Moodboard and Spotify Playlist for The Monster Within

This week’s blog is going to be short and sweet. I’m at a hotel right now in the beautiful Shenandoah for a craft fair with my other Feral Writers. So if you’re in Warren County, come by the Fairgrounds and say hi.

My day job has been absolutely kicking my ass and interfering with my writing time. I hope that’s going to end soon. This is also the season of four painful anniversaries all within less than three weeks of each other, my husband’s birthday, the date of his fall and when he went into the hospital for the last time (which I had mercifully forgotten his year until Facebook reminded me), the date of his death and our wedding anniversary. It would’ve been twenty-five years this year, though in truth we were a couple far longer since we started in high school. I am grateful that in the other months of the year; I forget how hard this time is. I’m also grateful for the reminder of just how loved my sweet Keir is.

I’m in the process of getting a new tattoo, one to celebrate turning 50 this year and starting a new chapter of my life. It’s the Crone, Mother, and Maiden on my calf. I’ll get that finished up on Wednesday, which is our anniversary. I think that’s fitting.

So, onto The Monster Within. We are 9 days away from it being released! I’m so excited. Every writer approaches the craft in their own unique way. You have your planners and pansters and those who fall in between. You have writers that plan by story beats or get lost in a lot of world building, those who are character centric or plot centric. Some make moodboards or play certain music while they're writing. For me, I fall in between planning and pansting. I can’t outline, because I won’t follow the outline. Invariably, my characters or subconscious drives me off the rails. I have to know enough about my story to get started, but I absolutely have to leave wiggle room for improvisation.

The characters almost always come first, usually in a what if idea. I collect images as I’m plotting and coming up with ideas. For Monster, I found images of the mountains where Michel-Leon confronts the goblins, pictures of what I consider to be his home in both Sangipay and Paris. Pictures of what the swarm consists of, kind of a cross between cicadas and Star Spawn. I don’t necessarily make a moodboard like many do, but I have that collection, so I decided to grab some of them and make one for you all.

I also always make a playlist on Spotify. The mood of each one is very different. I can’t listen to music while I’m writing, but this playlist is absolutely on every time I’m in the car, or cleaning my house, or going for a walk. It helps get me into the mindset of the story and generates ideas. The one for Monster is an interesting mix of genres, so if you’re interested, here’s the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2bErhhHENjpPKst9j1z4QE?si=NEsTOfIWTfOVQDp9YkAGmw

I hope you all have a wonderful week!