Music as Character

Music is an important part of my life. It's also an important part of my writing life. I grew up in a musical household, although no one was professional. My father, a doctor by profession, schooled all of us in classical music because that was all he listened to in his car while he drove us to to various destinations. Being Asian, we also grew up with music lessons: piano for me and my sister, accordion and organ for my brothers. And most of all, my older siblings were so into rock and roll that some Billboard hits are part and parcel of my childhood memories. I was probably all of seven when I bought my first-ever 45 single.

That said, I found it only natural to include music in my writing life. There were certain albums I always listened to when I wrote, depending on what I was doing. Vivaldi was fantastic for school work as well as fiction, back when I was in high school. The current top 20 was what I needed for writing in my journal. And the Beatles went with just about everything.

The habit followed me into adulthood and I can give you the soundtrack for every novel I have written, up to and including the "anchor song." My anchor songs relate to specific characters and listening to those songs gets me into a mindset at the speed of sound. Maybe even quicker -at the speed of thought. I think what I call a "soundtrack" other writers sometimes refer to as a "playlist." (Unless I'm wrong, which is entirely possible, and the playlist is actually what their characters are listening to during the course of a story.)

The important thing is that it's all about the music. I can write without it, but have a much easier time if my relevant tunes are playing while I'm composing. I know writers who think I am insane -that music would be too much of a distraction from writing and that they could not possibly get anything done with the stereo blasting. Steven King, however, writes to AC/DC so I figure I'm in good company!

Recently, two different musical-type people I know tried to show me that I don't appreciate music the same way they do since I am able to write while listening to it. They told me that it must mean that it doesn't move me or affect me or transport me the way it does them. I must admit I found the observations from both of them, although well-meant, to be hurtful. There are times I feel music so strongly that I'm sure I could climb into its very substance and live the rest of my life in its protection. In Saving Jake, I mentioned that "music saved both his life and his sanity." Since I tell people that Saving Jake is actually my fictionalized biography, I must have been writing about myself.

As I mentioned earlier, every single one of my novels has a soundtrack. I frequently wonder how many writers out there are doing the same thing. I would love to know the background music, the other "character", involved in creating those novels I've read by other music-oriented authors.

Product Placement - What Say You?

I have some very dear friends who are obsessed, a gross understatement, when it comes to product placement in either books or movies. Their opinion is that using real-life brand names in the middle of a novel, or showing real products in a movie, is nothing more than a commercial in the middle of the  entertainment. To a certain extent, I can see their point. But I beg to differ.

When I was writing Saving Jake and Jake Holdridge first introduced himself to me, there were several things about him that he told me right off the bat: he wore his hair long, he preferred an army green trench coat purchased at a thrift store over any other outerwear, he always wore high-tops, and his chosen drink -when he wasn't raiding his father's wine cellar- was Coke. And I named the brands in the book. I also used Denny's as a favorite dining spot, and mentioned Pop-Tarts as a breakfast of choice. Later on in the book, I used actual establishments, both stores and restaurants, up in Door County, Wisconsin for particular scenes in the story, but I had permission from all the owners to do so. The name brands, however, were a conscious choice on my part.

I don't mind seeing Nike shoes on a character's feet, or reading what he ate at McDonald's, or what soft drink is his favorite. I don't mind reading about it, either. Unlike my friends, I feel that using real-life brands gives the book or the movie a sense of reality. If I am reading a murder mystery and the detective is drinking an unnamed cola, or worse, an obviously fake cola, I am jolted right out of the story and back into the realization that I am reading a book about someone and not really sharing an adventure with that person. And the same holds true for me regarding movies. I like that sometimes the protagonist is eating Lay's Potato Chips or drinking something from Starbucks. For me, those products are a touchpoint of reality that allow me to stay in the moment instead of coming out of the fiction escape-zone completely.

And product placement is hardly new. When I was a kid, James Bond was specifically driving an Aston Martin and brandishing a Walther PPK. More recently, Inspector Morse had his Jaguar, and FBI special agent Pendergast had his beloved Les Baer handgun as his favorite weapon. 

So am I going to get pelted with tomatoes or does anyone else out there agree with me? Maybe product placement is free advertising for companies that may not need it. But hey, if eating at Denny's makes one of my random readers think of my book, you know what? I'll take it.

