WICKED BITE playlist

As many of you know, before I start a new book, I compile a playlist of songs to listen to while writing that book. The playlist changes with every book, but long ago, I learned that writing to a particular group of songs helps put me in the right frame of mind for that particular story. I also revise a book listening to the same playlist I wrote it to because it helps get me back in the mindset. Basically, I’m treating myself like one of Pavlov’s dogs, only with much less drool :)).

Even years or over a decade later, hearing any of the songs from those old playlists brings me mentally back to the book I wrote them to. For example, if I hear Hero of the Day by Metallica, I think of writing HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE. Or, if I hear Try by P!nk, I think of writing TWICE TEMPTED. More recently, you’ll know what I’m thinking of when I hear Imagine Dragon’s “Whatever It Takes,” if you read SHADES OF WICKED’s playlist. *snickers*

So, here’s what I listened to while writing WICKED BITE. Usual disclaimer: there’s no hidden meaning for the book in these songs, unless I note a song with an asterisk and tell you the meaning it had for me. Some songs are recent hits, some are retro, and some are in between. Also, music tastes are as personal as reading tastes, so if you don’t like some of the bands/songs, no problem! Just please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t like them, because if a song/band is listed, then I do and no arguing on your part will change my mind :). 

The layout is artist name: songs. Artists are in alphabetical order for ease of listing, but this isn’t the order that I listened to while writing because I could never be that organized.

AJR: Sober Up, Burn The House Down

Alec Benjamin: Let Me Down Slowly

Andy Grammar: Don’t Give Up On Me

Avril Lavigne: Head Above Water

Bad Wolves: Zombie

Barenaked Ladies: You Run Away

Blue October: I Hope You’re Happy

Brynn Elliott: Might Not Like Me

Candlebox: You

Coldplay: Hymn For The Weekend

Dawes: Living In The Future

Fink: Looking Too Closely*

Flora Cash: You’re Somebody Else

Florence + The Machine: Sky Full of Song

Flyleaf: Cage On The Ground

Foo Fighters: Times Like These

Garbage: Push It

Hollywood Undead: Gotta Let Go

Imagine Dragons: Rise Up, Bad Liar

Judah & The Lion: Take It All Back

Kelly Clarkson: Dark Side

Kerli: Chemical

Linkin Park: Heavy

Maddie Poppe: Going, Going, Gone

Need To Breathe: Hard Love

Nine Lashes: Afterglow

Panic at the Disco: High Hopes

Rob Thomas: The Great Unknown, Pieces

Shawn Mendes: In My Blood

Shinedown: Special, Get Up, Monsters. Creatures, Unity

Sugarland: Run

The Fray: All At Once, Hurricane, Syndicate, Love Don’t Die

Goo Goo Dolls: Use Me, Over and Over

Thriving Ivory: Angels on the Moon

U2: Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way

Vance Joy: Fire and the Flood

Walk the Moon: Kamikaze

*This song was on repeat during many of the scenes where Veritas wrestles with who she is, and who she’s been told that she is. The song is moody and atmospheric, and the lyrics, such as “Truth is like blood underneath your fingernails / And you don’t wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself / Looking too closely” really fit her struggle with that, and it fit some of her internal struggles over Ian, too.

Don’t think that one song matches the whole tenor of the book, though. Those of you who’ve read WICKED BITE know there’s lots of action, humor, and heat, too. Also, every time I heard the lyrics “My favorite color is you” from AJR’s song “Sober Up,” I couldn’t help but think that Ian absolutely would say something that irreverent, senseless, and yet truthful about Veritas.