Did you try and click on the Part 2 link on Part 1?

Yeah, sorry I couldn’t resist!  LOL

If you came here directly, then this is a link back to Part 1 if you missed it.  Promise this is a genuine link!  LINKY!

But you’re here now, so, without further ado let’s continue the run down. The last six of the musical dozen!

As I said before, some of those chapter names are titled after the songs I was listening to when I was writing. So…

Chapter 56 – Photograph

Okay, so I like Nickelback. There I admitted it.

This chapter is the flashback chapter, where Lana takes the young kids and shows them an old training video of the 137th Hunters. She’s keen to show the kids who Gayle Knightley really and truly is. And it works…

But it also brings up a surge of emotion for lost teammates. A snapshot of the past and her friends in a past she can never get back. She then also realizes that Gayle is watching too from the back of the room.

Nickelback’s Photograph plays out like a wistful look back on old times. Better times.

I miss that town, I miss the faces
You can’t erase, you can’t replace it
I miss it now, I can’t believe it
So hard to stay, too hard to leave it

If I could relive those days
I know the one thing that would never change
Every memory of looking out the back door
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

It’s hard to say it, time to say it
Goodbye, goodbye

In some ways this chapter feels like Gayle and Lana saying a goodbye to their old teammates and finally moving forward. It immediately precedes the chapter where Gayle talks frankly and openly to Michael for the first time about how she feels she is to blame for what happened.

The moment when she finally calmly admits it. Not out of rage or bitterness, but out of acceptance.

Chapter 60 – Sharing The Night Together

Allyson and Lyssa. Two lonely souls find each other in the unlikeliest of circumstances…

You’re looking kinda lonely girl
Would you like someone new to talk to
Ah-yeah, alright
I’m feeling kinda lonely too
If you don’t mind, can I sit down here beside you
Ah-yeah, alright

If I seem to come on too strong
I hope that you will understand
I say these things ’cause I’d like to know
If you’re as lonely as I am and if you mind

This beautiful 1978 Doctor Hook song seemed to fit the moment perfectly.

Nuff said.

Chapter 69 – Tequila

Well, Gayle and Michael go out to drink shots at the bar… there is only one song that could go with this chapter…

You can take your pick of which particular Tequila song you want, but I am partial to this one…

Chapter 70 – This Kiss

So, in the previous chapter shenanigans occur and it leads to a moment between Michael and Gayle.

Their FIRST KISS.

It’s a moment that’s loaded with emotion, especially for Gayle. I thought this song by Faith Hill was the perfect accompaniment to that moment.

It’s the way you love me
It’s a feeling like this
It’s centrifugal motion
It’s perpetual bliss
It’s that pivotal moment
It’s, ah, impossible

I won’t go into any more detail than that, you’ll just have to read the book to find out what happens next!  LOL

Chapter 70 – Beautiful Stranger

Okay, so there’s an interesting story behind this one. Bit of a little behind-the-scenes easter egg for you.

This is the chapter where Mercy visits Nexus City for the first time and meets Jaymes Knightley. Originally in the VERY early manuscript, I was going to have them get tangled in an affair. Eeeek!

But as I wrote the HUNTERS, I found myself really getting to love both Jaymes and Mercy, and an affair just didn’t seem in character for them. So I didn’t write it in. Of course, there was something else in store for Jaymes and Mercy (if you’ve read the book, you know what happens next!) and so I decided to leave them as honorable friends.

I think I made the right choice. 🙂

But the chapter name stayed.

Chapter 72 – Ladies Night

Oh, yes, it’s Ladies’ Night
And the feeling’s right
Oh, yes, it’s Ladies’ Night
Oh, what a night (oh, what a night)

Chapter 72 is when we get all three of the Knightley sisters in the same place at the same time for the first time in the book. It’s a night on the town with drinking and girl talk.

The chapter was always intended as a sort of ‘state of the nation’ chapter near the end of the book to recap what had happened in the life of teh sisters before the final bombshell of the finale changes everything. One last hoorah, before shit gets serious.

Who else could soundtrack this chapter but Kool and the Gang, with their classic 1979 hit.

On a Final Note…

Hehe. That joke never gets old…

I’ll do another one of these in a few months time maybe, when Blood to Earth has been out for a while. I’ll revisit the chapters in there and give another rundown of which chapters had which songs for inspiration. Bur for now, I hope you enjoyed a peek under the hood of how my brain works when I’m writing

Love & Books

Spread the word. Share this post!

9 Comments

  1. Sean Turner

    This is a kind of cross-genre, but it works. Many of us use music for inspiration and you go into depth with this. I like it.

    “Photograph” has gotten a bad rap over the years, so it’s nice to see it in a positive light for once.

      • Sean

        And there’s nothing wrong with that. I consider them easy listening. If you’re looking for something harder and darker to help accentuate a story, or a chapter or two, check out Blackberry Smoke “Flesh and Bone” live version from the Homecoming Atlanta “album”. Good stuff IMO.

    • Jon Ford

      I was brought up in a house that was decidedly 70’s old school. That’s where the Dr Hook tune comes from.
      I listened to a broad range of music as I grew up from that point forwards. I had a 50’s rock’n’roll stage, an emo stage, a rock stage… you name it I had it. LOL
      These days I’m more into sort of softer rock and country. My fave bands are the Barenaked Ladies and (thanks to wifey!) The Shires.
      Once Blood to Earth has been out for a while, I’ll do a similar post reflecting on the music that inspired me to write some of the chapters in that book too. 😀

  2. Karie

    Now this second part is amazing. I love how many different music genre’s you put it your book. Sweet and sensual- Faith to Not so sweet – Madonna. I’ve got to admit, Madonna was my favorite growing up. I absolutely love how you have added music to your chapters!

    • Jon Ford

      It’s all about mood for me. I like to listen to music that puts me in the right headspace for a particular chapter. I have a broad taste in music, from my inherited tastes of my parents (I love the 70’s – Dr Hook, The BeeGees, Boney M, Abba…) and then from my own musical exploits in the 80’s and 90’s (Madness, Madonna, Depeche Mode, New Order, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard…) and then from my later life musical tastes, some of which I’ve discovered through my partners over the years (Barenaked Ladies, The Shires…).
      I also LOVE movie soundtracks, the orchestral pieces. Personal faves are the works of James Horner (Start Trek II, Aliens…) and obviously John Williams (Star Wars, Raiders, Superman etc). I have a tendency to play A LOT of the soundtrack from the Battlestar Galactica TV show by Bear McCreary too. One of my personal faves on that is a piece of music called ‘The Shape of Things to Come’, which is beautiful.

  3. Jim

    I can think of less effective ways of staying inspired.

    Do you ever find yourself being subconsciously inspired by what you’re listening to as you write? Like the mood of a song being transferred into your writing without a conscious effort?

    • Jon Ford

      Definitely.
      While the mood is mostly from the music itself, sometimes the lyrics do influence what I’m writing too.
      If you read both Songbird and Blood to Earth carefully in places, you might be able to see a few hints at lines from songs here and there.

Leave a Reply to Sean Turner Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.