Music to Write Books By – Rachel Dove
Today on Crimepieces, Rachel Dove, selects the music that she writes to. This is Rachel in her own words:
I am a wife, mother of two boys, perpetual student, avid reader and writer of words. I sometimes sleep, always have eye bags and dream of retiring to a big white house in Cornwall, with 2 shaggy dogs, drinking wine on my seafront balcony whilst creating works of romantic fiction. All done with immaculate make up and floaty dresses.
In the meantime I nearly always remember to brush my hair, seldom have time to look in a mirror and write many, many to-do lists.
Rachel’s debut novel, The Chic Boutique on Baker Street was the winner of The Prima Flirty Fiction Competition. Set in an idyllic Yorkshire village, Amanda who is recently single and tired of the London rat race is determined to make her dreams of setting up a countryside boutique come true.
The music chosen by the authors appearing in this series of posts can be found on YouTube here.
Rachel, do you have particular pieces of music you write to?
I like all kinds of music, but I have a playlist for each project on Spotify. I love that app on my laptop, I plug my earphones in, ignore the sounds in the house, and write. I like pop music, indie, but I must admit to having a love for heavy rock too. My current male character, Thomas, is a bit of a rock enthusiast I think, and channels it through me!
Has a particular piece of music ever inspired you to write something?
Ever seen Grey’s Anatomy? How to Save a Life is used perfectly on there, to punctuate parts of a man’s life, including his death.
That spoke to me. The Cranberries – Linger – I have loved that song since my teens and wrote The House of Sugar Blood on that album.
Could you recommend any particular pieces of music for a specific mood?
War Pigs by Black Sabbath – unusual I know, but it’s a long piece of genius – excellent to thrash the words out to. I listen to Classical radio stations in the car, but I find I can’t write well to them.
Are there any longer pieces you can recommend. If you need to write for an hour, for example, is there a particular composer/artist you’d chose.
I love my playlists, but artists like Pink, Bowie, Paramore – all excellent artists with a good back catalogue to trance out to.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am currently working on a book set in modern times, in Yorkshire but the story of the two characters starts overseas, in conflict. Thomas is a Captain in the army, Kate is a doctor on a stint over there, and it starts when they meet, on the worst day of their lives. The story is about their journey, not just about love, but about rolling with the punches that life throws you, adapting and learning to stride out into the world again.
Thanks, Rachel, for taking part and good luck with the writing. Rachel can be found on the social media links below.
https://www.facebook.com/RachelDoveauthor/
Twitter: @WriterDove
https://racheldoveauthor.wordpress.com/
