"The Dressmaker" and Writing Music

Ran into the Devil, babe He loaned me twenty bills I spent the night in Utah In a cave up in the hills - Grateful Dead - Friend of The Devil

I had the inspiration for the story published in the Grindhouse Horror anthology, Violent Vixens while I was watching a singer-songwriter perform at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, MO. I was sitting there listening to this voice just wash over me and I pictured a woman at a dress stand, her daughter reading at the kitchen table. Both, happy and unaware of the danger that was walking up to stairs to the little apartment. As the story poured into me, I remember turning to my wife and telling her how inspiring the night was.

I sat down the next day and started, “The Dressmaker.” It wasn’t until ten years later that the story was published. A lesson for me and for any writer hating the fact that the rejections just keep beating you down. I knew I had something, I just didn’t have the right place. I had hoped that the Revenge theme and the seedy side of life would fit well in the anthology when I sent it in and I am humbled that Aric Sundquist published it.

The music that inspired it did not make it into the story. But, there is music there. As the plot started to really flesh itself out, I remembered my dad’s copy of Dr. Hook’s Sloppy Seconds. An album that is just so loveable and so filthy. That soundtrack fits my story perfectly and once that record is placed on the stereo, you know the night is heading for a bad end.

The reviewer Well Read Beard even mentions the music in his review. One of my favorite reviews of all time.

Music shows up in a lot of my stories. I try my best not to have any lyrics and I even worry that a story I have been sending out right now is being rejected solely because it walks a fine line. But, I like to imagine someone hitting that part of the story and turning on the song in the background as they read on.

Check out “The Dressmaker” in the great anthology, Violent Vixens, and let me know what you think.

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Writing Music

I have gotten into the habit of listening to horror soundtracks while I write. I have a collection on Spotify that includes the amazing strings of James Newton Howard’s The Village and the super spooky Newton Brothers soundtracks for The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

I also have started collecting soundtracks on vinyl from great companies such as Waxworks Records and Mondo.

A few of my favorites include:

John Carpenter’s The Thing

John Carpenter’s The Fog

Franz Waxman’s The Bride of Frankenstein

Bear McCreary’s Godzilla: King of Monsters

Wojciech Kilar’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Disasterpeace’s It Follows

I find that having the sweeping tension of a soundtrack can be really helpful. Having something created as background that fits the overall intent of what I am writing as well.

Though I have never gone as far as listening to a specific moment as I write an intense scene or linking the emotion on the page to a certain movement of the music. Writing a song by a band into my story feels like second nature to me but going as far as plotting the music of my own process feels too far.

There is a connection between the Lynard Skynard song playing during a gunfight in one of my trunk novels but no specific connection between track 8 on the It Follows soundtrack and the story I am writing while it is playing. In the first, I am the sound designer of the story, just as I am the writer. The latter is just the soundtrack of my own life and process. Not as noticed by the player but, like any great soundtrack, seeping in to influence and nudge just a little. Look in that closet. There might just be a cat, ready to jump out at the end of the crescendo.

What is your process when it comes to writing and listening to music? What are some favorites that I should check out?

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Stepping into the Woods

Speaking of writing, not a lot was done this week. Labor Day and grading derailed me a bit. I hope to step back into a groove next week and make some headway into the 3rd act of The Bloodiest. I have started preparing my fall syllabi for my Literature classes as well and I’m going to dig into some of the writing on here as we dig into it in class. I am really looking forward to that.

My Eyes and Ears

I am moving along in Gwendolyn Kiste’s Reluctant Immortals and I am loving it. Things just took a quirky turn that really made me smile and remember my love/hate for Jane Eyre.

I have also started listening to Sally Thorne’s new book, Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match. A romance that I was drawn to because of the Frankenstein connection and that I am finding to be really fun and hilarious. A great start to the spooky season. Though I read horror all the time, so spooky season be damned.

Until next time, find me on Twitter @WhyBuckWhy.