Writers and Their Soundtracks - Author Interview: C.C. Humphreys

Author Interview: C.C. Humphreys

10/21/08 • -1 min

Listen to the interview here!

Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I am an actor/writer/fight choreographer - though mainly focusing on novels these days. I began writing plays and had two produced, in London, Calgary, and Vancouver. But I always dreamed of being an historical fiction novelist. I had the idea for French Executioner in a gym when I looked ay my neck and thought how easy a target it would be for the executioner's sword. Six years later I began writing it... and a career was born!

I have written nine novels in eight years: six adult and three young adult. People read my work and say: Ooh, I can see the film! My acting background I suppose - big on visuals and character.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/ playlist for.
I used the following playlist as I wrote my latest novel, VLAD: THE LAST CONFESSION. I was at a retreat on the west coast of Vancouver Island, overlooking the pounding Pacific in a remote cabin and these tracks seemed to fit for reasons that are largely unexplainable. Taking me to other places, other times.

What is your playlist?
I call the whole thing after one song: 'Please read the letter.'

Love Her Madly - The Doors. Used to live in LA. Loved it, hated it. Same goes for her. This is love.

New York, New York - Ryan Adams. Ditto NYC

In These Shoes - Kirsty MacColl. Sexy, funny, great horn section.

Sultanas de Merkaillo - Ojos de Brujo. Parents lived in Spain. Wanted to be able to say I was into Acid flamenco. I am.

Nothin' - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. I love stories in songs. This is tragedy.

I'm Set Free - The Velvet Underground. Theme music that closed my first play. Set free to find a new illusion? Yupp!

Loose Change - Bruce Springsteen. An obscure track from the best storyteller.

Constellations - Jack Johnson. A stargazer/storyteller's song.

Nocturne in C Sharp Minor - Chopin. Heartbreak. And what cello!

Picture This - Blondie. Just because its my favourite ever romantic pop song. 'I would gve you my finest hour/the one I spent, watching you shower'

The Raggle Taggle Gypsy - The Waterboys. Explosive Celtic lust.

Seven Nation Army - White Stripes. One to march to.

Please Read the Letter - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Heartbreak again. The misunderstandings of love and the difficulties of words.

What does music mean to you? To your writing? What kind of music do you like to write to?
I use music as an escape from writing. I never write to music. That's why, even though I am immersed in 15th century Romania, I can escape to 20th Century LA with The Doors. Or I need to calm after a hectic battle. Chopin works!

If this story was made into a movie, who would you want to do the soundtrack?
The guy who did the music to 'Last of the Mohicans' [Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman]

To learn more about Chris, visit his website.

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Author Interview: Alex Dally MacFarlane

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Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I’m a 21-year-old British woman, I graduated from King’s College, London last summer with a BA in War Studies and History, and I now work as a Content Editor for Jane’s Information Group.

I’ve been writing for about ten years now, in which time I’ve amassed (and lost, sometimes) a lot of terrible juvenilia and, more recently, a novel (The Bone Queen) that I hope to submit to agents early next year. Two years ago I started writing short fiction. In that time I’ve sold stories to several magazines, including Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Electric Velocipede, Sybil’s Garage and Farrago’s Wainscot.  

I’m currently working on several things: revising The Bone Queen; starting a novel about a war between humans and the so-called “water-people” in an alternate world based on Thailand, told in the form of various texts from the world; and I’m writing some short fiction.  Most of my writing tends to the fantastical, with some science fiction in the mix. I don’t apply further labels; I find them a waste of time.

Tell me about the story that you've created a soundtrack/playlist for.
I tend to have very few songs for a story, sometimes even one, not a whole soundtrack. Rather than give you the one song that I played a lot while writing The Bone Queen, I’ve compiled various songs that have either been mini-soundtracks or inspirations for three pieces of work. 
The Bone Queen is about the deal that Beth, a gunslinger, gets involved in with a story-figure, Kaili, who requests that she steal a necklace from the Bone Queen in return for the information that the Bone Queen can rid Beth of the angry ghosts following her. Meanwhile another gunslinger, Jeckel, pursues a monster that desiccates towns; and Imi, a Professor of Oral History, pursues an old tale about a man with carpets for skin. It has storytelling magic, a monster made of squares and other fun things.

The second piece of work is a short story, “Tattoos of the Sky, Tattoos of the Days,” published in issue 5 of Sybil’s Garage and free to read online. It’s about unhappiness and finding love.

