I HAVE THE POWER!!!!

Okay, be honest. How many of you thought I was going to write about He-Man? Well, I wasn’t but now I feel I have to or else I won’t sleep tonight. That’s how my little brain works.

I loved that show. When I was a kid it came on at 3 pm. The same time school got out. I can remember peddling my bike as fast as my little 8 year old legs would peddle all the way home, throwing the bike down, running into my room and turning on my little 5 inch black and white tv to catch the last ten minutes or so of the show. I’m pretty sure he was my first love. I’m not kidding. He lived in the magical world of good and evil, and good always beat the tar out of Skelator. Then there came She-Ra. Man, I wanted to be her so bad. She came on right after He-Man. I wanted to be her and marry He-Man and save the world from all the Skelator’s. Then they made them brother and sister and I threw up.

I mean seriously, did they have to do that?

The point of that is that I guess even back then I knew I had a powerful imagination. I could envision my life as these characters. I could make up stories and I could tell a lie better than any lawyer could. I used to go walking in the park and make up songs, singing softly to myself as I walked around that little pond waiting for my brother to finish fishing.

Which brings me to what I actually wanted to blog about tonight.

Music.

The power of a song.

I’m a huge fan of music. I live everyday for my 45 minute commute because it’s my time with my music. Every song I listen to I really listen to. Listen to the lyrics, see if I can see a story playing out in my head. They mean something to me.

I have a friend that loves music also, but she just loves the music. I can’t count the number of conversations we’ve had about certain songs where I start going on and on about the lyrics and she just gives be a blank stare and says ‘I’ve never really listened to the words’.

I’ve never fully understood this. Except it’s probably the difference between the right and left brain people of this world. How can you not listen to the lyrics? Not try to feel the pain or happiness someone is expressing? How can you not be moved by Toni Braxton begging someone to unbreak her heart? How can you not see yourself sitting beside Janis Joplin in that diesel truck singing along with Bobby McGee? Or, yes, I’ll admit it – snickering along with J. Timberlake as he tells Britney to cry him a river?

It’s the same with a novel. It’s how I aspire to write. I want my reader to become so emotionally attached to my characters that the feelings of my characters become their own. This is so rare in today’s market. Pretty much the only author that has the ability to do this to me is Judith McNaught. Almost every one of her novels has taken me on a roller coaster of emotions; from laughter to tears to sweet relief when the story ends. Especially Something Wonderful and Perfect. Two amazingly well written journeys that draw me in so closely to all of the characters, it’s actually hard for me to re-read them because I don’t want to re-live the heart breaking scenes.

So, to tie the two together, when I’m having trouble writing an emotional scene I pull out my Ipod and search through my playlists until I find a song that matches the emotions I think my characters are experiencing. I let the melody and lyrics wash over me until I reach that emotional plateau where I can relate; where I can finally put into words the emotions that I want my reader to feel.

Can you relate? What inspires you to write the emotional scenes in your stories? Does a song have the power to make you feel? Do you pull out an old movie to watch your favorite scene or the scene that moved you so powerfully? What works for you to help draw out the emotions needed to make your words real?