Playlist for “A Cast of Stones.” by Patrick W Carr: Music to write and read by.

Please welcome author Patrick W. Carr to the Nook today. He's on tour celebrating the release of his new book, "A Cast of Stones".  It's an epic Medieval fantasy saga and the first in his series, The Staff and The Sword. Patrick was kind enough to sit down and talk about the music that kept him company and helped him write as he worked on the book.

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I tend to write at a fairly slow pace. I have some facebook friends who are also writers and I’ll see them post these incredible daily word counts of three-or-four thousand words, sometimes more. It’s difficult for me to imagine that. I tend to write a few sentences, ponder the scene, and then write a few more. If I get stuck, I’ll take a breather and play a game of Spider Solitaire. This is definitely not writing advice. One of the habits I’ve fallen into that helps me when I’m writing my first draft is listening to music. I have those earbuds that fit snugly inside the ear so they not only play music, they block out external sound as well.

So, what do I listen to while I’m writing. It all depends on the scene. Here are some examples:

Light-hearted:

Vince Guaraldi’s Greatest Hits (He’s the guy who wrote “Linus and Lucy” and a great jazz pianist)

Serious Descriptive:

This entails a few selections because this is a big portion of my writing.  

Enya – Watermark, The Celts, or Wolf Moon. These selections are the only ones on the entire list that have any lyrics to them.  She sings in Gaelic a lot so I can’t understand the words. Otherwise, I would just copy the lyrics right into my book. She has a great mix of melancholy and upbeat that work well.

   

David Lanz – Cristofori’s Dream. I’m a huge fan of piano music because I took classical lessons for a few years and I can feel the music better.

Fight Scenes:

My music choices here might seem a little strange because they’re not amped and raucous like, say, “The Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack. I need something with percussion, but not so much energy that I spin out of control. My adrenaline is on a hair trigger when I’m writing anyway.

Windham Hill Chill – There are some pieces in here with just enough percussion to accentuate the sword blows and staff parries. Good stuff.

The Most Relaxing Jazz in the Universe – I love jazz. It’s my favorite genre of music, but I can’t listen to much of while I write because it totally breaks my concentration. I end up not writing so that I can listen to a really good solo. This works because it’s subdued.

Sorrowful or Contemplative Scenes:

Everybody Digs Bill Evan – This is my other goto piece of jazz. I love everything on this release and because there are not lyrics, it just washes over me and the words just flow. I wrote a lot of scenes with water in them because Errol lives near a river. This was the perfect music to go with those.

The above selections make up the vast majority of listening time while I’m writing. Now, if you want to know what my book is going to sound like, all you have to do is check into my website, www.patrickwcarr.com, in a month or so. Patrick, Jr. and Daniel, two of my sons, write music and have agreed to score a portion of my book. Patrick is writing the theme song to “A Cast of Stones.” It’s a piece for piano and cello and sets a very mysterious mood. Daniel has agreed to score a theme song to one of the chapters called “Dark Flight.” It’s an awesome piece for strings, bass, cello, viola, and violin, and he and a group of friends from the Music City Youth Orchestra are going to try and get together to record it.

I should have both available for download, I hope, by the end of January. Once you read the book you’ll have to tell me what you hear. You can find me on my website or on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PatrickWCarr.

  

Thanks.

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Blog Tour Giveaway ~  $10 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 1/31/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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