Characters are just like people. Each of them is unique, with his or her own goals, problems in life, and personal soundtracks. Instead of injecting my own insanity into the blog today, Twitter's own @Jinxie_G (Author N.L. Gervasio) is letting me "squeeze" her for information on her heroine Nemesis's personal soundtrack for N.L.'s new book "Nemesis", available now from Smashwords and Amazon.
Here's Jinxie -
When I first started writing Nemesis, and pretty much any book before it, I didn't listen to music like most writers do. I have ADD, so I'm distracted quite easily. I needed total solitude and mostly silence, so I sat outside on my back porch in a place I used to call my Sanctuary, and the only sounds I would hear were those of the neighborhood and city surrounding me.
Over the past two years, I've learned to write/edit with larger distractions, such as music or television, if absolutely unavoidable. You see, I don't have kids, so I didn't know how to block out the sounds before. It takes a lot of practice to get to that point without children running rampant through the house. I did have a teenage foster-daughter for a couple of years, but she knew not to disturb me during my writing time. And with my Sanctuary now gone, it was a much-needed skill I had to learn.
What I'm going to share with you today is the playlist I made up while working on the book. Some of these are the songs I listened to during edits, while others are merely perfect subtitles, so I made them all subtitles for each chapter. Most songs fit the chapter they're assigned to, such as
Another Hole in the Head for chapter 10. The credit for finding that little gem goes to my dear friend
H.C. Palmquist, who also helped me shape that chapter, as it was part of the major overhaul I did on the book.
Here's the actual list of songs, in order by chapter:
Nemesis Playlist
1. The Creeps – Social Distortion
2. Little by Little – Robert Plant
3. Wake Me in the Morning – The Bollox
4. Nemesis – Shriekback
5. No Man’s Woman – Sinead O’Connor
6. Devil’s Dance Floor – Flogging Molly
7. Next Contestant – Nickelback
8. Lick – Joi
9. I Will Possess Your Heart – Death Cab for Cutie
10. Another Hole in the Head – Nickelback
11. 3 Libras – A Perfect Circle
12. How You Remind Me – Nickelback
13. Something I Can Never Have – Nine Inch Nails
14. Not in Rivers, But in Drops – ISIS
15. Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing – Chris Isaak
16. Let It Die – Foo Fighters
17. King of Fools – Social Distortion
18. Foxy, Foxy – Rob Zombie
19. Winter Solstice – The Tea Party
20. You Do Something to Me – Sinead O'Connor
21. Head Like a Hole – Nine Inch Nails
22. We're in This Together – Nine Inch Nails
23. Feelin' Love – Paula Cole
24. You Know I'm No Good – Amy Winehouse
25. Tura' Lu – The Bollox
26. You Know What You Are? – Nine Inch Nails
27. Just a Girl – No Doubt
28. Weak and Powerless – A Perfect Circle
29. No, You Don't – Nine Inch Nails
30. Hour of Darkness – Social Distortion
31. Headstrong - Trapt
32. Feel Alive – U.P.O.
As you can see from this list, I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan and an old punk. Be glad I didn't throw a bunch of 80s punk songs in there, although that'd be kind of cool. Oh, and by the way, I always call the Death Cab for Cutie song I Will Possess Your Heart the stalker song of the year decade. Seriously, listen to the lyrics!
My reason for not listening to music before wasn't that music didn't inspire me—it does on many levels. In fact, there's a Celtic song titled A Thousand Curses on Love by Richard Searles that inspired my first paranormal novel, The Vampyre Prophecy. It's not available at this time, but will be as soon as I dive into the edits to revamp it. I wasn't happy with the final product, so I retired the book and it's no longer in print. It should be out by this fall.
For now, I give you Nemesis, a sort of darker Cinderella story, if you will.
Prince Charming was a putz.
Prince Charming number two was even worse.
After the last prince ran off without any notice, breaking her heart and their engagement along the way, Nemesis Mussolini swore off men and passed the time kicking ass and slinging drinks, something her mafia father would never approve of. But, when her boss Clancy ups his flirtations, it’s difficult to remember she’s not interested, especially when he gets that delicious evil glint in his eye that has her melting. Just when Nemy starts to think all men might not be bad, she hears whispers about Clancy’s less than legal past, and wants to run like hell from the idea that he could be just like her father.
Great … Prince Charming number three may possibly be on FBI’s Most Wanted.
While Nemy and Clancy tumble down the romance road, hitting potholes every step of the way, Nemy discovers how much of her heart already belongs to Clancy, and how much of a Don’s daughter she really is. When Clancy’s daughter is kidnapped, they must work together to use every talent and connection they have to get her back, which means Nemy must learn to trust again. If they fail, Clancy could lose his daughter forever. Can Nemy surrender in time to get her happily ever after, or is she hell-bent on letting her past keep her from the one man who could be her true Prince Charming?
You can find Nemesis on the Running Ink Press website, which will direct you to the purchase points and desired e-formats. The book is not yet available in print form. Bio:
N.L. “Jinxie” Gervasio was born on Friday the thirteenth. Her dad wanted to call her Jinx. Her mom said no. It took thirty-four years for her to discover the nickname, and she’s grown quite attached to it. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with Umi (her mother) and Moon (her Alaskan malamute). She enjoys riding her beach cruiser “The Betty” around downtown Tempe, loves a good pub crawl, and has had the pleasure and the heartache of experiencing a love far greater than she could have ever imagined.
She welcomes you to her world.
Email: jinxieg13 (at) gmail (dot) com
