When I started writing, my work was always set to music. My poetry was paired up with specific songs, my characters all have theme songs and every story, plot and scene have playlists. I only discovered romance novels relatively recently and until then, none of my favorite books came with playlists from the author. I’ve always made my own for my favorite books but I love knowing what songs inspired the authors so I’m always excited to open a new book and see a playlist included.
If there’s no link available to a premade playlist, I’ll duplicate it in Amazon Music to experience the songs with the story. There’s a lot of music in the world so most of the playlists I come across aren’t my style, but most have introduced me to at least one new song or performer, which is awesome.
I was stoked by the playlist for Corrupt (Devil’s Night book) 1 by Penelope Douglas, because it included lots of great stuff as well as some that was new to me. While I didn’t love everything, I loved most of it and have been listening to it often. Visit Penelope Douglas’ website for playlists and Spotify links for all of her books but so far. Personally, I preferred the Corrupt list over the ones for Hideaway and Punk 57 but they all have some great songs.
Book playlists are a great way to find new music and a bit of inspiration when you’re stuck. Any time I get hit with writer’s block, I use music as the catalyst to get me writing again and it works best with new material. Familiar songs are already associated with characters or plots for me so I prefer to use something I don’t know at all. It’s always an interesting exercise to see where the music takes me. It’s a simple exercise to get my creative juices flowing again but every now and then, something magical happen to turn it into something bigger.
