The Dark Divine soundtrack: song #7

People often ask me where I got the inspiration to write The Dark Divine. Honestly, it's a hard question to answer because it didn't just come from one place, or a dream, or a single idea. It was more like a perfect storm of ideas, thoughts, and memories, over a few weeks time. It all came together while I was riding in the car on a dark January night in 2005. It was shortly after I'd read the book Speak, watched the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time, listened to the song Such Great Heights over and over again, and was asked to teach a lesson about the concept of grace at my church. I was thinking about all of these things, along with a random memory from the 9th grade, when we stopped at red light and I looked up at billboard in the dark and suddenly this conversation between a brother and a sister popped into my head. The brother was warning his sister to stay away from their former best friend. "He's dangerous. He isn't the person he used to be. You have to promise to stay away from him." And that was when it all started. . .

By the next day, the random 9th grade memory I'd been thinking about had transformed into the first scene in chapter one (except my main character is in the 11th grade), and the conversation between the brother and the sister had become the third scene in the book. And a lot of writing, revising, head pounding, swearing, praying, writer's block, listening to music, reading, more inspiration, and 4 whole years later--I have a finished novel.

And a killer soundtrack to go with it! (Nice segue, don't you think?) In case you didn't guess, today's song is the aforementioned Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. Partly, because it is an awesome song . . .but mostly because when people ask me where I got the inspiration for my novel, and I don't feel like going on and on with the long version, I usually just smile and say, "Such Great Heights." This is the song I listen to over and over again to get into the mood to work on this book--and I'm not kidding about the "over and over" part. Sometimes, I just put it on repeat for awhile. There is even a chapter in my book titled, "Such Great Heights," and let's just say that this particular chapter is highly inspired by the song (see definition of "inspiration" from above).

This portion of the soundtrack represents the "highest highs" of the mood of the book. . .So have a listen, and I'll be very surprised if this song doesn't make you feel good.