I had a lot of fun chatting with Robyn Hodge and Bernard Ryan from The Blurb radio show on Tuesday.
They asked a lot of great questions, but one in particular really stayed with me and required a fair bit of thought.
If Milk Fever had a soundtrack, what would it be?
Hmmmm.
After some serious thought, this is what I’ve come up with:
For Julia
Rimsky Korsakov – Scheherazade
Visnja – Dishes and Coffee
Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake
For Tom
Cold Play – Yellow
Beatles – Hey Jude
John Mayer – Bigger Than My Body
So, folks, when you consider your work in progress/ novel/ manuscript what soundtrack does it have?
Milk Fever Blog 
I have a piece that I’ve been working on that probably begins classical but has some serious Melissa Etheridge undertones. Fun question!
Sounds great.
Hmm…it’s kind of hard for me, I’d probably just write my own. But since I can’t post that, I’ll put up the theme song for my antagonist: Afya — Two Soldiers
Absolutely, jp, write your own. I imagine it would be pretty quirky to suit the world you’ve created.
I actually spent like ten minutes last night pounding out one on the piano. It was good fun. 🙂
Perhaps you could post your piano soundtrack on your blog…?
We could listen to it as we read your story.
Hmm, not a bad idea.
This is very interesting… I think I might have something like Enigma (love all of their tracks) or Pink Floyd (High Hopes – The division bell) for my work 🙂
I love the Enigma stuff. Pink Floyd too.
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Thanks once again, Jingle.
What a great question!
My male character loves Bowie so We are the dead would be one song for sure…got to think of more.
It makes it easier when the characters reveal what they like listening to. Or when certain music already features in the writing.
OH!!! This is a GREAT post! Now I want to check out all the songs you’ve listed here. When I find the time I think I’ll write a post inspired by this one of yours
Btw, my fav piece on your soundtrack would have to be:
Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake
it is such a beautiful, haunting piece. Have you watched Billy Eliot? I totally got the chills when I saw the ballet scene where he “pranced” to Swan Lake. I liked it so much that I went to watch the Swan Lake ballet……which I found disappointing. I prefer the theatre to ballet. Need dialogues.
I love Swan Lake, and yes, I loved that scene from Billy Eliot too. I must admit I prefer ballet to theatre, but either way is great.
My WIP has a soundtrack- they are all Conor Oberst songs 🙂 I wrote the entire first draft listening to him so that’s no surprise…
I love Cold Play and yellow is a great song!
I know you love Conor! I haven’t heard anything of his, so I’ll have to go and have a listen to him.
Cold Play is one of my favourite bands, so pretty much anything of theirs is a winner.
I’d definitely write my own.
It’d be fun
You have the skills to do that. Lucky!
What a great question! I have no idea – my characters are set in such a different place that I can’t think of a soundtrack that I could fit them in, unless it would be some sort of Irish tale-like song.
An Irish tale-like song would be great. Can you hear it in your head already? Something haunting?
Great Question! My male charectar would definitely be listening to Bruce Springsteen’s “Magic” album. And my female lead is suffering so I’m thinking Nina Simone and Billy Holiday.
Oh, beautiful. Nina and Billy would be superb.
I like to assemble playlists for general thematic purposes and some characters have their own. It helps to develop and recognize each character, I think. Because what sets a person apart and tells you about someone more than their music choices? One character plays the piano and listens to Chopin, while another (male) character has a secret obsession with Lady Gaga. 🙂
My current project has a lot of Celtic Woman, sprinkled with the Pride & Prejudice (2005) soundtrack, Skillet, Michael Jackson, David Garrett and Enya. Somehow it all works together.
I love making playlists!
You’re a step ahead of me, Rose. I knew a fair bit about my characters, like star sign, food preferences etc, but oddly never extended it to their music tastes, which I think is an essential part of character.
Top marks for already thinking of it. 🙂
btw I love the sound of your play list, especially the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack.
How fun! Love your selections.
My present manuscript’s soundtrack would contain a lot of The Cure and Joy Division variety 🙂
Is it set in the 80’s, I wonder?
