Some blog posts make me happy. The ones that achieve this most often are those rare ones that offer a glimpse into the writer\’s mind. What she was thinking when writing a particular scene, how she came to invent a certain character, or what gave her the idea for a particular plot development. When I read posts like that, it makes the person who wrote it even more human to me, and it just makes me plain happy to get close to a person I don\’t even know for a very short time (i.e. the time it takes me to read and think about the post). So, since I\’ve just had such a particular moment, I would like to return the favor and share it with those of you who feel the same when it comes to diving into another person\’s mind.
It all started by discovering the song Forever Young by The Tenors this morning, which I have been listening to all day. I can get quite OCD with songs I like, so it\’s not uncommon for me to listen to one song for days on end. At some point today during my drive home, I was thinking about my own novel and thought it would be a great scene, at some point, to have Nathaniel do something for Kyra that is totally out of character. Just for your information, Kyra and Nathaniel are my two main characters, and Sandra, Jack, Sebastian and Cameron are some of the important supporting characters; this post isn\’t really about my story, the plot or the characters though, so it really does not matter if you haven\’t read the story and/or know about the characters. At some point, either now or after reading this post, you may want to  listen to the song/read the lyrics (YouTube link here, and the lyrics can be found here).
Back to Nathaniel and my thinking that it would be cool if he sang something for Kyra since he knows how much she loves music. That thought alone made me smile (if you will ever read the story, you will most likely understand why). Here\’s how my next string of thoughts went (almost literally):\”Well, he would need a pretty good reason to sing something for her … besides, the song is performed by four guys, so maybe I can throw Jack, Sebastian and Cameron into the mix. But for what occasion …\”. At that point my thoughts trailed off from that question and I imagined the four guys on some sort of stage, singing for Kyra and the others, and after a few more repetitions of the song, it hit me: The unborn baby.
Prior to writing this, I debated whether to reveal this tiny piece of information, but I think by keeping it vague I am not spoiling anything. I then decided that the very first and last verse of the song could be sung by Sandra, who is somewhat of an artsy type anyway, and I figured that the whole \”sing a song for the baby\” thing could have been her idea in the first place. Why? Because it\’s something beautiful to do (among other reasons the group has), plus she gets to convince four very different men with different backgrounds, motives, and relationships to each other to work together for one person they all love in different ways.
Having all these little details about a scene (or a character for that matter) form in my head always has a very relaxing and calming effect on me. Oftentimes, depending on the scene and music, it helps me understand myself and certain situations a little better, but above all, visualizing ideas and having bits and pieces come together to a coherent scene just makes me plain happy, whether the scene actually makes it into the story in the end or not. And it\’s the same when I read about other writer\’s thought processes. So please keep sharing, you definitely light up my world every time you do!
For those of you who have read my manuscript as beta readers and therefore know the characters, and for those who just want a little more detail, here\’s how I imagined the distribution of lyrics among the five people. What they sing also reflects their personalities. It differs a little from the way The Tenors do it, but hey, my story is fictional, so I figured I can get away with it … plus, at this point it\’s all in my head, and I don\’t even know if it will ever make into the story. Certainly not in the first book, but maybe the sequel I already have in my head.
[SANDRA]
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others, let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the sky, climb on every rung
And may you stay, forever young
[JACK]
May you grow up to be righteous, may grown up to be true
May you always know the truth and see the light surrounding you
[NATHANIEL]
May you always be courageous, stand upright and be strong
May you stay, forever young
[JACK]
Forever young, (echo -always by the other 3)
Forever young, (echo)
[NATHANIEL]
May you stay, (echo)
Forever
[CAMERON]
May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation, with no winds of changes shift
[SEBASTIAN]
May your heart always be joyful, your song always be sung
And may you stay, forever young
[CAMERON]
Forever young, (echo)
Forever young, (echo)
[SEBASTIAN]
May you stay, (echo)
Forever young, (echo)
And may you stay, (echo)
[SANDRA]
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes always come true
And may you stay, forever young