“When I was writing Furious Violet, I made two different playlists—one with instrumental music that I would often listen to as I worked (I usually find vocals to be too distracting while I’m writing), and then another playlist of songs with vocals that helped me channel a certain mood or era, which I would listen to when I was just thinking about the novel.”
“I write to explore the texture of different emotions, and listening to music is another way to access those textures.”
“My novel The Flayed Man is a monster story in a literal sense—the main character will turn into a gruesome, violent creature if she fails to regularly consume blood—but also in the way the trauma-driven, codependent relationship she has with her mother turns their interactions monstrous.”
“I make playlists for friends, family, moods, parties, road trips, and of course, I make them for my books. Nothing gets me into the world of a project faster than music.”
“Included in this playlist are songs I was listening to while drafting The Moon Papers, as well as some lunar summer tunes the book evokes….”
“As I fashioned these documents into a book, the music of that era played nonstop in my head, often intruding on the narrative.”
“I wrote much of Whole, Holy, Hot to full albums set to play on repeat. Once I’d worn out one album’s spell, I’d move to another. I wanted to stay inside a single artistic world for a while—to let its atmosphere shape the space I was writing from.”
“The following selections by contributors to Black Summers reflect that tension between sentimental longing and racial strife. Mostly, they land upon Black joy.”
“While I was writing Paradise Pawn, I made a playlist of songs that make me feel emotional about change for various reasons.”
“I often say that for indigenous peoples, the world ended once. We live on the other side of the apocalypse.”