Lonely Little Stand-Alone in a Serial World - Part 2

Last year, I came up with a short piece for this blog about how I didn't write a series but instead focused on stand-alone books, and at the time I was beginning to wonder if that was such a wise thing to do. After all, if a reader likes your work and really likes your characters, it would make sense to continue with that particular universe and that particular population. 

But I have never had a series in mind when I wrote my manuscripts. It's almost as if my characters had the one story to tell, and after having told it, went off on vacation to Patagonia or other parts unknown to me. I can find them if I want to, I suppose, but really they seem to be quite finished with me. Yet, more and more successful writers that I know keep dropping broad hints to me that a series would probably be a better product. I must admit I'm hooked on some series myself. And yet. And yet?

The only series I've ever had in mind is the usual detective kind. I don't think there's any mystery reader on the planet who doesn't carry around his or her own series internally, whether the protagonist is a cop, a detective, a moonlighter, a novelist, or a spiritualist of some kind, and since I'm a mystery reader of the first order, I certainly have a sleuth of my own currently renting space in my attic. I think a murder mystery could be fun to write. I think that all of us who read mystery stories probably would love to write them, too.

But when it comes to my YA supernatural stuff, a series never crossed my mind. UNTIL. I realized a few weeks ago that when I first started writing my little ghost story books, one of the most important settings was a place called Bridgeton Park Cemetery. When I wrote my second YA book, Saving Jake, I threw Bridgeton Park Cemetery into the story just as a private joke for myself. I didn't figure Jake was going to see the light of day anyhow. But he did. My next manuscript is awaiting my corrections and rewrites, and there is actually a wonderful place in the story to include Bridgeton Park Cemetery. I think I will.

Does it make sense to have a series that continues with a place -in my case, a cemetery- instead of with the characters? A friend of mine who is a professor of literature told me that William Faulkner centered a number of stories around a particular location. Stephen King, the King himself, set so many stories in Castle Rock that I can't even remember all of them. Not that I could compare myself to Faulkner or King, but I keep thinking that having a sense of place might give a reader continuity as nicely as a more traditional person-oriented series. It would not be like seeing the same characters book after book, but it would certainly expand the universe of every book I write that is built around that graveyard. And it would suggest that these characters could very well run into one another - or even know each other.

My still-to-be revised manuscript could use a sequel, I've been told, so I guess I would have to work up another story around Bridgeton Park. But as someone who spends free time visiting cemeteries, that probably wouldn't be much of a stretch.

Anyone else out there know of a series based on place rather than on people?

Updates? Changes? Can I Stop Now???

I just heard from my editor that my one novel still in print, Saving Jake, is being turned into an e-book. My editor sent me an e-mail asking me to let her know about any changes I wanted to make for the new format. The question now is, should I?

Saving Jake was written over a 14-year stretch, and debuted nearly 10 years ago. During that time-span, technology has taken about 30 giant steps forward, and the book is rapidly becoming a period piece. This was before the explosion of kids owning Ipads, Ipods, and cell phones. So do I replace all references to CD's and CD players? Should my main character be writing all his papers on his own notebook instead of the family computer in the den? And at one point, our hero calls his ex-girlfriend on a land-line, hoping to reach the answering machine so he can communicate with her without actually talking to her. Should I instead have him time his call to her cell phone in hopes that he gets her voice mail?

If I make the changes, the book will be current, which is well and good. But if I make the changes will they show up in the print edition? I guess that's a question for my editor. I know nothing about any of this: tyrannosaurus tech, that's me. And then what about all the people who just bought the original print version of the book? I just sold a bunch of them at a school visit last week. Are they now stuck with Saving Jake, the antique edition? Perhaps that doesn't matter.

This all started with me wanting to correct a few typos that managed to slip past all of us before the book was released. Now I have wandered into an area that is posted with a sign that says "Danger! Control-Freak Minefield Ahead!" for someone like me. I know I need to make decisions about all of this. The story holds up fine, but the devil is in the details, as they say.

Change this? Tweak that?

You know, maybe I'll just go lie down...

Saving Jake will haunt you

Fellow YAAYNHO Ophelia Julien and I recently did a book review exchange. I had the privilege of reading and reviewing her novel, Saving Jake. Ophelia is a remarkably talented author with a gift for writing paranormal suspense. I loved this book. Find out more about Ophelia at her website.


Saving Jake
By Ophelia Julien
New Leaf Books
192 pages

Jake suddenly reappears after a three-year absence with a shocking request that could cost Corts his life.

