Novel Soundtracks 4: Songs for the Plot Points

This is the last post in this series! *sniff* I feel so nostalgic! Just kidding, no I don't. But this is the last post in this series. This post is plot point parts of your soundtrack, the songs you put in the soundtrack specifically for the plot points. There were a couple little notes on this in the last post (Novel Soundtracks 3: Action Songs and Sad Songs), but this is where we get down to the nitty-gritty.

I got this idea from one of my favorite bloggers, K. M. Weiland. In her book Outline Your Novel, she talked about novel soundtracks (!!!!!) and she had some really good ideas. She had pages of suggestions for what kind of songs you should include: A song for your inciting incident, one for the turning point in the character arc, one for the final confrontation, and the list goes on. It was a good list. 

For the bigger set of basics, here's my basic list:

The Big List

• the 'normal world' (the beginning)
• the protagonist's characteristic moment (the moment the protagonist is introduced)
• the inciting incident (the bit that gets the action going)
• the first plot point (the 'doorway')
• the first pinch point (the first time your baddie really reminds us what he can do)
• the midpoint (the point where everything changes)
• the second pinch point (like the first pinch point, but second)
• the third plot point, or the 'dark night of the soul'
• the climax
• and the ending

also:

• a novel soundtrack should have a theme song for the book itself.
• bonus points if you also have one for any and all plot twists your novel has!
• and all this should, of course, be in addition to all the songs you have for your various characters (finding theme songs for the characters is the best), and whatever other songs you have on your playlist.

But this is the all-out list. Obviously, I can't have every single one of those every single time. But even when I don't have an ever-loving clue what songs I'm going to use for all the fancy plot points, I like to have at least a few for different parts of the story. Some for the battles, one for the Dark Night of the Soul (it's never too hard to find a song for that), etc., etc., etc. If nothing else, you should at least have a song for the following parts of the story:

The Ever-so-slightly-smaller List

• the beginning of the story, also known as the 'normal world' song
• the inciting incident
• the midpoint
• the 'dark night of the soul'
• the climax
• and the ending

I like to think of the song for the ending as the 'credits' song. I maaaaay have had up to five 'credit' songs in the past. No such thing as too much of a good thing, right?

More stuff

There might be some songs on your playlist that don't have anything to do with any of the posts I've done in this series so far. Like you might have some songs exclusively for the setting. In one of my NaNoWriMo novels, the characters went to Tokyo, so I had several different Tokyo-sounding songs for that bit.

My sister did a novel set in the fifties, so half that soundtrack was fifties songs. Setting and time can be very important in your soundtrack. You could even have a music aesthetic for the playlist. See if I care how you do it; what matters is that you like it.

Visit me on my Instagram and Twitter for writing humor, and let me know in the comments what songs you have on your novel soundtrack, how your writing's going, whatever. See you next Monday!