Gifting of music/ poetry
For my creative writing class, we were assigned the task of “gifting” a song or poem to each of our classmates. I feel that this is too personal to be done lightly and thankfully my professor has allowed me a slight modification of the assignment. Instead of “gifting” my colleague students, I will be “gifting” my characters, who are still developing for my novel.
At the moment, my main characters are Antony, Catherine, Nikolai, Violet, Waya, and Naoki. I think that this will be a useful exercise as I will have to delve into what I know of my characters and possibly expand on that in order for me to create people that I would gift music to. The challenge is in not choosing a “favorite” song, or getting into my character’s head, but to gift a song that may, in some part, explain my characters to others.
~ Antony ~
My selection for Antony is the music “Rose of Arimathea” by Hans Zimmer. Antony is an enigma and the hardest of my characters to choose a song for. The reason behind this is that he is such a mystery, even to me. This voice reveals aspects of his character which allude to the mystery. Both modern and yet out of place in time. The music makes me think of primal, wild things, which reminds me of Antony. This song, like Antony, makes me think of times when the human race had to prove themselves to even survive the moment. The music hints at his somberness, but at the same time makes me want to learn more about him.
~ Catherine “Cat” ~
The song “Burned” by Hilary Duff is probably the best song to fit Catherine. I have searched long and hard to find a good song to introduce Catherine, but every song that I contemplated was off by just a hair. This song is the closest to how Catherine’s personality is. Desperate to fit in, but feeling like she’s apart from everyone around her, especially the ones who claim to love her. She is shocked by the strength of her own emotions and what she is willing and capable of doing when those emotions are evoked.
~ Nikolai ~
I think that the song “Eye” by Smashing Pumpkins does a good job at illustrating at the type of inner dialogue that Nikolai has. He is extremely mellow. A classic good guy who views himself in a negative light. Not like he is the major bad guy, and not like he thinks he will kill everything in his sight, but more like he doesn’t know if he can atone for his past actions. Not that he ever did anything that we would consider truly evil, but it was bad enough in his own conscience. The music in this song reflects the somber mood at which he looks at life and expresses himself.
~ Violet “Vi” ~
I chose the song “Dear Diary” by Pink as a song that represents Violet Dhamo. This song really fits Vi in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined. The lyrics and the rhythm at which they are expressed match areas of Vi’s life perfectly. The confusion she feels inside but never allows herself to express, the fear of being alone… all so well expressed by this song. The music behind the words make me think of the way that Vi is supposed to move in my story, with a liquid grace that is obviously well controlled, like every part of who she is.
~ Waya ~
I chose the song “Rain Forever” by Graeme Revell. The song reminds me of the more morbid mood that Waya is typically in. He seems to find little fun or pleasure in life, but demands much of himself. It’s almost like he wants to prove himself to the world, but in reality he wants to prove himself to himself.
~ Naoki ~
This is kinda cliche, but the song “Psychobabble” by Frou Frou is probably the best illustration of what Naoki is like. A collection of words without depth coupled the music reflects the internal dialogue that feeds Naoki’s out of control mind. Without Waya there to keep her together, she is much like an angry child in the midst of a temper tantrum that has no ending. The only thing she is passionate about, that keeps her going, is the thought of Waya’s love for her. That is the only anchor in her world, reflected in the repetitive rhythm of the music which is a symbol of Waya’s stabilizing influence.
