Every world has its own music.

Long before the maps are drawn, before the characters speak their first words, and sometimes even before the story itself fully understands what it wishes to become, there is music. For me, The Riftborn Trilogy has always had a soundtrack.

Some of these songs inspired landscapes and cities. Others became intertwined with characters and moments that would eventually find their way onto the page. Certain pieces captured emotions I could feel long before I had the words to describe them.

Recently, I created a short video introducing some of the characters, places, and themes from The Shadowbound, the first book in the trilogy, alongside a playlist that has accompanied much of this journey. Within these songs live echoes of Ayla’s quiet intuition, Gairynzvl’s struggle for redemption, Mardan’s hidden defiance, and the ancient certainty of Uxvagchtr.

Music has always been one of the ways I enter a world as a writer. Sometimes a melody becomes a place. Sometimes a voice becomes a character. Sometimes a song captures an emotion so perfectly that an entire scene begins to unfold around it.

For those curious, a few pieces that helped shape the journey include works from Delerium, Within Temptation, VAS, Enigma, Thomas Bergersen, HUVA Network, and Magna Canta.

A few character themes have already begun to emerge:

• Ayla — Temptation by Delerium
• Gairynzvl — It’s the Fear by Within Temptation
• Mardan — Rain Geometries by HUVA Network
• Uxvagchtr — Stone Tower by Delerium

Perhaps one day each character will have their own playlist.  Until then, I invite you to step through the gate, explore the worlds of light and shadow, and listen to some of the music that helped bring them to life.

Find the playlist on Pandora

I’d love to know:

Do you associate music with the books you read?

And if you write, do your stories have soundtracks of their own?

 

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~Morgan~