Mundie Moms

Friday, February 8, 2013

The Gathering Dark Blog Tour: Christine Johnson's Listening Playlist


I'm thrilled to be the next stop on my blog tour for Christine Johnson's The Gathering Dark! Today I've got Christine's playlist that Christine listened to while writing The Gathering Dark to share with you guys and a giveaway. First, here's a little bit about Christine's upcoming release:




By: Christine Johnson
Published by: Simon Teen
To Be Released on: February 12th, 2013
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to GoodReads


A mysterious teen boy knows the secrets of Keira’s dangerous hallucinations in this gripping romantic fantasy from the author of Claire de Lune. Keira’s hallucinating. First it’s a door hovering above the road; then it’s a tree in her living room. But with her parents fighting and her best friend not speaking to her, Keira can’t tell anyone about her breakdown. Until she meets Walker. They have an electric connection, and somehow he can see the same shadowy images plaguing Keira. But trusting Walker may be more dangerous than Keira could have ever imagined. The more she confides in him, the more intense—and frightening—her visions become. Because Walker is not what he appears to be. And neither are her visions.






The Ten Songs I Listened to Most While Writing THE GATHERING DARK

10) Bach’s Goldberg Variations - Keira plays this later on in the book, and though I’d heard it before, I didn’t know it well enough to hear it in my head while I was writing that bit. I have a playlist of just the piano music that Keira plays in the book, and this was on it.
9) Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Sharp Major - I found this music by going to an extremely knowledgable friend of mine who also happens to be a professional cellist. I needed a piece of music with a very specific emotional feel, including a change from something sweet and low to something wildly passionate and nearly disordered. Asking someone to name a piece of classical music, written for piano, that does exactly that, but when my friend introduced me to this prelude, I knew it was perfect. 
8) Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 17, Op.31, No. 2 - I listened to dozens if not hundreds of pieces of music, polled musician friends, and generally worked my tail off to find the perfect piece of music to really define Keira all the way through THE GATHERING DARK. I wanted the music itself to echo her character arc and the feel of the novel. When I found this one, particularly a version recorded by Yuri Kim, I knew I had what I was looking for. It’s the piece of Keira’s music that I listened to the very most, and when hear it, it’s Keira’s hands I see on the piano.
7) The Cowboy Junkies’ “I Don’t Get It,” off The Trinity Sessions album - Though he’s not a musician, Walker had his own music, too. This was one of the songs I listened to when I needed to get down into that dark, slow, intense heat that Walker has. There are songs that burn the way he does, and this is definitely one of them.
6) Morphine’s “Potion,” off the album Like Swimming - If “I Don’t Get It” taps into Walker’s sound, then “Potion” embodies it. It’s dark and sexy and slow, and maybe just a little bit dangerous. Every. Single. Time. I wrote a kiss or near-kiss in this book, I listened to this song at least once. For one of the scenes, I put it on repeat. Shall I tell you what page that scene’s on?
5) Adele’s “I Found a Boy,” off the album 21 - So, not everything that happens in THE GATHERING DARK is easy for Keira and Walker (not really a spoiler.) As I began to write the last quarter of the book, I found that the album I’d been listening to most (no, it hasn’t appeared on this list. yet.) wasn’t working for me. There were two Adele songs that I listened to over and over, though sometimes I just listened to the entire second half of the 21 album, and that’s how I wrote most of the end of the book.
4) Adele’s “Someone Like You,” off the album 21 - Um, see above? This was the other main component of what I like to think of as THE GATHERING DARK’s “Adele Period.”
3) Deathcab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” off the album Plans - So, leading up to a really pivotal scene, even Adele wasn’t cutting it for Deep Emotional Times. I needed something more wrenching. (I know, right? I was SUPER FUN to be around during the drafting of this section.) Anyway, enter Death Cab and this quiet, aching song that I put on repeat and angsted to ad infinitum until I reached the point of no return.
2) Sarah MacLachlan’s “Ice Cream,” off the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Okay, so somewhere past the point of no return, I had to write The Scene. Even Deathcab was not enough. Just let that sink in. Seriously. “Ice Cream” was not only on topic, but had that break-your-heart-and-then-grind-the-pieces-to-dust vibe that I needed. And I listened to it the entire time I wrote The Scene, and for the first time ever, I cried about my own writing and afterwards, I felt very accomplished and also maybe a little bit crazy. But happy about it. Yeah. Writing is weird like that. So - do you wanna know what page THAT scene is on?
1) The entirety of The Black Keys’ album, Brothers - Okay. A bit of a cheat, because it’s an album, and not a song. But you guys, THE GATHERING DARK is well over 400 pages, and the other songs account for about 30% of my listening time. The other 70% - and THAT’S A LOT OF HOURS, YO - I put on Brothers. I listened to it until I was sick to death of every song on there, but I still listened, because for whatever reason, that’s what made the words flow. If there’s one thing writers know, it’s that you don’t stop doing what works, as long as it’s working. If I’d had that album in any non-digital format, I would have worn it out. I’m not kidding. But if you want the same background noise while reading that I had writing? This album is your very. best. bet.

Happy Listening! 
**********


Thank you Christine to stopping by today and for sharing your listening playlist with us! 
Follow Christine via her: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

The Giveaway: 
Thank you to Christine there are 6 different prize packs you can enter to win during the tour. 2 copies of The Gathering Dark, and 4 swag packs! To enter, all you'll need to is fill out the form featured below, which is also featured with each giveaway stop. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments:

  1. This is fantastic! That's a great Top Ten playlist of songs the author listened to while writing The Gathering Dark. Thank you for sharing =)

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  2. I love this playlist! I love looking at author's playlists because I am inspired so much by music I love to see what inspires others.

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  3. I love the playlist. I'll look for the classic ones in my collection and listening to the songs at once ^_^

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