I’m revising the first draft of a new book. (The Keeper’s Apprentice’s sequel is next!) This one is untitled because titles are hard. Not moon magic, but it’s what I labeled the playlist, so this will be our secret code name for it until it chooses to reveal its name.
Sometimes when I’m revising a book, I do things like start making mood boards to visualize the setting so I can add details. Or I make playlists to listen to while I revise, to give the story a certain emotional tone. (Here is The Keeper’s Apprentice playlist, btw!)
I spent five hours putting together a playlist for moon magic. Maybe I’ll add to it, maybe not. It fits so well as it is. I even sorted the songs to chronologically match with certain plot points, emotional shifts in the characters, and settings.
I cannot stop listening to it!! I raked the dredges of Rate Your Music, YouTube, and Bandcamp for some of these gems. From Beatles covers to Korean post-rock to indie ballads, I believe these songs encapsulate the cultural flavor of the setting, the emotional intensity of the relationships, and the syrupy nature of the magic system.
- Monsoon – Tomorrow Never Knows
- Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood & The Rajastan Express – Junun
- Kan Mikami – Baka Bushi
- Paul McCartney – Vanilla Sky
- Luo Dayou – The Story of Time
- Park Jiha – Light Way
- Monsoon – Wings of Dawn
- Meiko Kaji – A Woman’s Spell
- Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
- Jambinai – Sawtooth
- Ak Dan Gwang Chil (ADG7) – The Dance Of Lions
- Li Xianglan – Moonlight on the River
- Tamino – You Don’t Own Me
Opening the playlist with the hazy lyrics of John Lennon, with Sheila Chandra’s melodic voice, asks the listener (or reader) to turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream. This book takes a leisurely path through watery realms and into the hearts of the characters.
The country of our main character Lia, Rythos, was inspired by Indian culture and the Persian empire. In the first chapter, we see a land in the middle of the dry season, waiting for their rains to return during a twenty-eight day festival. Each night, they feast, and I could see the characters dancing to “Junun” if they had electric guitars. There’s an energy to this song that echoes Lia’s restless heart and her dissatisfaction with her options as the main heir of Rythos, even though she knows her duty.
The other main character in this book is Prince Kai of Lia’s neighboring country Yasanti. When his estranged mage brother Karou attacks Lia, his dreams of marrying her crash around him. If his soul had a song, it would sound something like Kan Mikami: lamenting, worn down, hiding rage.
In their place is a mission to save Lia from his brother’s curse. The next few songs, Paul McCartney’s “Vanilla Sky” and a folk rock 70s song from Lou Dayou reminded me of the connection Kai and Lia have as they react to this threat.
Park Jiha’s “Light Way” might really challenge you. It’s a long, repetitive experimental song with odd-sounding instruments. Haunting and headphone worthy. This is the emotional timber of the scene when Kai’s moon magic takes us to a realm of legend, a realm of gods and creators.
Monsoon gets two songs on this list. The 80s pop fusion song “Wings of Dawn” is the soundtrack to the midpoint of the novel. I can’t spoil too much. I will give you a glimpse, no context:
Flames erupted from her palms. Balls of fire swirled in her hand, and she pulled them in front of her to gaze at them in awe. White hot flames, with only a tint of yellow and orange, were kindled in the air, the size of paperweights.
We return to Lia and Kai in the next few songs, and Spiritualized’s epic space song for lovers epitomizes their growth and hope.
Not everyone is having a good time, though – buckle up for “Sawtooth” from Jambini. This is Karou’s struggle. Some may call him morally gray, others “tortured.” He wants revenge. He is “burning alive” and he “will take down this entire place with him unless someone stops him” (his words, not mine).
“The Dance of Lions” is my favorite song on this entire playlist. It’s seven minutes of percussion and traditional Korean instruments, punishing and engrossing and interesting. This could be the heartbreak of the “all is lost” moment or the triumph of the climax. It could even be a band performing at the palace on the last night of the Mijabi festival. It works on so many levels, even just to dance in the living room.
I didn’t choose “Moonlight on the river” only because of the word ‘moonlight’, but it did help. I thought I had moonlight on a river in a scene, but I checked again, and it’s fireflies:
Their path ran alongside a stream, and its movement over rocks and around bends sounded like music. Fireflies darted around on the surface, and their reflections grew until it was so bright Lia could barely look at it. The stream widened into a river as they went along, and the fireflies multiplied in number until there were hundreds of them. They formed shapes above the water, like constellations in the sky.
A common theme through the book is control and power. A prince or a princess who has a duty to marry a particular person; a more experienced mage taking control of another; a blood oath beholding someone to revenge.
“You Don’t Own Me” by Tamino is a quiet but strong proclamation of autonomy and its forlorn gravitas fits with the last image of the book. I will be totally honest with you all and admit I haven’t written the last chapter yet, but this song is it.
I AM OBSESSED.