I've always been one of the biggest movie fans that you will probably ever meet in your life! Hehehe! Just let me throw that out there before I even get started! There is something about a truly engaging, cinematic, experience that makes me squeal with delight whenever I'm lucky enough to be a part of it. It's something that I really wish that I could deliver to you all with my stories as a full experience too when I'm writing. But I'm limited in that respect, unfortunately. I can't show you guys any visuals, or speed, or advanced camera angles...and I can't really provide you with an appropriate soundtrack when you're reading! I wish I could, trust me...but I can't. Maybe someday. Hehehe!

The thing is...music really moves me. It entices and enhances my emotions in more ways than I can count. And I really wish that I could share that music with you as you read my stories, but i haven't figured out a way to do that. Hehehe...yet! But that doesn't mean that a definitive soundtrack doesn't exist when it comes to my stories. I guarantee you that it most certainly does! And it can for you as well!

This time around, we're going to talk about how music can influence and enhance your mood, inspire new ideas, and keep you focused on your current project in ways that you may have never thought possible before. Youtube is going to become your bestest friend after this! So start hunting once you finish reading it! Hehehe!

I'm not sure how many of you are old enough to remember when CD burners first came out, hehehe but that was something that I definitely saved up for and worked my butt off to get one! No more cassette mixtapes! There were CDs now! LOL! And I remember one of the first projects that I ever tackled was making personalized CDs for my stories! True story. I was writing stuff and listening to one song or another on repeat constantly until I couldn't stand it anymore...and then I'd take the CD out and put another one in to play something else that fit the moment. I'd have a stack of CDs next to me, and trade them in and out for 'this' scene or 'that' scene...I had a song for everything. Just to give me that cinematic experience that I was looking for while I was picturing it in my head, and hopefully translating those same feelings over to all of my readers, so that they could somehow feel the emotions that I was feeling.

Music sets a tone for me. It always has. So when I got that first CD burner, I was obsessed with making lists of what songs I wanted to put together on one CD! I couldn't even work! I was at my job, taking notes on bits of scrap paper, like, "Omigod...and this song! And this one....and DEFINITELY this one!!!" And as soon as I came home, I started making one compilation after another for every story that I was writing. Understand...this was before MP3 lists and stuff like that. Hehehe, at least as far as I was concerned, anyway. I didn't know how to use them yet.

Right now...I have 14 CDs dedicated to "Billy Chase", all with different songs and different moods attached. I have 6 CDs devoted to "Gone From Daylight", 3 CDs dedicated to "A Class By Himself", 2 CDs just for "Savage Moon", 3 CDs just for "My Only Escape", and many MANY more....yes, these things exist in real life! ::Giggles:: I created the to cultivate a certain mood or feeling within me that would enhance the emotions that I was trying to put on the page. It's not enough to just put my entire playlist on shuffle and get a myriad of different songs and feelings to attach to my current vibe and not really feed the emotions that I'm going for. It doesn't work for me. In fact, it works against me, if anything else.

Today's 'Comsie Advice'? Make yourself a couple of playlists to write to! Not one, not two...but as many as you need to support the feeling that you're going for. You may think that it doesn't really make much of a difference or that the music is just background noise to help you beat the curse of absolute silence...but it's not. At least not for me. Remember...I picture all of my own stories as movies or TV shows or something with complete visuals and audio. So making a soundtrack to write to is essential for me to stay focused and to put me in a certain frame of mind. Please, allow me to show you how.

So, now that I've mentioned these phantom CDs of mine...you might wonder what kind of songs are a part of these collections. Well, that would take waaaay too long for me to go through, but I'll try to go through the feeling of these collections to give you an idea. For example, the first CD that I ever made for my story, "Jesse-101"...it was mostly made of upbeat teen pop songs. The beginning chapters took place in a shopping mall with a bunch of cute young teen boys, and I was thinking of the kind of stuff that I used to hear when I was a teen and going to the mall with my friends. But updated. A little Justine Bieber here...a little Cody Simpson there...plus some of the teen groups that I grew up with. Hearing that music brings me right back to a lot of those nostalgic moments that I'm trying to recapture in my stories. So I have a bunch of them playing on repeat while I'm writing. I mean...do you get it?

For stories like "Final Hour" or "My Only Escape"? I have a whole playlist full of songs that are really sad and melancholy...almost pleading for some level of acceptance. Songs of healing, of heartbreak, of sorrow. And I always arrange them in a way where there's an 'arc' of some sort, from being lost in the abyss...to finally finding hope. I have Christmas songs for stories like "Holiday Rush" or "A Home For Christmas", and I have stuff that's more fun and upbeat for anything that I want to write that's comical or cheerful or just plain 'life is awesome' music! And, naturally, I've got a ton of music for sensual, sexual, naughty moments in my stories too. Like...

