Novel/Book/Story theme songs

[Steven Lake]

Here's an interesting topic for you guys. I was discussing this with a group of friends of mine a while back and they came to the same conclusion that books have their own music and theme songs attached to them. Most people don't realize it, as it's part of the experience, and most writers don't realize they're playing their own theme song in their head as they write. But once other people got to thinking about it, the more they realized that yes, music does play a part in writing books, as well as reading them. It's unconscious, but it's there.

On that thought, what would you guys say is the theme song for your favorite book(s)? Or maybe just the common background music? (IE, what song, or type of song) I have one that I use a lot for my books when I'm writing them that's actually used a lot in trailers, mostly because it's associated a lot with action, and my books have a lot of action in them. One place you can here the theme song I'm talking about is in the new Prince of Persia movie trailer. (the song starts at about 1:31)

So, what theme song(s) or music do you hear in your mind when reading or writing a book or story?

[raphaelnonsenso]

Interesting question. I Find that, when reading, I Have a strong visualization, similar to watching a film, but I've never felt any music. Although this might be because I always have background music playing.

[Steven Lake]

Well, I've found that if you have background music playing, it replaces the music that your mind would choose to play while you're reading. If you did it in a completely silent room, I think you'd find that you have music playing in your head while you're reading that's usually appropriate to the scene.

[Winter]

Heh, I certainly know which song my own STREET series would have as a theme; the very similarly-named Streets by Savatage.

These streets glitter in the dark . . .

Regards,
Ryan

[dreams]

Yes, good question..

I had to think about this for a while. I just can't remember any music at all in my head. I have a running picture in my head of the story and landscape (which is why I sometimes don't like movie versions). My imagination populates the story as I read.

I have found that listening to music while I read, will have an irritating effect when the "action" in the story doesn't match the mood of the music that is playing.

[Steven Lake]

hehe. I'm wondering how many people have read this thread by now and are like "wow, I actually *do* have music in my head when I read/write stories!"

It's always funny how you go about every day doing some things, and never realize you do them until someone points it out to you.

[dreams]

With a lot of author members participating in NaNoWrMo, this is a really good question... , but they are probably so busy that many threads are being overlooked... It would be interesting to hear what they say about this..

[Steven Lake]

Oh, interesting. I didn't even know that was coming up. Ah well. Wouldn't have been ready for it anyways. Got myself too buried in my current series to participate anyways.

[MaMiller]

When I was writing ROGUE WAVE, which is in Hawaii, the theme to Hawaii Five-O was in my head. Did you ever try and write a romance with the Hawaii Five-O theme in your head ??

Everyone! Join in now! Da-da da da daaaaaa daaa. da-da da da daaaaaaaaa

[Steven Lake]

ROFL! That's hilarious!

EDIT: Oh, and speaking of music, I've actually found it easier to write certain scenes that are difficult if I put the appropriate music into my head that would go with a scene like that if you were watching it on TV. Not sure why, but it puts my mind into the right mode to get the correct desired result.