Power Writing Rituals, Theme Songs, and Bugs

Do you have any Powerrrrr Writing Rituals? Some people light scented candles. Others play certain music. Some people print their last page, delete it from the screen, and retype it to get their head back in the story.

I’ve found that there are days when the scene is just smokin’, that something is clicking. The pages whizz from my fingertips and I haven’t the faintest notion how they got there. On other days, each comma or word is excruciating. That’s a big clue that I’ve gone in the wrong direction.

When I write a love scene, I have to have Braveheart music on. You know which song I’m talking about–the love scene song. I play it on repeat mode, and it sucks me right into the mood. It’s perfect.

For action scenes, I listen to either Last of the Mohicans or Gladiator. I’m a music lover, and I have soundtracks for just about any kind of writing. Legends of the Fall was good when I wrote Westerns. And what’s most interesting to me is that, occasionally, there will be a Theme Song for my book. And it’s not always a love song.

For my last book, His Chosen Bride, the Theme Song was “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence. Very weird. But for whatever reason, the words completely summarized the book’s purpose—of a hero who had lost his wife and didn’t know how to love…of a heroine who had only suffered and couldn’t trust anyone.

I haven’t found the Theme Song for my new book. But when I do, that’s when I can start tying up the little pieces, to make each scene point to the overall message. Hope I find it soon!

Historic trivia: In the 1960s, the US ambassador working in Czechoslovakia ordered shoes through the mail. His package was intercepted by the Czech intelligence service, who planted an eavesdropping system in the heel. The system was activated by the ambassador’s valet whenever the ambassador attended secret meetings.