Listening to Music

When no one is home, I often listen to music instead of read or watch television or a movie…or taking a walk, a drive, or…. I miss listening to music more often. When I was a child, I had a transistor radio. It was small, operated from I think two double-A batteries, and got poor reception where we lived—in the country.
photo thanks to flkr commonsNone of that stopped me. I would somehow wander around the house or outside and stop and rotate the dial until I picked something up that was fairly strong. I got to where I knew how to get to one or two stations and where I had to stand or lie down to hear best. I used to make up stories while the songs played. Ballads helped a lot, but I could see the whole back story in my mind, and I would carry the story of the ballad out into the future. I knew what everyone wore, what their school looked like, what the weather was like.
Music has always caused me to daydream more than anything else. I can listen to music for hours sometimes and create worlds that I’ll never have time to write about. So, while sitting at home listening to music, I’m creating, but no one may ever see the creation.
What happens to those stories we start and never finish—does someone else finish them? What happens to our characters after the book ends? Why doesn’t an author keep writing about a character until he or she dies and then write about one of the living characters after that and keep the book going as long as the Earth has been going? I want to know more about the characters anyway, more about what they think and feel.
Music brings up emotion in me just like it must for everyone else on the planet. I can cry, and write from that sadness, or I can laugh and write from that joy. With or without lyrics, music has me creating scenes in my head. I’ve written short stories based on a song, and poems based on the line from a song. I’ve even written an entire book based on a song. And there’s more where all that came from. Even without music, I come up with all kinds of ideas. The music then, must add flavor to the idea, or emotion. The combination of emotion and idea. Sure, I can see that.
I hear people talk about having a play list when they write, and I can understand that. Although, often while I’m actually doing the writing, I have to have silence. I can’t write with full focus and listen with full focus at the same time. Either way, the music is still there.
* * Terry Persun holds a Bachelor’s of Science as well as an MA in Creative Writing. He has worked as an engineer, has been the Editor-in-Chief of several technology journals, and is now marketing consultant for technical and manufacturing companies. Seven of his novels have been published. His science fiction novel Cathedral of Dreamswon a ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Finalist Award, and his historical novel, Sweet Song won a Silver IPPY Award. His latest science fiction space opera is Hear No Evil.