NaNo update and more music

I've made it through the end of NaNo and beyond. My story is sitting at over 100k right now and I'm not sure if I'm finished with it or not. Please accept these music videos in exchange for me and my mushy writer brain.

My writing music

As this is November and NaNoWriMo, I can guess that you will all understand that I'm listening to music as I work. So I thought once again I'd share a little of what I'm listening to as I work. So here, a collection of songs.

A musical Friday

I love music. Not all music. Not even most music. What I love is a niche market with me branching out into other stuff from time to time. I'm beginning to like some of the strange music Himself listens to. I don't even know what to call it. But some of it sounds good to me. Mostly I can't stand it because of high pitched tones that hurt my ears. But it's still fun.

Today, in lieu of a regular post, I thought I'd share some of my favorite songs with you. I hope you enjoy.

Catfight - Technoboy

Augen Auf - Oomph

Iron - Within Temptation

Shatter Me - Lindsey Stirling & Lizzy Hale

Let us remember Sophie Lancaster and those like her

One of my favorite songs these days is called “The Others” by Delain. It's a song dedicated to Sophie Lancaster, a young college student beaten to death by a group of teenagers because she and her boyfriend walked through a park dressed in goth clothing since they were part of that subculture in England. Her boyfriend survived with some brain damage. You can find more about her here. Here's the song.

I've ranted about bullying many times on this blog. But this goes beyond bullying. It's a deliberate attack with the intent to cause serious bodily home and death. Two of the teenagers were convicted of murder, sentenced to life in prison with an option to get out in a short period of time. Personally I don't think they should get that consideration. I feel that for the brutality of their crime they deserve to rot in jail for the rest of their lives. But I'm not a judge and I don't know the kind of defense that was brought up for them.

Another thing that disturbed me was no one came to help them until after the teenagers left. There were a number of people in the park who witnessed the brutal attack. I realize that people could be afraid for their lives when they see such a vicious attack. So I can understand their reticence in doing anything. At least someone called the police once the teenagers left and that they came forward and helped the police catch them. It's still a little disturbing to me.

What drives people to hurt others in the name of hatred? How many people have been murdered or committed suicide because of things like this? Too many for me to want to count them.

No one deserves to be treated like this. The taking of another life just because they're different is appalling and horrible. Sophie and her boyfriend were targeted only because of the way they dressed and what they enjoyed being a part of. It isn't fair that Sophie isn't here any longer because of a bunch of evil-minded children who thought murder was a joke.

I know the world isn't fair. You don't have to tell me that. Still, I think more could be done to make it better. Sophie's parents will suffer the pain of losing their daughter the rest of their lives. Sophie's mother has turned her grief into a drive to help people, which is one of the best memorials she could give her daughter.

What do you think of crimes like this? Do you think people who do this should be locked up with no ability to get out of jail? Or do you think that they should be allowed out on parole?

I'm talking about music again

I discovered a new (to me at least) group over the weekend. It's Audiomachine. I love their music. It's instrumental with some vocals. Not a lot of lyrics, mainly just voices providing counterpoints to the actual instruments. But I think it's gorgeous music. I find it easy to write to but will stop to listen when something intrigues me. Here's one of their albums. It's the latest one, actually from this year. They have two that came out last year and three that came out in 2012. That's all I can see on Spotify. Their first public album Chronicles came out in 2012.

I've talked so many times about my love affair with music, but we're going to discuss it again. I'm getting to the point I'm bored with the same old groups I've listened to for a while now. I use Spotify and I've found some new and interesting things using their “Discover” feature. It's an algorithm that takes what you normally listen to and offers suggestions based on your listening habits. Now, Spotify has some peculiar ideas of what I'd like to listen to, but I'll at least give the sample a chance. If I like what I hear I'll go to an album and listen to a few songs. If I decide I don't like them, I go back to the “Discover” list and listen to some more.

That's how I got Audiomachine. They put it as similar to another group I found on Spotify called Nox Arcana. Himself introduced me to them, and I must say I do like most of their music. Some of it is a little creepy, but it's good. Their Legion of Shadows album is my favorite. You can find some of the music from it on YouTube.

