Monday, October 22, 2012

My Writer Therapy

The lovely folks over at Writer Therapy are hosting a blog hop and have asked participants to write a blog about their 'writer therapy'. So here I am, one more contest, writing my blog - which is supposed to be posted this morning. I still need to get showered and dressed for the day, take my daughter to school, and head to my mammogram appointment, where I will be tortured examined sometime around nine-thirty this morning. I only tell you about the mammogram because it's Breast Cancer Awareness month and I want to do my part to remind all of you to take care of your bodies.

Needless to say, this post will probably be short, since I failed to do it over the weekend, as I should have, but instead was reading (yep, that reading thing got me again).

My manuscript is finished, so lately I've been working on edits and sending out queries.  However, when I was still in the thick of plotting and coming up with scenes, there were many times I'd get stuck or was too tired to trudge on toward my goal of a finished book.

Each time that happened I found it helpful to immerse myself in a movie with a theme similar to whatever scene I wanted to write. If I wanted to write a romantic scene, I'd watch Twilight - again - or some other romantic movie. The emotions from the movie would energize me to move forward with my manuscript. For battle scenes, if I didn't know where to go next or found myself lacking the excitement needed to get it done, I'd watch a movie with some action to get my blood pumping.

I also love to listen to music while I write (at this very moment, Madonna is crooning Lucky Star). Music can be so vibrant and inspiring. Creativity flows from the speakers like ribbons of rainbows wrapping me in their warmth, whispering inspiration into my soul.

It's not really the 'done thing', I know, but I wish I could use songs as comps in my query letters. It'd be so easy. Finding comp titles for my book has been my impossible task - and I really mean impossible, harder than query or synopsis writing. The few books I'd hoped to use just didn't work for me for one reason or another.

Songs, however, would make it so much easier. If I could only give them the title of movies crossed with songs, then they'd get a real feel for my story.

It'd go something like this:

DEVASTATION is Katy Perry's E.T. melded with Van Halen's Love Walks In, woven through the book I AM NUMBER FOUR blended with a handful of the movie ALIEN and a tiny bit of SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL(movie).

See how nicely that all came together? Do you get the sense of the teen love story between best friends that are aliens (mine are human-alien hybrids), who have special powers,  mixed with a scary-ass monster on a spaceship they're trying to escape? Let me know what you think. Perhaps we can get agents to accept songs as comps... it could be a fabulous new trend.

So those are my therapies, movies and music. I'll be hopping around the blogs later this afternoon to see what your therapies are  when I get back from the torture chamber doctor's office. See you soon!

Here are the links to the other blogs signed up for this blog-hop. So hop on over to some of them.




PLEASE NOTE: I made it back from having my mammogram... I want to say it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected and certainly not bad enough that I won't go every year, as I should, to be screened. I went to the new Baylor Women's Imaging Center in McKinney, Texas. They got me in and out quickly. The Corporate Director, Ethel, who did my mammogram, was the perfect mix of compassionate medical caregiver and professionalism. Overall a great experience.

23 comments:

  1. Music is definitely therapy for me as a writer...and also inspiration.

    Once, I literally jumped off my treadmill while I was running and listening to my IPod to go write something down from a song. It was an inspiration for something I wanted one of my character's from my WIP to say.

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    1. Thanks for stopping in and commenting, Natasha! I'll hop on over to your blog and check out your therapies.

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  2. I am actually surprised more folks don't mention music. While I am of the "it's distracting" camp, I know that listening to music away from the keyboard is always soothing and/or energizing. And as a health care provider myself, kudos to you for a) getting the mammogram and, b) encouraging others. Cheers!

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    1. Thanks Aspiring Author! Just doing my part for the cause.

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  3. I always find it interesting that many writers use music in the background when they're writing. Being a Jazz singer, myself, I love music and need it--except when I'm writing. When writing, I need silence. Absolute silence. I find music too demanding of me-I'll stop writing, and start singing and writing music instead. LoL. I wish I could. Sounds like you've got it all down. :) all the best-

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    1. I do sometimes find myself singing along, but I figure my brain just needs the moment away. Okay, sometimes it's away more than it's present, but hey, whatch gonna do?

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  4. I love the movie-watching idea! I'm definitely going to do that from now on :)

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    1. I hope you do try it, works for me every time! Thanks for stopping in.

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  5. Hi Kelley! Jolene here from www.penandmuse.com ! Love your post and I'm SO happy to hear things went well with your mammogram! Phew!

    Kristen and I definitely agree that music is a key thing here. I loved your line, "Creativity flows from the speakers like ribbons of rainbows wrapping me in their warmth, whispering inspiration into my soul." Because that's precisely how I feel when the right song comes on for the right scene.

    And you're right about watching scenes or movies to get your imagination flowing. Sometimes, I'll just youtube specific clips if I'm trying to imagine something in particular for inspiration. Nice post here Kelley!

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    1. Hey, Jolene! So glad you came by and left a comment~ and thanks for the compliment on my line :)

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  6. I totally have to watch an action movie when I'm doing my actions scenes. It helps me get into the mood. Dollhouse or the Bourne movies are awesome, though there are several others on my list, too. Everything Joss Whedon is fantastic. But it helps me visualize what I want to happen so mucb clearer. Good luck with the edits/querying!

    ps. Glad the mammogram wasn't too horrific!

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  7. I love the idea of using song titles, and music is definitely something that inspires me. A perfect form of therapy!

    I'm glad your mammogram went well. I had one myself a few years ago after finding a lump. The nurses and doctors could not have been more kind and helpful. Thankfully, all was well.

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    1. Thank you! Songs rule! Maybe if all authors just simultaneously start using them then agents will have no choice but to accept it *I wish*.

      So glad you hopped by my blog.

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  8. Music is great for me as well! Though I've never attached certain songs to my stories... that seems like fun! I'll have to think about that one for my current WIP. :)

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    1. OH, let me know what songs you pick, I'd love to try to imagine what your book is like from the song list :)

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  9. While I was writing KIYA I went crazy watching movies set in the ancient world. The research was so dry that seeing a movie where ancient figures came to life was inspiring! Yes movies, although not literary are great to help out!

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    1. Love movies... maybe some day I'll try writing a screen play. Glad to know I'm not the only one out there who uses movies as inspiration therapy.

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  10. I am right there with you! Music and movies are what make it possible for me to write books!!! Fun post!

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    1. So glad you hopped by Sarah. Love to hear there are so many other authors like me out there. :)

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  11. I remember your story from WriteOnCon. Love the concept. I also make playlists for my WIPs, I can't write without them! At the moment my go to band is Florence+The Machine :-)

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    1. Hey, Kristina, I remember you stopping in on my WoC entry. Good to see you again! I'm gonna have to do a play list for my book, I hear other authors doing that, what a great idea.

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  12. oo madonna is always good! And I too write about aliens and kids with powers, and funny enough I've had a tough time with comparisons as well! Maybe we should compare notes ;)

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    1. Hey, Jamie, I stopped in over on your blog. We'll have to get together over email sometime soon. Find me on Twitter @KHarveyWrites :)

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