BooksChatter: ✉♫ Setting the Tone of the Story with Music

Today author Erin A. Jensen takes over our blog to tell us about "Setting the Tone of the Story with Music".

Benevolent (30 August 2018, Dream Waters Publishing LLC, 295 pages), a Fantasy, is Erin's latest novel. 100% of the net proceeds from this book will go to Random Acts charitable organization.

“What captivated me most was the gorgeous prose, so descriptive and filled with symbolism and vivid imagery. Benevolent is heartwarming and filled with inspiration… Erin A. Jensen’s work stands out in its originality and beauty.” — 5 star Readers’ Favorite Book Review

“Little did I know that what I thought was just a book based on Supernatural of sorts would turn out to be a life changing book to help me get through one of the darkest times in my life…. The words and message this book offers has given me a new understanding of life, death and most importantly the realization that we are never alone.” — 5 star Amazon customer review

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Setting the Tone of the Story with Music

by Erin A. Jensen

I’ve always listened to music while writing. I pick a song that sets the tone of the chapter I’m writing, or sometimes it’s a song for a particular character or couple of characters. I pop in my earbuds and play the song on repeat while I write. The music helps put me in the right mood for the scene. With Benevolent, I took the music connection a step further.

Early on in the writing of this story, I learned about a Creative Quest that would be part of the Giving Back Tour’s Supernatural convention in Cleveland. Fans could submit a creative work with a Supernatural/rock-and-roll theme (in honor of the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland).

Cleveland SPN Convention Cleveland SPN Convention Contest Entry Original Cover with Misha's Autograph Misha Collins Inspired Benevolent

I gave myself a ten month deadline to finish my book in time to submit it. To incorporate the rock-and-roll theme into my story, I re-worked the chapters I’d already written to include a playlist that the main character’s best friend made for her before he died. Each chapter title is the name of a song from the playlist, and I listened to that song on repeat while I wrote the chapter.

There’s a link to Abigail’s playlist on my website so readers can read the story the same way I wrote it, with the songs playing as background music. And I’ve had several readers tell me how much they enjoyed the musical element of Benevolent. If you’d like to check out the music that goes with my story, here it is:

I didn’t fully realize how much the songs set the tone of the chapters for me until I started recording the audiobook. I’m no voice actress, so the entire process was really foreign to me. Hearing my own voice in the headphones I wore while recording was kind of unnerving and distracting. I was about to start reading a pivotal chapter when I commented that I really wished we could have the music playing while we recorded. When my producer asked, “Would that help you?” I wondered why I hadn’t voiced my wish ages ago.

We only did it for that one day, during the recording of Chapters 19, 20 and 21, but it made all the difference in the world. I read those chapters all the way through with hardly any slipups. I felt them deeply because the songs put me back in the mindset it’d taken to write those chapters, and all the emotion I felt when I wrote them came back to me. The audiobook is in the editing phase right now (which I confess, I know nothing about), but I am very anxious to hear how those chapters turned out!

Inspired by the deep connection that Supernatural fans feel with the show's beloved characters & the show's miraculous ability to help its fans through troubled times.