Posts Tagged women’s fiction
‘Music for tragedy, coming of age, romance’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Karen Wojcik Berner
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on February 11, 2015
My guest this week says she was a singer long before she was a writer, and when she started writing, music was a natural place to find story inspiration. She writes a series of novels based around the members of a book club, and many of the titles and characters come from tracks that have been special to her. I took unashamed pleasure in seeing Icicle Works and Peter Gabriel make an appearance – the latter with Sinead O’Connor (gasp). And one of her books was inspired by a track by Indigo Girls, which talks about reincarnation and the soul reinventing – possibly a familiar idea to longtime visitors here. Anyway, she is award-winning journalist and contemporary women’s fiction author Karen Wojcik Berner and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Harmony from fragments’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Rochelle Jewel Shapiro
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on December 10, 2014
My guest this week had a real struggle to get her novel into shape. She was used to seeking inspiration from music, but found that nothing she listened to was helping. In her head was a jumble of characters and voices, all clamouring but making no sense. Then she happened upon a video of her own daughter-in-law, singing an a capella composition of her own that layered and alternated lines from random blogs. This quirky piece gave her the courage to put her characters together – and see where the harmonies came. She is Rochelle Jewel Shapiro and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Oceans of silence beneath the words’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Orna Ross
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on June 11, 2014
My guest this week says her first novels were fuelled by nostalgia and the past. She wrote them while living in a small market town in England, and harking back to her former homes in California and Ireland. Her soundtrack connects her back to those places and their people. Traditional emigrant songs that remind her of stoic characters in her family, while the gay anthem of La Cage Aux Folles is symbolic of friends in the LBGTQ community and her themes of loyalty and personal autonomy. There’s also a special place for the BBC shipping forecast, which she used to listen to in bed as a child, finding poetry in its strange names. She is Orna Ross – and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Music for the inner wilderness’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Anne Stormont
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on May 14, 2014
My guest this week describes her books as stories about and for the sometimes invisible women; the 1960s feminists; women in their late 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond; thinking, feeling, loving, intelligent characters who are steering their lives through choppy waters. She says she uses music as a short-cut to their inner wilderness, with signature songs that conjure their hearts and minds, even on the most uninspired days. She is Anne Stormont and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Music summoned from somewhere unknown; secrets and hope’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Therese Walsh
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on April 30, 2014
My guest this week felt daunted when she embarked on her second novel, worried that she didn’t have the mileage to finish. A duo of songs kept her on course, gave her confidence and made her believe in the reality of her characters and their story. And two is a recurring theme as her novel centres around a pair of sisters with damage, strange hearts and unusual senses. As co-founder and editor-in-chief of Writer Unboxed, my guest is well known to thousands of writers interested in the craft and business of fiction; she is Therese Walsh and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack. Plus there’s a GIVEAWAY!
‘Tragedy and loss are cornerstones of my story’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Anne Allen
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on April 2, 2014
One of the special pleasures of hosting The Undercover Soundtrack is the honesty of the writing. My guests are ready to delve into their innermost creative spaces and share the bare, exacting process of turning memories, experiences and feelings into stories. My guest this week is one of those writers who drew on raw times to create the novel she shares with us. Music helped her examine two tragic losses, with their conflicting emotions and struggling hours. The soundtrack is haunting and melancholic, but is also rakish and fun – Rod Stewart makes a welcome appearance as life recovers and warms up again. The author is romantic mystery novelist Anne Allen and she’s on the Red Blog with her Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Each song helped me see the main character a little more clearly’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Melissa Foster
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on November 14, 2012
My guest this week has always written in the grip of a wide-ranging playlist, but for one particular novel she found herself listening to three pieces intensively, maybe obsessively. In those songs she found her characters’ strengths and their more playful, softer sides, the great challenges they faced and the reserves they drew on to see them through. She is award-winning bestselling author, indie champion and women’s advocate Melissa Foster – and she’s on the Red Blog talking about Chasing Amanda and its Undercover Soundtrack.
‘Musical taste says so much about someone’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Fanny Blake
Posted by Roz Morris @Roz_Morris in Undercover Soundtrack on May 1, 2012
My guest this week spends a lot of time discovering her characters through their favourite music. But it’s more than a shorthand for tastes and background; it’s a way to explore the subtle but crucial differences between her main characters’ interior lives. Her own career has spanned almost every aspect of writing – she’s been a publisher, has ghostwritten celebrity autobiographies and is currently the Books Editor of Woman & Home magazine. As well as that she has written two novels – What Women Want and now, Women of a Dangerous Age. She is Fanny Blake and she’s talking about her Undercover Soundtracks today on the red blog