An Inheritance Playlist
One of my favorite (possibly procrastinatory) things to do is to create playlists for the book I’m writing. I’ve noticed, though, that with each book the function of these playlists changes. With Adaptation and Inheritance I often had two different kinds of playlists. The kind I listened to while I was writing, which was usually wordless electronic music, and the kind I listened to while I was thinking about writing (while walking my dog or driving). Because I think of Adaptation and Inheritance as kind of the same project, some of the music crossed over into both books. In the playlist for Adaptation that I posted last year, I tried to focus on songs that seemed especially appropriate for that novel, knowing that I’d be saving some for the Inheritance playlist.
Fast-forward a year, and here’s my Inheritance playlist, a select lucky 13 tracks out of all the music I listened to while writing these books. Thoughts on why I chose these songs follow the embedded video.
1. “Exo-Politics” by Muse — Exopolitics refers to extraterrestrial politics, and is a term used by those who believe that, well, extraterrestrial politics exists. It’s also a song by Muse, and it’s awesomely fitting for Inheritance.
2. “Hide the Cracks” by Sarah Williams White — This rather creepy song makes me think of Reese facing the public after the end of Adaptation. I actually listened to the Strangers Remix of this song while writing Inheritance, but the Phaeleh Remix has a video on YouTube (it’s actually a short indie scifi film) that is really cool and is well worth a watch.
3. “Remain Nameless” by Florence + The Machine — I listened to a lot of Florence while writing these books because her songs are so incredibly dramatic, and sometimes I needed to be inspired to amp up the drama. This one was one of my favorites because the lyrics seemed to reflect Reese’s struggle with identity.
4. “Shameless” (feat. Bryan Ferry) by Groove Armada — This song made me think of David.
5. “Easy” by Dragonette — And this song made me think of Amber.
6. “Double Edge” by Emika — Creepy love triangle angst!
7. “So Cruel” by U2 — I identify Chapters 24–26 with this song. When I was writing these chapters, I’d go for walks and listen to this song and feel … well, sort of evil, but it was awesome.
8. “Clone” by Metric — This is what I listened to while writing Chapter 29, followed by …
9. “Not Fooling Around” by Butterfly Boucher — Another song for Chapter 29.
10. “Uprising” by Muse — Yet again, Muse has a song that seems expressly made for this book!
11. “I Know the Truth” by Pretty Lights — While writing, I listened to a lot of what I categorized as “sci-fi thriller music,” and this song definitely fits that bill.
12. “My Hero” by Foo Fighters — What I love about this song is these lyrics: “There goes my hero / He’s ordinary.” I love a good superhero(ine), but I also love stories about otherwise ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Even though Reese does become not entirely ordinary in these books, she’s not super strong or super fast. She's trying to figure out how to be heroic when she feels pretty ordinary.
13. “Big” by Sneaky Sound System —The first time I heard this song I thought of the ending of Inheritance: "This is the moment we've been waiting for / This could be big for me and you."