Hehehe, I think she's actually MASTURBATING her lady parts at the end of this song! (I love you soooooo much, Janet!) But yes...sometimes I'm writing something sexy, and this song is playing in my ears on repeat. It's like, "Yeah...that's the vibe I was going for. Right there!"

BUT...hehehe, it's more than that! And this is where Youtube becomes the best tool in your arsenal! Let's say that you're writing fantasy, or horror, or action, science fiction? There is stuff for you there too! Like...let's say that you have a huge epic war going on in your story? There is free music on Youtube that you can listen to and loop for that! Are you writing a stealthy spy thriller, and need some tactical soldier in the shadows type of music...that's there too. Do you just want some really dark, atmospheric, music to write to for your horror story? That's there too. You can find all of these things on Youtube, open them up in another tab, and have that mood further enhanced by the music that's going in your headphones. Anytime you want them. They are at your disposal...so USE them while you're writing!

Take your favorite movies, your favorite video games, your favorite trailers....and whatever 'mood' that you're going for...you can find it online. Usually in one hour (or sometimes TEN hour) blocks!!! Youtube search is your friend! Are you a gamer? And you want the score to "Silent Hill", or "Resident Evil", or "Hitman"? Those soundtracks are available online right now! If you need some intense 'chase music'...you can literally type in 'chase music instrumental', and get an entire collection full of instrumentals that can hype you up and play on repeat while you're writing. Movie trailers that you like? Want the music? Look it up! You can find them too. This is what I often use for certain scenes that I write in my stories, depending on how they fit or not. I listen to Samurai music when writing "GFD: Blade Of Shadows", and I listen to Western Cowboy music when writing "GFD: Chicldren Of Sunset". You just have to go through the websites and the songs (be sure to like and subscribe to them too, as it's sure to guarantee you more excellent material to work with in the future!), and figure out what you like and don't like.

If you want something more atmospheric, look up 'ambient' music. Now this will put you into a giant ocean full of ambient music that will be hard to weed through to find what you're looking for. So be sure to specify when you're searching. 'Horror' ambient, 'Sci-fi' ambient, 'Suspense' ambient...try to narrow things down a bit. Ambient music will be soft background music with no lyrics or singing in it to distract you. But you can listen to it and it will put you in a really dark and sinister mood if you need it to.

Now, if you go with words like 'hybrid', 'epic', or 'battle' music? That will give you that 'charge the fucking ENEMY' energy! Hehehe! The 'Two Steps From Hell' group is excellent at this! Hehehe so if you're writing an apocalyptic, end of the world, type battle...they truly excel at this!

And then...you've got stuff like 'stealth' music, if you want to write an infiltrating soldier under the cover of night, type of thing. Whatever it is that you're looking for...you can find it on Youtube, open it under a new tab, right click on your laptop or mouse...and loop it to play over and over again to keep your head in that particular frame of mind and focus to help you visualize things as you describe them and type the details out in your story.

Now, this can work for everything that you lov listening to. Maybe you have a badass Black Sabbath or Eminem or AC/DC son that you were thinking about when you were putting a certain scene together....you can use those too! I do! Most times, I think the lyrics get in the way of me working, and I end up enjoying the music more than the work itself, so I get all wrapped up and don't get anything done. Hehehe, but every once in a while, they lyrics will help me come up with just what I want to say in my story when I didn't even expect it. So those are cool too!

Also...if you want to get 'fancy'...you can also find background ambient on Youtube as well. Like...say that you want to have two characters talking in a busy restaurant over dinner. That ambient atmosphere is there, with subtle background chatter, and clinging dishes, and all. If you want the crackle of a winter fireplace? It's there. If you want a heavy rainstorm with thunder and lightning, I guarantee you that you can find a ten hour clip of it on Youtube. So, let's say you want a conversation to take place with some smooth jazz playing in the background. Open Youtube in a separate tab, play that smooth jazz music that sets the mood for you. Then...open up ANOTHER tab...with a thunderstorm going on outside...and you can play them both at once. Again, right click and loop them both. And now you've got a rainy cafe restaurant vibe that will keep your mind focused and locked in that moment. For me, it really helps out a lot. I can see it I can hear it. I can feel it. It's like being in that world, and all I have to do is concentrate on writing what I need to write.

You can find 'hacker' music, or fantasy 'market music'...hell, you can find ambient music that replicates the experience of being in the middle of Jurassic Park if you want. I truly suggest giving some of these a try, and just let them play while you're writing certain scenes, or just writing in general. Like I said, a lot of these can range from anywhere between one hour and ten hours of atmosphere music. If you need action, find action. If you need a sad piano playing, find that. It's all there. And you will be surprised at how much it helps you with the writing process when you find the ones that you love most.

Give your readers that cinematic experience by experiencing it for yourself. K? It works!

Take care, you guys! And happy writing! Enjoy!