NaNoWriMo: Ed at Eleven (Somewhat Unauthorized Soundtrack)
I’ve successfully completed the goal for this year’s NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in the month of November, done!), but I still have a little over a chapter to write to complete the draft. In the meantime, I thought I’d try to share a handful of songs and music that has inspired me along the way.
First up, it all started with a piece my good friend Rob Gerry was putting together (featured here). He was inspired by a lousy screenplay I wrote back in 1999. He was beginning to put together the motion picture soundtrack for that unproduced piece of crap that I wrote in eight days on a whim that summer after spitballing the idea at work with him and a coworker of ours named Keith Leonard.
Then he had the full suite performed by an ensemble by the University of New Hampshire, and I was lucky enough to be there for the performance. But before I get to that, here are a few other songs that kept me cranking the pages out.
The first is a track by George Benson, Al Jarreau, and Herbie Hancock, “‘Long Come Tutu,” which Ed puts on a party music.
Then some younger kids take over at the party and play a rap song Ed doesn’t recognize. While I was writing, I was thinking the song was something like Tupac’s “California Love (Remix).”
But Ed’s a gentle type, whose musical tastes tend less toward rap and more toward the Beach Boys. One night in particular finds him listening to “You Still Believe in Me” in his car.
Then there’s the unofficial rock anthem of the story, “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC. It’s played by the Girl of Smiles as she gets dolled up for the final showdown.
And last but certainly not least, here is the full “Suite from the Motion Picture,” as performed live by real people. This was invaluable to me as I wrote the novel, and I am forever indebted to Rob m’f’in Gerry for inspiration … as well as a few plot points.
Listening along, the distinct movements to the piece are as follows (some of these contain mild spoilers for the novel):
- Overture/Ed’s Theme
- 11 o’clock With Ed
- Daydream 1
- Commercial Break: Fosurat’s Mango Salsa
- Daydream 2/The Girl at Home
- Our Man (Alone) On the Street
- Club IF
- Daydream 3/Ed Gets the Girl
So enjoy! Listen to them one by one, or play them all at once for a rich sonic experience. Doesn’t matter to me; I present them here to give you a flavor of the story I’ve written while I finish this last chapter and start the editing process.
Oh, that editing process ….