I was recently asked by another author—Stacy Agderm—what music had inspired my new book, My Viral Valentine. This question stumped me. The book I’m currently writing, My Hallowe’en Heartbreak, has a rock star hero, so I’ve been listening to tons of music and researching how songs get written. But music doesn’t figure very much in MVV.
Luckily, we have technology to fill in the voids of our brains! I checked Spotify to see what music I’d been listening to while I wrote MVV. There was one clear winner: K-pop supergroup BTS. Every writer has a different process for writing, but I enjoy listening to music as I write. The one quality I prize is music that I enjoy but is not distracting. So good candidates are: classical music, familiar music like golden oldies, or music with lyrics I can’t really understand are all good contenders. What I don’t like is any talking (like live concert patter) or unfamiliar songs because they distract me. I need background music to focus.
BTS was also an influence on the covers of the Holiday Hat Trick series. I loved the candy colours and happy energy in their video, Boy With Luv. So when I went to brief my cover designer, Murphy Rae, I sent along the video. “These are the colours I want on the covers.”
In the end, we went with more saturated colours, but kept the high energy mood. I love these covers!
