Every Story Needs a Theme (and by that I mean a theme song)

by maryehopewell

If someone were to ask me what the most important tool in my writing kit is, I would have to say music.

Just like every good movie needs music to set the mood, increase the suspense, make the awesome seem truly epic, so too do my scenes need music to really bring them alive. For my book, ‘The Shizuka Frequency,’ the song that inspired a lot of the scenes was: ‘A Thousand Years,’ by Christina Perri.

Whenever I have a vague idea of a scene I want to write, I get my shoes on, whack the headphones in, and go for a walk around my local neighbourhood. As soon as the music starts my characters start to move along with it, running and leaping as the music quickens, standing in awe of something as the music plays an inspiring melody, buckling to their knees and crying as the music plays a solemn tune. None of the magic in my books would exist without the music that created it, the music that made it erupt in colour and radiance inside my head.

When my characters are playing out their roles in front of my eyes as I take to the streets, I find the music has them doing things I had not expected, seeing things I would never have thought to make them see. Different sorts of music can remind you of different things after all, and these things suddenly emerge unexpectedly; more often than not they are a happy surprise – ‘Actually, if I have it like this it would be so much better!’

One thing I often struggle to express, as I’m sitting at my computer, is what my characters are feeling in a particular moment. Something life-altering has just happened, but how does that make them feel exactly, all things considered? Watching it happen to the sound of an emotive tune tells me instantly.

So I would invite all you Writers out there (if you don’t do it already) to find a nice, leafy route down a quiet lane somewhere when the sky is clear – a gentle breeze is also nice when you really want your scenes to fly – and head out with a myriad of music in your arsenal. Find the theme to your story.

Just to finish things off, I thought I’d share a few of my favourite ‘scene-sizzlers’…

~Narnia Soundtrack: ‘Evacuating London,’ ‘The Battle,’ ‘Can’t Take it in.’

~Civil Twilight – ‘Letters from the sky.’

~FFCC original soundtrack – ‘Sound of the Wind.’

~Fired Earth Music – ‘Aphelion.’

~30 Seconds to Mars – ‘Kings and Queens.’

~Zelda Windwaker – ‘Laruto’s Lament.’

~The Village Soundtrack – ‘Main Theme.’

…What are you still doing inside?