Another short story is “An Orange Tree Framed His Body,” which is about an eighteen-year-old boy doing two things: participating in a violent rebellion against the government that’s killing the semi-sentient plumbing of the city, and facing the pattern of suicides in his family. The story is set in an alternate world with fantasy elements, but with a technology level among the elites of the society that includes cloning. I finished the first draft of it in early August; it was a difficult story to write, it pushed at what I’m able to do as a writer, so the first draft was not very good. I’m hopeful that I can edit it into something strong.

What is your playlist?
DeVotchKa - La Llorona
DeVotchKa - Charlotte Mittnacht (The Fabulous Destiny Of)
DeVotchKa - Tragedy
Cornershop - We’re in Yr Corner
Augie March - The Night is a Blackbird
Patrick Wolf - The Stars
Snow Patrol - You Could Be Happy
Augie March - Bolte and Dunstan Talk Youth
Augie March - The Baron of Sentiment

La Llorrona is the song that I often put on repeat to get into the right mindset for The Bone Queen. Something about it contains deserts, open spaces, a hint of the unusual. When not listening to just that song, I put on all my songs by DeVotchKa. Charlotte Mittnacht and Tragedy are two of my favourites. I also listened to Cornershop through some stretches.
The Night is a Blackbird inspired t...

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Author Interview: Elizabeth Chadwick

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Tell me a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm an award-winning writer of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages and just about to have my seventeenth novel, THE TIME OF SINGING, published in the UK. In the USA I have recently agreed a deal to have two of my novels published – THE GREATEST KNIGHT and LORDS OF THE WHITE CASTLE.

I began by writing near the historical romance end of the genre and have gradually moved along the line to mainstream historical fiction, telling the life stories of people who actually lived in the Middle Ages. I guess I'd be on the same author page list as Sharon Kay Penman, Philippa Gregory, and Anya Seton.

As far as my personal writer's journey goes, I have been telling stories since I was old enough to talk. My earliest memory is of being three years old and making up a story one light summer evening when I'd been put to bed. I wasn't sleepy, so I opened out my handkerchief and I made up a story about the fairies printed on it. It's quite a vivid memory. I loved adventure stories as a child, both the historical kind and the ones that covered myth and legend. I loved folk tales from around the world and the ancient stories such as the Illiad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. If I hadn't taken to writing historical fiction (after falling in love with a tall, dark handsome knight on a TV programme when I was fifteen), then I'd probably have taken to fantasy writing instead. Indeed, I still have a slight yen to rework some of the Scottish Border Ballads into new branches!

Tell me about the story for which you’ve created a soundtrack.
I create soundtracks for all my stories; it's an integral part of the writing process, so I guess I'll go with my most recently completed novel, THE TIME OF SINGING. This is about a twelfth-century lord called Roger Bigod whose father, through treachery, lost the trust of King Henry II. The latter razed the family castle at Framlingham and took away many of their lands. After his father died, Roger had to work his way back up fortune's ladder. While at court doing this, he met Ida de Tosney. She was King Henry's young mistress (reluctantly so) and had borne him a son. She and Roger got together after a few hiccups and married, but that didn't mean they left their problems behind. Far from it. Roger was still struggling to regain his inheritance and Ida was grief stricken over some things in her past (not to give the plot away). Her sorrow, combined with Roger's long absences on business for the Crown meant that their relationship was in danger of foundering. Both had to fight battles on several fronts - physical, political, emotional. The history of England at this period is woven into the story of Roger's and Ida's struggle.

What is your playlist?

1. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS - Apocalyptica
This is an instrumental that runs as a general theme throughout the novel. The bittersweetness of the tune and arrangement are perfect for starting out Roger and Ida's story.

2. THE PROMISED LAND - Bruce Springsteen.
This is the hero's viewpoint as he faces up to his father. His feelings of desperation and anger. His grit to do something about the situation, especially the last verse. 'Gonna be a twister to blow everything down, that ain't got the faith to stand its ground.'

3. PRAYER OF THE REFUGEE - Rise Against.
Roger burns his bridges on the eve of a battle.

4. THE MONSTER IS LOOSE - Meat Loaf.
The battle of Fornham.

5. BEAUTIFUL GIRL - INXS
King Henry sets eyes on Ida de Tosney and her vulnerable innocence is irresistible to him.

6. THE MAN WITH THE CHILD IN HIS EYES - Kate Bush
Ida encounters Roger at court for the first time.

7. A GOOD HEART - Feargal Sharkey
Roger is attracted to Ida but wary because she is the King's m...