As authors we write to evoke a mental response, to have our readers experience the emotion within the story and our characters.  A great song, complete with melody and lyrics, is the same.

There's a strong parallel between authors and songwriters, who only have 3-5 minutes to grab your attention.  This depth of storytelling within such a small timeframe has always fascinated me.  Last year, while I was editing what was to be my first sale to Silhouette Desire, I was listening to my favorite band's latest album and was struck with how powerful the lyrics were in a particular song.  Detailing the angst of break up and the desire to rekindle the relationship, they went - "All the things I thought were made of gold, turned out to be every shade of wrong. But now I'm on the way back, chasing something better, and it's turning me around.  Baby, if you still care, if there's still a burning ember, I'm ready to surrender now."  ("Surrender", Sister Hazel)

Wow.  Combine the beauty of those words with fabulous guitars and a strong drum beat and I realised I had a powerful writing tool right here.   When I played the songs that called to me, I had instant recall of emotion and purpose every time, which quickly centered me in my story and conflict.   This realization prompted me to make a play list for each of my books and in doing so, I figured out something else:  that even if I had similar themes and hooks, not every 'love lost' song, for example, would fit both my lovers-reunited stories.

A story soundtrack is more than just 'writing music', a background melody some authors need playing in order to write.   The aim of a soundtrack is to capture a unique feeling and mood (sometimes more, because your book will be filled with different moods and feelings, right?) so you can use it as a tool to instantly immerse yourself in your story.  You may even end up making a mini-story when you put the songs together.   This is used to great effect in movies, where the music director must chose songs that will sum up a particular scene. 

Some songs I've used in soundtracks include:

• Backstreet Boys' "Incomplete." - an angsty, come-back-to-me song with a big rock ballad sound, complete with violins.

• Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" has a strong thread of conflict in the lyrics: "Because of you I'll never stray too far from the sidewalk.  Because of you I'll learn to play on the same side so I don't get hurt."

• Rebecca Lynn Howard's heartbreaking "Forgive" details a relationship gone wrong (and always brings a tear to my eye).   Even the disco remix by Reina is every bit as emotional... although you can dance to that one!

• The Dixie Chicks detail the hopes and dreams of a young girl venturing out into the world with "Wide Open Spaces", the sadness of a lost love in "Loving Arms" and the breakdown of a family in "You Were Mine."

• Nickelback's "Savin' Me" and "Far Away" are both powerful, angry rock anthems, very alpha yet heart wrenching.

• Cher's "All or Nothing".

• Sister Hazel's "Champagne High" effectively imparts the poignancy of a man at his ex-girlfriend's wedding.

• Evanescence's "Going Under" and "Bring Me to Life" are great for an angry I-will-survive theme.

• Cliff Richards' "Miss You Nights" for, you guessed it, a guy who's missing his girl.  Simple arrangement yet very powerful.

Long gone are the days when you'd have to buy a whole album when you just want one song.  Single downloads are available from Sanity and some stores offer a self-serve kiosk where you can chose and burn your own CD selections.

And thanks to the internet, you can not only download individual songs from iTunes, but most band websites also have video clips that can bring new meaning to the lyrics.  Watch Grammy-winning band Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts The Most" clip on their website and you'll see what I mean: "What hurts the most is being so close.  And having so much to say, and watching you walk away.  Never knowing what could have been.  And not seeing that loving you is what I was trying to do."  Needless to say, along with their gorgeous "Words I Couldn't Say", ("what do I do now that you're gone?  No backup plan, no second chance and no-one else to blame."), both made it onto the soundtrack for my second Desire release, Boardrooms & A Billionaire Heir. 

• listen carefully when watching a movie or your favorite TV show (Grey's Anatomy gave me the beautiful "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol)

• Check out the video hits shows

• surf the internet - I discovered "All The Same" by Sick Puppies - featuring the Free Hugs Man - on YouTube.

• Go into your local CD store for a free listen

• Ask other authors about their own story soundtracks

The beauty of story soundtracks is that they're as individual as the characters you're creating.  They can work with hard rock, ballads, even dance music.  You can also make a soundtrack of songs that you think your character would listen to.  In my first book, Forgotten Marriage, my heroine Ally needs mental courage and listens to the disco remix of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".   In a current wip, my hero loves 90s 'hair bands' like Bon Jovi and Europe. 

Does your character listen to jazz?  Opera?  Fergie or Edith Piaf?  Powderfinger or Pavarotti?  Whatever you decide, you need to make sure that their tastes are individual, which will deepen their sense of who they are.

Whatever your story theme, there's a song out there to encapsulate it.  It's your challenge to go and listen to as much as you can, and with Amazon's free sampling feature and cheap downloads to your computer and MP3 players, it's never been easier.

Lyrics used from the albums:

Rascal Flatts - Me and My Gang (Lyric Street, 2006)

Sister Hazel - Lift (Croakin' Poets  2004)

Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway (BMG Music 2004)