The Best Vehicle For Writing A Novel Is A Great Soundtrack

Mine includes Dave Matthews, Billy Holiday, and Olafur Arnalds.

Unsplash photo by Austin Distel

Dave Matthews Dirge

When I was writing my Icelandic WWII novel, Maelstrom, I depended on a number of pieces of music to get the juices flowing. For example, this is the song I listened to on repeat when I was writing a tragic scene involving a troopship sinking in the middle of the North Atlantic. The haunting melody and melancholy tone of Dave’s voice put me right there every time. Yes, he is using words but they are so indecipherable, it works.

Thanks, Dave.

Here’s the link to An Another Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7cp_soCFqY

Billie’s Tragic Anthem

In a very different scene in the book, my main character falls asleep in the ship’s photo lab. Curled up in a corner, he wakes up when he hears the ship’s black musicians practicing in the outer room. Mose, a trumpet player, leads the band. I imagine him to be the second trumpeter in the clip below. Strange Fruit, Billie’s signature song about racism, figures heavily in the novel so listening to the lyrics were okay. In fact, they are written in the book. Both these songs helped anchor me in the moment.