My Back Porch
When I
considered doing a journal, I wondered about its name.
I’ve always loved a back porch. To me it’s the best
place for relaxing, dreaming, watching sunsets, or
sharing a coffee with someone special. Or simply to sit
and let the outdoor air cleanse the senses. Therefore, I
offer you My Back Porch. Here you may find an update on
my books, a view on the season we’re in, writing issues,
my response to your questions–-or whatever topic suits
the moment. So, pull up your favorite chair, sit a
spell...and unwind.
WRITING
WITH MUSIC IN MIND
© 2007 Mary J. Forbes
A couple of weeks ago I was watching Grey’s Anatomy. I
love this TV series, not just for the stories and
relationships and characters, but for the music that
often accompanies Meredith’s diary voice at the
start and finish of each episode.
Why I love that music is simple: it completes the words
of the character, and it persuades a sense of
presence in the language while at the same time
inducing a poignancy, which makes me shiver. It’s
that beautiful.
On this particular night I anticipated nothing
different—except it was entirely different. The
episode ended with a song sung by an artist I’d
never heard before. Her name was Brandi Carlile and
the song was The Story.
I fell in love. Quite literally.
With the music, the lyrics, the artist’s voice.
And I knew in those initial moments, listening to the
haunting melody that this song would be the
sustenance for a book I’m writing. But understand
this. I’m not writing a story about The Story.
Instead, The Story, its music and voice are
releasing a deeper sense of understanding in me
about my story and characters—an a cappella
of
awareness.
The procession is not new for me. With each book I’ve
written and those I will write, the evolution
follows an identical path. I begin the first
chapter, then the second, and slowly I transition
with my characters. They seep into my soul,
and manifest themselves into the lining of my heart.
And then I search for that song, the one matching my
emotions and the spirit of the characters. For
example, while I wrote A Forever Family, the song
that wrung out my heart was Foolish Games by Jewel.
My heroine played a twelve-string Gibson guitar and
she played those lyrics for the hero and he looked
at her with the same dark intensity as the man in
the song looked at his lover.
And while he looked, I wrote.
I wrote the book with a bouquet of rhythms and
cadences, adagios and allegrettos swirling in my
mind and feeding out of my fingers on to the page
for my characters to rinse through their emotions,
to drink as an elixir. Until the book was done, and I pulled out the next idea and the process of
writing, and discovering an expressively equivalent
song commenced.
Not too long ago, that song was The Reason by Hoobastank. Others have included
Just Breathe by
Faith Hill and Sleepless by Jann Arden.
Then, sometimes a song—like Carlile’s The Story—falls
into my lap and my heart gives a jerk because I
know, oh yes, I know, I’ve found the tone for my
work in progress.
And I play the song over and over, stitching its melody
and its mood into my story, my characters and—me.
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