Friday, September 04, 2009

Dawn Rising: Playlist and characters

I've started work on the final Empire story, Dawn Rising (since I realised the first three started with A, B then C, I couldn't resist a D!) and as so often when I'm just starting to get into a book, I've got my headphones on (more comfy without them, but I'm not sure the rest of the household wants to listen to Kasabian on repeat).

So far, my playlist is:
Kasabian: Empire from whence the series title came.
Kasabian: Fire because I love any song with a line like "You've got to hip to the hep and get your shake on"
Kings of Leon: Sex on Fire which is brilliant for writing hot, sweaty sex scenes.
Coldplay: Viva la Vida which very closely describes my hero, Edward, who very nearly used to rule the world, but now sleeps alone, and indeed wonders who would ever want to be king. Plus it's just a brilliantly produced song.
Robyn: With Every Heartbeat I'm not usually into dance music, but again this is brilliantly produced and again, it refers to Edward, who feels the pain of his past with every heartbeat.
Scissor Sisters: I Can't Decide which is how the heroine, Callie, feels about the Emperor and his evil Empire: I can't decide whether you should live or die.
Muse: Time is Running Out which is how Edward begins to feel about Callie, to whom he doesn't want to be attracted. It's also how he used to feel about the Empire.
ETA: Florence + The Machine: Drumming Song because in 24hrs I've become obsessed with it. It sounds like how uncontrollable attraction feels.

What I have here is a very tortured hero (I know, right: how unusual for me) and a very angry heroine (again...). I already knew Edward's story, since he turned up in the first Empire book and told me he was going to have a story of his own. How, I didn't know, since Edward was eaten up with grief and guilt over the death of his wife and child. Having led a revolt against his uncle the Emperor that had every chance of succeeding, he suddenly lost the fight when the Emperor assassinated his wife--and attempted to assassinate Edward. Since then, Edward's been in hiding, unable to face up to all the people he failed.

Incidentally, when I first wrote Edward, he didn't have a name: he was just the Prince, as his uncle was the Emperor. It was only when he started getting intimate with Nalina and Carver that his name was revealed, both to them and to me.

Callie is a different story. A story she only told me about today, the secretive witch. I always knew she was going to have the power to blow electric circuits, a power she's using to take out the Empire's tech so she can kill her way to the top. But why is she so determined to end the Empire--a power so vast and all-encompassing, with such propaganda and brainwashing that most people believe it's a force for good. Well, today she told me why, and I'm telling you, it's gruesome.

I do love me some gruesome.

3 comments:

  1. ooooh, sounds good.

    re your playlist: adore Viva la Vida, but the Kings of Leon one was on the car radio today and daughter and I both heard the lyric as "socks on fire"...

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  2. Socks on fire! That's brilliant. Someone hand them a fire extinguisher!

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  3. I'm obsessed with Florence + the Machine - great playlist!

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