Character Karaoke - The Music that Inspired a Witchy Romance

I am oh-so-very late in accepting the Character Karaoke tag from Abigail at "Ups and Downs," but today is the perfect day to post this! I am deep into the throes of revisions for 'Til the Last Star Dies, which means I've had a carefully composed playlist on repeat for days on end in order to get me through it. Other than keeping some soothing tea and a gigantic bucket of chocolate on the desk next to you, music is the best thing to keep me focused and motivated. Because otherwise I'll be sitting at the computer looking like this:

Although, let's be real, I look like that anyway whenever I'm editing.

Onto the tag questions!

It's your OTP's wedding day. What song plays during their first dance?

We're off to a great start, because I'm going to go ahead and bend the rules on the questions already. I have loads of songs that describe Lila and Melody's relationship, but none of them are your typical "first dance" songs. My favorite OTP song for the two of them is "Favourite Colour" by Carly Rae Jepsen. It was one of the first songs I added to my playlist because the lyrics were too good to pass up. In my novel, witches have the ability to see people's auras. Every single one is unique to the person in that they're all different colors and have various "textures." Auras give clues as to what the person's mood is or if they're healthy or injured. Auras also take on a more vibrant quality whenever they're around someone they love. Therefor, "Favourite Colour" is perfect.



Any instrument players or characters with ties to music?

None of my characters play instruments, but Lila is a big fan of classic rock and dragging her friends out to sing karaoke. One of her go-to songs for this is "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard. She's forced her best friend Jordan to sing it with her many, many times.



What song(s) best describe your protagonist(s)?

For Lila, I picked "Black Sheep" by Gin Wigmore. It has a wild, dangerous feel to it and the chorus describes Lila exactly when it comes to the moments where her magic takes over and turns her into something unpredictable and animalistic:

I'm a ba-a-a-ad woman to keep
Make me ma-a-a-ad, I'm not here to please
Paint me in a corner but my color comes back
Once you go black, you never go back
I'm a black sheep
I'm a black sheep



"She Waits" by Louden Swain fits Melody really well because her father was killed in action as an agent for SMART, which is the Strategic Monster Removal Team. He was on a mission to kill a bunch of demons and died when she was eighteen, so a couple of SMART agents had to go to her house and deliver the news. Since Melody's mother left years ago, Melody practically became an orphan.

And meanwhile the house is empty
The floors lay, naked and weary
The walls, barely hanging on
Carry on
And she, waits for you
She can't hear anything they're saying
She can't believe what is true
It doesn't make sense what they're saying
She can't see anyone, but you

Go-to songs for battle, romance, or intense scenes?

My battle music probably isn't what you'd expect, but I prefer creepy, ominous music to heart-thumping, intense battle songs. Especially for the pre-apocalyptic world I built where all of Earth is basically waiting for the day when demons finally outnumber humans and take over. My two favorite songs for this are "Mars" by Sleeping At Last and "World on Fire" by Les Friction





As far as romance goes, I've got plenty of those, too. But I'll stick to my top favorites, which are"End of the World" by A Great Big World, "Electric Love" by BØRNS, and "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.

   

Let's talk music. What are your favorite songs to write to? Leave a comment!