The Sounds of Dreams of Elysium...

I want to preface this again with the acknowledgment that I am not receiving any incentive, monetary or otherwise, from any artist named nor any of their affiliates.  These are simply the people and the music that inspired my books to drop their shrouds and become what they were meant to become.
 
Dreams was the novel that wasn't meant to be written.  Originally, Fallen was going to be a standalone novel, with a very different ending.  As you'll recall, it took me almost a decade to write Fallen and I knew that I left many unanswered questions.  Lots of loose strings that just begged to be tied.  

So when I finally published Fallen, I decided it was only necessary to continue the tale.  It was an odd saga; not many sagas have the story going further back in time.  Where each sequel is in essence a prequel to the story before.  I relished that idea, though.  It gave me a lot of creative flexibility.  It also gave me the grand opportunity to really showcase how these very diverse and complicated characters came into being.  

But I'll admit; starting the process on Dreams was difficult.  I had to ensure that I didn't "write myself into a corner."  

If you've read any of my blog posts on writing, you'll know that I'm not a huge fan of outlines.  I feel they limit creative growth during the process.  So I didn't have much to go on while planning for the novel.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted to happen and just dove headfirst into it.

The tone of this particular novel is very gothic and dark as well as Fallen was.  I feel in some ways more so.  There were a lot of really heavy themes in this book that I had to dive into and it was difficult to do so without the proper music.

I was listening to a lot of Florence + The Machine around this timeframe, specifically the song, "Seven Devils."  As soon as I first heard that song, it became the anthem, if you will, for Dreams.  It is a haunting song and the piano is incredible.  

Another random song that kind of popped into the little soundtrack for Dreams was Pavane Capriol Suite by Peter Warlock.  It's a classical piece for those who may not be familiar.  It's more light than Florence's song but has a haunting quality to it that just spoke to me, especially while writing the tale of Clare and her sons.

While this wasn't my favorite entry in the Thorne family saga, it still stands out as my first foray into writing FOR a specific audience (rather than just myself).  There are certain scenes in this book that still haunt me to this day.  Cora's tale, the baby, the secret in the walls...  And if that's what the music helped me to create, then I owe the music immensely.

~ Angela Darling

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