This is kind of a duplicate of my other writing playlist posts, but I got tagged on Tumblr to share five songs that currently inspire my writing, so I figured I'd post them here, too. :) My series greatly revolves around the relationships between characters, whether that be romantic, friendship, or familial. Right now I’m feeling sappy, though, so I’m picking a bunch of romantic songs to go with Book 1 (Colorweaver).

1.) Hanson - “If Only”

If only I had the guts to feel this way
And if only you’d look at me and want to stay
And if only I’d take you in my arms and say
I won’t go, ‘cause I need you
Please don’t go
'Cause I need you now

This song is just so upbeat and sappy and perfect for Adair! It fits how he feels about Blythe and Etri in book 1. They’re serving as his temporary bodyguards on his “adventure” to get his stolen art back, but by the end of the book he wants them to stay with him.


2.) Hanson - “For Your Love”

If you’re lost then I will find you
And if you ask me
I’ll lay my life down, not for glory
I’m striving for your love
I’m fighting
For your love
I would tear down any wall
And for your love
I’ll turn my back on this world
For your love

Okay, another Hanson song. I could probably make a 25+ song playlist just from this band because their songs fit my style of writing so well. This song is the one I associate with my sentinels (bodyguards/spouses who protect the artists) and Etri falls into this role far more readily than Blythe does. All the lyrics are perfect from his POV and let’s just say the “lay my life down” line isn’t too far from the truth.


3.) Kelly Clarkson – “Miss Independent”

Misguided heart
Miss play it smart
Miss if you want to use that line you better not start, no
But she miscalculated
She didn’t want to end up jaded
And this miss decided not to miss out on true love
So, by changing her misconceptions
She went in a new direction
And found inside she felt a connection
She fell in love

This whole song is basically Blythe’s problem with the whole sentinel thing. Blythe is grey-romantic, she had always been happy to focus on her career, had no interest in relationships, and she had forcibly avoided any contact with artists because she always feared that she would become a sentinel. Then Adair shows up and she’s dragged into acting as his sentinel. She’s conflicted, not just about him, but about her future career because Adair being there is shaking that up.


4.) Imagine Dragons - “Demons”

They say it’s what you make
I say it’s up to fate
It’s woven in my soul
I need to let you go
Your eyes, they shine so bright
I wanna save that light
I can’t escape this now
Unless you show me how

This would be the song of Talan, my antagonist. He’s probably the least antagonistic antagonist ever, though, and it’s just unfortunate circumstances that put him into that role. He’s also Firedrake’s boyfriend and that’s really the reason Talan made the mistake that turned him into the antagonist- he’s trying to protect Dray, but Talan knows very little about humans. Ugh, I want to be able to talk about this but it would give too much away!


5.) Paramore - “Ignorance”

Don’t wanna hear your sad songs
I don’t wanna feel your pain
When you swear it’s all my fault
'Cause you know we’re not the same
No, we’re not the same, oh, we’re not the same
Yeah, we used to stick together
We wrote our names in blood
But I guess you can’t accept that the change is good
It’s good, it’s good

This is the song I associate with Blythe and Firedrake. They’re siblings in so far as having a blood oath, but it’s been a while since they’ve seen each other and they’ve both changed. Blythe gets so sick of Dray’s crap by about the halfway point of the book that she’s wishing Dray hadn’t shown up again.

~Meri