soundtracking
the inspirations for darcy & russell (with - ironically - no ballads!)
Music has always been an incredibly important part of my writing process. I love that in two of my books, Amy & Roger and Since You’ve Been Gone, there are actual playlists in the books. It’s always felt like a little bit of a connection between me and the reader of the book - like I’m sharing a playlist with friends, and hopefully someone is finding a song they’ll love.
I also LOVE the playlists people have made on Spotify for my different books - either the playlists in the book, or just picking up on a general vibe. I think my favorite might be this one by Haley. (I especially love the subtitle - dancing until dawn, chilling at a lake, an epic detour, a scavenger hunt, wedding planning, living room theater…)
Music’s been such an important part of my creative process, so the idea that it can turn into a dialogue between me and people who’ve read my books is just beyond cool to me.
Music is a BIG part of The Ballad of Darcy & Russell. The story kicks off with Darcy having come from a music festival. And Russell is a musical-theater writer who’s going to study it in college. Talk of music - of songs and bands and artists and composers - is threaded throughout the book. Darcy was named after a song, and that also becomes a throughline in the book.
I have two playlists for this book - one is a playlist I put together that reminded me of the story, and the characters, and their journey.
It’s also on a bookmark that I’ll be giving away on tour!
And this is the other side. Isn’t that cute?
But! There’s a second soundtrack too.
There are five parts to the book. And each part is separated by a song. And that’s this playlist.
And all these songs mean a lot in terms of what’s happening in the story - and since they’re the dividers between sections of the novel, the titles also had to work as signposts in the story. I hope that in a few weeks when people have read it, we can go into a lot more of the details and motivations behind them.
And! For the first time, I made a Letterboxd playlist - of the movies that inspired the book.
Darcy is a believer in love at first sight - mostly because of all the movies she’s seen promising her exactly this. This is a playlist of mostly one day or one night, stories, and mostly love stories.
It’s the Before trilogy OF COURSE - but also some others I just love. Especially Last Night, which I don’t think that many people have seen? It’s a longtime fave.
I hope you enjoy the soundtracks! And if you’re in LA I hope I’ll see you at Yallwest on Saturday or at my launch event at the Ripped Bodice on Monday!
And if you live in the Bay Area, Tempe, or Portland, I hope I’ll get to see you on tour!
xoxo
MM