Guest Post and Giveaway: Mindi Scott
I read and reviewed Mindi Scott’s debut novel Freefall a few months ago (you can see the review here), and I immediately fell in love with Scott’s writing and characters. Her realistic portrayal of Seth and Rosetta shows a keen understanding of teens’ experiences of love and loss. I’m excited to have a guest post and giveaway from Mindi Scott today, and encourage you to check out other guest posts, interviews, contests with her at Teen Book Scene. You can also stay up to date on information about Mindi Scott’s life and writing by following her on Twitter or YouTube.
In Freefall, Seth is a musician who suffers from stage fright. In real life, your husband is a drummer. What were some of your musical influences while you were writing? Do you write with music on or do you need silence? Does Freefall have a playlist?
I generally write with music on. I find that choosing the right genre, band, or single song can help me get into my characters’ moods and mindsets better than anything. The trick is finding what will work!
When I first started writing Freefall, I didn’t know that Seth was going to have stage fright, but I did know he was going to play bass in a rockabilly band. I began the process by listening nonstop to a rockabilly CD compilations, The Rattled Roosters, and Lee Rocker.
As time went on and I got further into the story, I got a little bored of all that, so I added in different music to see if anything would be effective. And it was!
These are songs/bands that I will probably always associate with Seth and Freefall:
- “Bad Luck” by Social Distortion and, in fact, everything by Social Distortion ever. There’s something very Seth-like about their sound and many of their lyrics. Hearing any one of Social D’s songs never fails to make me smile and think thoughts about this book that I wrote.
- “It’s Been Awhile” by Staind. I don’t even know how this got into my rotation (really!), but it ended up saving me time and time again. There were hours and even entire DAYS where I would have this one song playing on repeat while I was writing because it fits Seth’s darker moods so very perfectly.
- “Uncle Jonny” by The Killers and, in fact, everything from their Sam’s Town album. I kept it in the car for months and would brainstorm for the story while listening to it during long drives.
- “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty. This one didn’t come into play until I was working on my editor’s revisions three years after I first started writing this book. But since the title had become Freefall at that point, it really fit!
- “Twilight of the Innocents” by Ash. This song was more a representation of how I was feeling than anything to do with the story, but it’s definitely a big part of my journey with Freefall. During the last few months of revising before starting my agent search, I developed this bizarre paranoia that I was going to die before I could finish. The repeated lines “I’m still breathing/My heart’s still beating” became, like, my daily affirmation.
Many thanks to Mindi Scott for stopping by and sharing some really interesting information about the music behind Freefall. I was particularly intrigued by how the music shifted throughout the writing and revision process.
Contest Information
If you would like to win a signed, personalized copy of Freefall, please leave a comment with the name of a song that has been influential in your life. This contest will end on October 25th at 12:01 AM EST and the winner will be selected by random.org. This giveaway is US only. The winner will be notified by email and on this website. They must contact me with their address within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. Please note that there should only be one entry per person and anyone who submits multiple entries to this contest will be disqualified.
Tags: music
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Nice choices for Seth! I particularly like The Killers song because I used to listen to Sam’s Town a lot.
At the top of my head, When You Believe by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston was an influential song in my life.
1 Edna said this (October 11, 2010 at 5:45 PM)
One song that has been influential in my life is Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
2 Moridin said this (October 11, 2010 at 7:06 PM)
Every Disney song known to man. I kid you not. But most of all, “A Whole New World” because it got me interested in singing in elementary school, and I went on to perform in choir later.
3 shabbygeek said this (October 13, 2010 at 8:25 PM)
The Patient by Tool. It helped me a lot a few years ago with some rough patches. Reminded me to be patient.
Vivien
great giveaway!!
4 Vivien said this (October 14, 2010 at 5:13 PM)
Proud by THSK really helped me out when I was going through some rough times. I saw a video of some of the members crying while singing Proud, and it just made it even more real.
5 Melissa said this (October 15, 2010 at 11:36 PM)
Goodness. This is gonna be difficult for me. Probably the most influential song for me is “I Have and Always Will,” by Dave Barnes because it’s my husband’s and my wedding song. Never has a song spoken so honestly about all the feelings you go through on your wedding day. I still can’t listen to it today without crying, though I surprisingly didn’t cry on the actual wedding day.
Anyway, that’s my mush-filled story
6 Jen said this (October 17, 2010 at 4:44 PM)
Its hard to just pick one song, but I guess if I have to I’ll go with “Runaway Train” because it came out while I was in middle school and influenced me to write for the first time. I wrote a “short” story based on the feelings that it invoked in me.
jlynettes @ hotmail . com
7 Jennelle S said this (October 18, 2010 at 5:23 PM)
Let’s see here. As much as I love music, I don’t know that I can say that there is a song that I would consider to have been an influence in my life. However, one I find very inspirational is I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack.
~Briana
8 Briana (The Book Pixie) said this (October 22, 2010 at 3:57 AM)
Ahh I don’t think I can pick ONE song. Maybe Alibis by Marianas Trench.
9 April X said this (October 22, 2010 at 5:51 PM)
Definitely Defying Gravity from the Wicked soundtrack. I listened to that song endlessly during college and it just… defined my college years in so many ways. I love the entire soundtrack but that song encapsulates so many feelings for me.
10 Sarah said this (October 24, 2010 at 9:49 PM)
I know this sounds weird, but Waka Waka from Shakira. It’s only been out a couple of months, but it’s been influential nonetheless! I’ve been going through a bad break-up recently, and I’ve been reclusive and hiding from my friends and family. There was a point where I didn’t even want to come out of my bed. It was that bad.
“Pick yourself up and dust yourself off, get back in the
saddle”
“When you fall get up oh oh
When you fall get up ay ay”
The song just makes me so dang happy when I listen to it. I can’t help but want to sing along and dance with it. It helped me get out of my five month funk that’s been ruling my life lately. And even though it hasn’t been influential in my life THAT LONG, I’m pretty sure it will continue to influence me. I’ve listened/watched the video for it almost every day, and it lifts my spirits every time — doesn’t matter if it’s the first time, 151th time, 846th time I’ve watched it. It’s single-handedly one of the best World Cup songs out there. I encourage you to give it a listen, and hopefully it’ll make you feel happy as well.
angelmistress[at]hotmail[dot]com
11 Kristina Barnes said this (October 24, 2010 at 11:49 PM)