Ever since he was a kid, Corts (Philip Corts) has had an unusual ability to find lost things – keys, driver’s license, wallets – with his mind. His family thinks that’s all there is to it. But Jake, his best friend since seventh grade, knows better. Corts can hold onto an object, or person, and read its energy, see where it came from. Jake thinks it’s a gift. He calls it tracking. But Corts isn’t so sure. There are also terrifying nightmares and visions that make his ability unbearable at times until he learns to block it. As a first semester college freshman with his whole life and the chance at a journalism scholarship ahead of him, Corts thought he could leave all that peculiarity behind and chalk it up to his reckless childhood. Until Jake showed up.

Saving Jake is a spellbinding journey into the mysteries of the human mind. Ophelia Julien expertly weaves an intriguing tale of suspense that will haunt you far beyond the final page. ~ Copyright (c) 2012 by Peggy Tibbetts

Click here for Ophelia Julien’s review of my novel, PFC Liberty Stryker.

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Dreams of Adaptation

The odds of my little book Saving Jake ever being turned into a movie are probably the same as my odds of winning the next multi-million Power Ball Lottery. Still, that doesn't stop a writer from dreaming, does it? Every time I see a young male actor with dark hair, brown eyes, and a particular quality of charisma or pathos (depending on the role he is doing), I think, What a perfect Jake! Then I'm off and away, imagining what my story would look like on the big screen. I have even watched it many times in my head, picturing how each scene could be brought to life.

On the other hand, I have seen adaptations of some of my favorite books, and have been appalled/shocked/ stunned at what they've done to my personal mind movie. For those of us who are big fans of someone called Jack Reacher, I'm sure I speak for many of us that we are shocked/stunned/possibly appalled that Tom Cruise has decided to cast himself in the part. Jack Reacher, for those who do not read Lee Child, is approximately 6'5" and somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 lbs.

And then there's the situation where casting isn't a problem because the screen writers have taken a completely different route. I read a lot of mystery novels, and was thrown for a loop when someone adapted the book Relic (the first Pendergast novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child) and managed to leave Pendergast out of the movie entirely, even though he solves the crime in the book. Go figure.

So sometimes when I think about my little story being adapted, I also think maybe it's for the best that it remains an obscure little tale. It could possibly be twisted into something I don't recognize, if someone took a crack at it. Maybe remaining an unknown is not always a bad thing.

But I can't help dreaming. That's why when I imagine Saving Jake on the big screen, I also imagine that I either have complete control over adaptation and casting, or the movie is being done by Peter Jackson with a soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. Now, that would work!

Foodie as Writer

When I was a kid, my sister handed me the book Homer and the Doughnut Machine by Robert McCloskey, and I fell in love instantly. Years later I understand that it wasn't just the humor in the story, or the detailed description of the doughnut machine that kept me coming back for more. It was the doughnuts. No kidding. I couldn't eat them, but Mr. McCloskey's description of them -fresh from the doughnut fryer with a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar that exploded in a warm, fragrant cloud with each bite- was enough to get me hooked.

As I look back on some of my favorite books from childhood, I realize that quite a few of them involved amazing descriptions of one of my favorite things on the planet: FOOD. Love A Wrinkle in Time? Check out Ms. L'Engle's description of the turkey dinner that Charles Wallace cannot taste until he opens himself up to IT. Ms. L'Engle included a nearly lethal description of the tart cranberry sauce, the sweetness of the green peas, the tenderness of the turkey, the brown richness of the gravy. But it was her blobs of melting butter on the mashed potatoes that about did me in.

Agatha Christie, my first foray into adult mysteries, has a beautiful description of muffins (warm and buttered) and tea in her book, At Bertram's Hotel.

Mary Poppins was all about food, from the healthy stuff like the fresh fruit Bert draws on the sidewalk with chalk (and that the children were able to pluck and eat, "juice running down" their chins to the raspberry jam tarts Mary shares with Bert on her day off.

As for the Melendy family and their friend Jasper? He of the fresh blueberry pies and the glazed marble cakes? I don't go there anymore unless I've just eaten.

I am thus beginning to realize that my books, while fun and infinitely readable in my own opinion (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), could use a bit more food in them, too. True, Jake and Philip go out for pie and french fries at one point in Saving Jake. And my latest manuscript, still seeking a home, details a sit-down family dinner of Filipino proportions during the course of a friendship in the making. But I think I need to include more than that.

Warm from the oven, gooey, sweet chocolate chip cookies, anyone?