Sadly, it’s not. I am 🙂
I can totally hear Julia’s husband listening to John Butler Trio or maybe some really bad Bollywood type stuff!
PS. I’ve cast the role of Julia’s husband in my head as John Corbett (Aidan from SATC) and Tom as Brendan Cowell. Hope that is okay!
Oh, yeah, I can just imagine Bryant playing some really shonky Bollywood stuff in his yoga class.
Now, confession: I don’t watch any television at all, so I have absolutely no idea who you’re talking about. I will go now and find pics of John Corbett and Brendan Cowell.
Very relevant as Shylock books asked me recently who I would cast as these characters, and your suggestions may fit better than mine (in fact I’m sure they will).
The only actor I knew without doubt that I wanted was ioan gruffudd. He doesn’t actually fit any of the characters but I am severely in love/lust with him, so would need him on set for aesthetic purposes.
Awwww yeah he’s super cute! He would make a nice Tom, if we made him a bit more fragile and beautifully broken.
You’ve never watched Sex at the City (SATC)??? I’m not sure if we can be friends anymore….
Maybe we could have (we??? like I wrote the book or something…?) Dame Judy Dench as Tom’s mum.
As for Julia, that’s a challenge. The only person I really see as her – is you. Is that weird? Or possibly, possibly Asher Keddie but she shits me.
Hah, you should get a career in casting, Miss Ruby.
So, absolutely yes, 100% to John Corbett. He is how I would imagine Bryant to look.
But I think Brendan Cowell isn’t quite gorgeous enough for Tom. He’s almost there.
Any one else in mind?
Well of course I’ve watched SATC. What kind of woman do you take me for. I haven’t watched the latest movie though. Everyone warned me away from that.
But yes, as soon as I googled the casting list I realised I did recognise them.
I suppose I could play Julia. Yes, I think I could, especially if Ioan was Tom. Not that I’d be able to concentrate. I think I’d have to re-write the novel so there was lots of sex. What do you think? Do you want to play Summer? I’ll cast a good looking Charlie for you to play with….
Not Dame Judy though, not unless she lost a fair bit of weight. I always saw Tom’s mum as really thin.
Hmmm… yes I DID identify with Summer a bit… but she also reminded me of Marilyn from Home and Away! I would like Ed Burns as my Charlie purrlease.
That’s strange that you saw Tom’s mum is thin, I pictured her as bosomy old school farmer’s wife, complete with moo-moo dress and bulldog jowls…
That is so weird. Did you really imagine Tom’s mum like that? Hmmmm, this just proves my theory that the story is created in the reader’s mind. I’m blown away by that. And if memory serves me right, I didn’t actually go into a lot of detail with Virginia’s description so it’s understandable that you created an image to suit the personality.
And yes, sweetie, you can have Ed Burns. He’s not quite how I imagined Charlie, but for you, angel, I’m willing to make some adjustments. Also, the great thing about playing Summer is you get to flash a fair bit of cleavage.
Splendid!
And I can spend long dreamy days, and nights, staring at Ioan Gruffudd. Sigh.
Wow, you were on a radio show? How cool!
Hmm… I guess I don’t think like many others in this respect — I never attributed a soundtrack for my ms. Now, ask me about setting (as in for a movie based on my ms)? Now, you’re talking!! 🙂
Setting is wonderful too. I agree. Thinking about how your written world would look and sound if it was a movie is a really fun exercise.
good for you.
have a smiling day!
You too, lovely Jingle.
Anything van Morrison…there are so many others!! I don’t think I could ever live without music in my life. Also went to see Swan Lake in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago….and plays in my head forever. Much love Lisa xx
Music is as necessary as oxygen as far as I’m concerned. And you’re right, there is so much good stuff out there. Swan Lake is heavenly; gives me chills just thinking about it.
xxx
Lisa
New wave, punk, lots of synths- because they sound futuristic
Sounds great. Thanks for stopping by.
An interesting concept. Ill have to give this some thought.
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