I tend to listen to a lot of gothic/symphonic rock. A lot. It's my favorite music genre these days. Bands like Nightwish, Sonata Arcticia, Leaves Eyes, and Within Temptation are among those I listen to on a regular basis. There are others like Krypteria, Epica, and Lacuna Coil which I've only recently begun to listen to as well.

I think music is a big part of my day. When Himself is out of the house, I put on Spotify and one of my various playlists and turn it up. I work with that playing. When Himself is home, I'll either turn it off in favor of what he's watching/listening to, or more often than not, I'll plug in my earbuds and continue listening to my music at a comfortable volume.

There are days where all I want is the quiet. The sound of the box fan is enough noise for me to work by. But there are others where I need something more. Sometimes lyrical, sometimes loud, and sometimes somewhere in between. But I need that extra bit of sound to help kickstart my brain into working on things. Like now, I'm listening to Audiomachine as I write this.

I could give you the list of the bands I listen to, but that's going to be rather boring. I've shared an album of Audiomachine with you, and I've listed a few of my favorites. So how about you tell me who your favorites are? You can find all of mine on YouTube. Share with me some of yours and I'll see if I can find them there too. Who knows? We might just help each other find some new music to love.

Views on humor

There was a video linked on Saturday that I was reluctant to watch. I've been having rotten luck this week, finding things that make me cry (and not in a good way). But I took a chance anyway. I cracked up. The video is a German quartet of female musicians who use humor in their acts.

This made me look at some other things. I'm a fairly serious person. I have a sense of humor, but it's not very noticeable if you know me. I just don't find things funny all that often. Himself tries to get me to laugh by having me watch movies he thinks are funny. By about halfway through I want to put my earbuds in and listen to my favorite podcast or music.

My favorite podcast KUEC (here's my review of Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap) is funny to me. The jokes are off color and can be crude at times. But the odd thing is what I find amusing with them I hate in other comedians and movies.

Here's the full definition of humor. Humor is different for everyone. The things one person finds funny others don't. Some people can find something to laugh about in everything. Others pick and choose what they find amusing. Then there are the people who laugh at inappropriate times. It all depends on a person's point of view.

What makes you laugh? How do you feel about humor?

I Have A Right

I love music, especially the symphonic metal bands Nightwish, Within Temptation, Amaranthine, Krypteria...there are more, but I'm not going to list all of them here. Just say that I love this genre of music.

Recently, I came across a song by Sonata Arctica that got me thinking. This song is “I Have A Right”. 

If you listen and pay attention to the lyrics, which you can find here, you can see what it's about. The thing that struck me the most about this song is that it talks about the rights of children, to be taught to love everyone no matter who they are.

This is a powerful message that I wish parents would teach their children now. But in order to teach their children this, they need to open their minds more as well. In order to bring their children into the modern world, where love and understanding is key, they must shed the fears and teachings of their own parents to do it.

How often do we say “I'm not my mom/dad”? I know I say it a lot. But I've found myself saying things that could only have come out of my parents' mouths. I've come a long way and have found my own path, but still I feel the lingering effects of the way I was raised.

I believe we need to step up and let go of the negative things taught to us. We need to be more open to things like marriage equality, other races, other people's religious practices. There needs to be more openness.

What do you think? Do you think a parent's attitude influences a child all the way into adulthood? Or do you think a child can get away from their parents' influence and form their own opinions?

Favorite Art

I am a fan of fantasy art. I love to look at other people's gorgeous pictures, paintings, and sculptures. I started out at Elfwood. I started just looking at pictures. I'm now a moderator there, and have been for a while, on the stories people submit to Wyvern's Library.

Then I found DeviantArt. I've bookmarked so many pictures out of DA. I have more favorite artists here than I do on Elfwood anymore, since most of my favorites on Elfwood have either left or stopped updating their galleries and gone elsewhere – many have migrated to DA. Some of my favorites from DA are here, here, here, here, and here. I just started looking at fantasy. These are all under the Digital Art and are incredible. Sakimichan is more whimsical than the others but they're still well done.

