John Carpenter’s Soundtracks To Write By (21/11)
Tonight I was lucky enough to write a section of the story I’ve been looking forward to since I first dreamed up the idea behind Port Amble. Without giving anything away, it involves a beach. How cryptic is that?!
As with most of my writing sessions, I’m listening to movie soundtracks. I find that they are a perfect way to set a tone and mood, given that’s what their exact purpose was in the film they emerged from. Funny that. In this case, I turned to an old favourite, John Carpenter, an inspiration to me, and a film-maker I never tire of. Unlike many of his peers, Mr Carpenter also personally scores the majority of his films, meaning that along with his films sharing various elements that mark them as his handiwork, so too do the isolated soundtracks. Tonight, given I was writing about a beach, I queued up “John Carpenter’s The Fog” and instantly felt ready to write the story of a beach and the disaster that occurred there.
The mood is set, like on many of his soundtracks, by a brief monologue. In this case, it’s the reciting of a ghost story…or ancient history…it’s all a bit unclear (well, for the first 20 minutes of the film, at any rate). However, the delivery is such that you can just picture the campfire, and the gathered group listening, as the clock is about to strike midnight on the day, one hundred years from when the events supposedly took place. Oooo.
It did occur to me during this session that there are similarities between the story told in Mr Carpenter’s film, and my own creation, but only on the surface. Mine does not contain zombies, or fog, or Jamie Lee Curtis (or does it?). It does possess some of the same overtones, but not the same events. Tell you what, when you come to read this section of the book, make sure you too load up the soundtrack, and see if it doesn’t add to the drama of the story.
Thanks once again, John! I’ll have a copy of the book waiting for you, should you be interested!
End of Day Word Count: 30,244. (No really, I’m more than happy to give him a copy on demand.)
Thoughts In The Key Of N 