Fresh Fiction Blog | Sandra D. Bricker

I've always loved music. And musicians too, but that's a different story. One well-chosen piece of music can change my whole mood. And a long-forgotten song can pick me right up out of my life and transport me back a decade or two. Or more. So it's really no wonder that music plays such a significant role in my writing. I started out as a screenwriter, too ... so I'm sure that doesn't help. As I'm constructing a book, I build the scenes as I see them in my head, often in close angles, continuous shots and montages. And what's a good movie montage without the perfect piece of music to stand behind it?

I think the various processes of writing a book are as diverse as writers themselves. For me, I can't start a book without first scoring it; that's to say, I create a soundtrack for the story based on the characters moving around and chattering in my head. If you've read any of my books, you can probably easily guess my "featured artist" on the soundtrack album of each of them.

For ALWAYS THE BAKER NEVER THE BRIDE, for instance, Michael Buble was singing in my ear. In fact, he was so charming about it that he became a character in the book as well. Ben Colson, the crooner singing to Jackson and Emma Rae when they danced together for the first time, was the tall tree that came from the seedling of listening to my new Buble CD.

ALWAYS THE WEDDING PLANNER's Sherilyn was the most identifiable character of my writing career. She and I share weight issues, chocolate cravings, a checkered past ... and a love of Bob Seger. One of my favorite reader emails stated, "I can never hear Bob Seger again without thinking of Sherilyn." No wonder one of the most significant scenes in the book was set to the sounds of Seger's Rock & Roll Never Forgets as Sherilyn comes to terms with her fading youth. The fourth and final installment of the Another Emma Rae Creation books, ALWAYS THE BAKER FINALLY THE BRIDE, came out just a few months ago, and both Buble and Seger made it all the way through the series.

In my latest book, IF THE SHOE FITS – a contemporary fairy tale based on my childhood favorite princess, Cinderella – the two main characters had known each other since they were kids. So to get their soundtrack just right, I had to go back a couple of decades to decide what they might have been listening to while they were coming into their own. I created a musical track that played softly while I wrote, and I think it really helped me dig up some of that teenaged angst of my own in order to tell Will and Julianne's story with authenticity and the kind of emotion that only the perfect soundtrack can inspire.

SANDRA D. BRICKER was an entertainment publicist in Los Angeles for 15+ years. She is now a best-selling, award-winning author of laugh-out-loud fiction for the inspirational market. As an ovarian cancer survivor, she gears time and effort toward raising awareness and funds for research, diagnostics and a cure.

Who would be in the soundtrack of YOUR life? One commenter will win an iTunes card, a princess note pad and a copy of IF THE SHOE FITS!

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