One of the artists, who goes by the name Heise, is Chinese. One of the others is from Germany. Art, no matter what it is can transcend borders. Pictures, dance, stories, poems, music – all of these things can share a piece of the soul of the artist and a hint of their world.

Some of my favorite music comes from Europe. Symphonic metal – though I will admit much of it is sung in English, some German Industrial, and classical music of all types are pleasant to me. They draw images in my mind and bring a piece of the musicians to me.

What kind of art do you like? Music? What art and artists inspire or comfort you?

Music and my writing

Music. I love music. Music is what helps me concentrate on writing. It depends on my mood and partly on what story I'm working on that dictates what I'll be listening to. From epic fantasy to urban fantasy, from sci fi to romance. Music sets the mood.

For example, I listen to groups like Two Steps From Hell, E.S. Posthumus, and other instrumental music when I'm writing epic fantasy or more gentle scenes. I listen to harder music like Marilyn Monroe, Seether, and Godsmack for the grittier scenes in urban fantasy. I listen to Within Temptation, Nightwish, Xandria, and Lacuna Coil for the in between times in all of my stories. Sci fi gets some techno as well as my harder list. As time goes on, I add songs and groups to my lists when I find something I like.

Music lets me escape into the world that I'm writing about. I can see the characters, I hear their voices. I can see their actions and feel their emotions. Some of them even sing along with the music, or dance, and I can watch them having fun. Others rush into battle during some music and I can see the fighting and the death.

Sometimes I listen to it through the speakers on Himself's computer since mine don't work well anymore. Other times I plug in my earbuds and listen to it on my laptop I need to do something intense. Or when Himself is here and he wants to watch/listen to his own thing while I want to listen to mine.

My writing flows better when I'm listening to something because it helps me detach from my life and enter the lives of the characters. It gives me a breath from their world and makes things more interesting.

What about you? What do you listen to when you're reading or writing? Or whenever you want to listen to music? Who are your favorite groups? What is your favorite genre of music?

Monday Maundering - I've got nothing again

I have no clue what to write here today. I don't have anything I feel overly passionate about today so you're in for more music videos. These are some of my favorite songs off of YouTube.

Mordred's Lullaby - Heather Dale

March of Cambreadth - Heather Alexander

Frozen - Within Temptation

Monster - Skillet

The Promise - Krypteria

Saturday Story Building - Music as a muse

Last week I wrote about how a picture is worth a thousand words, and Megan left me this comment:

"I think the concept extends to a piece of music, a dance performance, or other artistic expressions which can inspire as well. There are certain universal truths (joy, love, pain, fear, etc.) which cannot be expressed in regular words. It takes an artistic form to convey them. 

When one artist is able to capture that truth, other artists feel compelled to join in. Not in competition but in harmony of expression. This is why music compels us to dance."

Music doesn't just compel us to dance. It can compel us to write. As Megan says, we feel compelled by our connection to music to reach out and speak the words that it inspires in us. I think that's why so many of us have playlists or radio stations that we listen to as we write. The music we hear brings us the mood we want to set.

I don't have a set playlist for any of my stories. I listen to types of music. When I want to write something intense I listen to gothic/symphonic metal like Within Temptation, Delain, and Krypteria. When I'm writing something quieter, I listen to classical music from Bach, Mozart, and Pachelbel. When I'm writing something lively, I listen to folk music like Faun or Blackmore's Night. Each sound inspires something different in me and that inspiration bleeds down into my writing.

Sometimes I write in silence, needing to be alone with my thoughts. Other times I'll have something like a movie or anime playing in the background as I write. But mostly I play music. I get my music from Pandora or IHeartRadio, and the stations that I've created work very well for me (for the most part).

What about you? What music do you listen to as you write? Do you have a specific playlist you use for each character or story? Do you have specific songs that you equate to certain characters? Or do you not listen to anything at all?