I could never write while listening to music - I prefer monastic silence. Away from my desk, however, music has been a huge source of inspiration - perhaps even more so than novels I’ve read or movies I’ve seen.
Something about the snatched quality of song lyrics - their meanings elliptical and mutable, like poetry - can take my imagination to unexpected places. The sound and the rhythm, particularly of heavy rock songs, lifts my spirits and fires my energies and leaves me ready to face the blank page.
While working on my Blind Bowman trilogy - a dark fantasy retelling of the Robin Hood legends - I kept a rolling playlist of tracks that were a direct source of inspiration, or summoned the perfect atmosphere for the story I was trying to tell.
Here’s the playlist below, with a little introduction to the first five songs. Have a read and a listen and let me know what you think…Enjoy!
Welcome to the Jungle. Guns ‘N Roses
The Blind Bowman anthem. Because the idea for the first book, Shadow of the Wolf, came to me when I ventured into the Amazon Rainforest - and because it features a Sherwood that is darker, harsher, and stranger than ever before. I like to think that if this trilogy was music it would have the raw energy of Guns N’ Roses, with Axl Rose wailing the lyrics!
Of Wolf and Man. Metallica
As a teenager, I must have listened to this song hundreds of times. Its primal rhythms went straight to my lizard brain. Its wild lyrics - “Shape shift, nose to the wind” - stirred something ancient and primitive in my animal being. All of which got mixed into my remaking of Robin Hood as something savage and elemental
Stand by You. Rachel Platten
You might not think it from some of the other songs on this playlist, but at its heart The Blind Bowman is a love story. As the trilogy progresses, Robin and Marian will walk through hell for one another…
Guardians of Earth. Sepultura
The Blind Bowman - particularly the second book, Dark Fire, is also a cry of protest against our ravaging of the natural world. It is a paean to the forest, and a prayer for a better future. Brazilian metal band Sepultura channel the same hope and rage in this five-minute howl
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Bryan Adams
On a lighter note, this wonderfully cheesy song is the perfect soundtrack to Prince of Thieves, a wonderfully cheesy film version of Robin Hood. I admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for both. As much as anything, now, they remind me how fantastically malleable are the Sherwood legends. In one iteration Robin Hood is a glossy-haired hero, in the next he is a grizzled freedom fighter, and in The Blind Bowman he becomes a force of nature, who wears the pelt of a slain wolf-god!
Click above to see the rest of the playlist, which runs the gamut from eerie dark ambient to breezy power pop. Please let me know if there’s a song I should add!
Go to the comments, or drop me a message to share your thoughts…
Thanks for being here - and happy listening!
Tim
Also, don’t forget to check out the start of the Blind Bowman trilogy, Shadow of the Wolf.