Books-n-Kisses is pleased to let Jane Isaac take over the blog today….
Jane Isaac lives in rural Northamptonshire, UK with her husband, daughter and dog, Bollo. Jane studied creative writing, and later specialist fiction with the London School of Journalism.
Jane blogs about her writing experience, ‘Diary of a Newbie Novelist’ at www.newbiewriters.com. She is also co-author at the Pyjama Club.
Two of Jane’s short stories, Duplicity and Perilous Truths, will appear in Crime Anthologies released in 2012 by Rainstorm Press and Bridge House Publishing. An Unfamiliar Murder is her first novel, ‘due for release’ in 2012.
The Music of Murder
My husband recently joked that I’ve lived with my characters for so long that they’ve become good friends. And he’s right (well, for most of them anyway). I want my readers to relate to them in this way too, so that they jump out and grab you, and when you finish the book, you miss them dearly. But to enable us to feel their journey we need to be acquainted with every aspect of them.
Tunes like those used in a film, like the Intermezzo in Raging Bull, can provide a reference point, like a car or place that people know and relate to, that all important song that conjures images and memories in your mind. Your mind, just like theirs. You may not like the song, you may hate the film, but how many of your friends and partners have different musical tastes to you? And it still reveals a little of their personality, helping you to understand them.
Songs can be very useful in revealing something about a person’s character. Many of us have our music collated onto an iPod these days, a small tablet containing thousands of our favourite songs, tunes that we love, tunes that provide a window into our soul. Imagine a stranger picking up your iPod and listening to your ‘top 25’ playlist. What story would that tell them about you?
Music can also be very effective in creating the right atmosphere for a particular scene. In An Unfamiliar Murder, Anna is missing her boyfriend Ross when a song comes on the radio; it’s a band they were due to go and see together, a group they both loved. Listening to that song only served to increase the gravity of his loss.
Here is a list of the music mentioned in An Unfamiliar Murder:-
Snow Patrol – Eyes Open
Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars
Muse
The Intermezzo
And it led me to think. What music would I use in a film version? This is essentially the story of two women – Anna Cottrell who comes home from work to find the murdered body of a stranger in her flat and becomes suspect in a murder enquiry, fighting to show her innocence – and DCI Helen Lavery, leading her first murder investigation and forced into a race against time, as people close to Anna start to disappear. But there is also a menacing killer lurking in the background, stalking his prey. I think the classical piece would provide a wonderful backdrop for his snippets…
Jane Isaac is author of An Unfamiliar Murder – out now. You can contact Jane and read an excerpt of the book on her website at www.janeisaac.co.uk Sign up to her newsletter for updates on An Unfamiliar Murder and its sequel which should be out by the end of 2012. Alternatively, follow her on Twitter: @JaneIsaacAuthor or on Face Book: Jane Isaac Author.
Buy An Unfamiliar Murder here:
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What readers are saying:
“The characters are brilliantly crafted…. I can’t wait for the sequel!”
“…as fast paced as it is full of twists and turns… “
“…compulsive reading. Brilliantly written, gripping plot.”
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