #240 - Feel the Music

Guest blogger Bill Talcott is influenced by music.

On occasion I'll have someone ask me how I come up with my ideas for the fiction I write. Quite often I can only tell them I am influenced by the music I am listening to at the time. My book The Mission started out as an idea that developed while listening to the soundtrack for the movie, Blade Runner. I had finished my first attempt at a story and decided to hold off doing the editing on it to write a short tale. I originally called the story 'The Undead'. It was intended to be 20-30 pages of fan fiction, taking place within the world of an online game. The Blade Runner music kept bringing up feelings that practically wrote the story for me. Some 30 pages into it and not even close to an ending, I made the decision to kill off a character and suddenly my short story became more than it was intended to be.

Tracks 8, Memories of Green, and 10, Damask Rose of the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis guided me through much of the writing process. There were other pieces by the group Audio Slave from their first CD that were a big influence. And then there was blues artist, RL Burnside and his Go To Jail. There were many others that made me feel something for the story as well. After finishing and making necessary changes in the story I eventually had The Mission, a short novel that I decided to publish as an e-book.

Music continues to play a big part in what I am currently writing and the ideas that I have for future stories. Who knows, something you are listening to right now may have influenced something you've recently read.

To learn more about Bill, check out http://billtalcottsblog.wordpress.com/

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