A few months ago (or three hundred years in the current timeframe) I began chatting with fellow author Emily Inkpen about what music we listen to when writing. Bemoaning the fact that good writing playlists were hard to find, we realised that we could in fact just create our own.
Two frantic hours of procrastination from our day jobs later we emerged from the dark depths of Spotify with the spitting husks of ten distinct playlists, each for a different writing mood. These were imperfect and incomplete, and we realised it would be pretty cool if they were always in this state. Wouldn't it be great if these playlists grew over time? And wouldn't it be great if they were built from other writers' recommendations, not just our own?
AND FROM THAT MOMENT, THE INKWALKER COLLECTIVE WAS FORMED.
Over the next months or centuries we contacted all our writer friends and invited them to join in. We had suggestions from the likes of Tim Lebbon, Laura Lam, Danie Ware, Tim Hardie, Derek Künsken, Daniel Soule, Heather Child...the playlists grew and grew with interesting choices from vastly different genres.
Some were less keen to be part of something with Spotify as its core, and it's worth saying here that it is a divisive platform. (I personally use it as a means of finding new artists and playing albums I already bought long ago, and anything I start listening to regularly I buy, usually on vinyl direct from the artist's website, or from Bandcamp).
However, most were fired up by the idea, and soon we had a happy Twitter DM group across which we shared our tracks.
And we'd like to share the first of these playlists with you today. This one is called EPIC, and it's for the bigger picture stuff...the cinematic sweeps, the battle scenes, the big boss death matches, your protagonist's fingers reaching for their prize at the top of the bulging volcano. From Thomas Newman to Hans Zimmer via Muse and Daft Punk...you'll even find the training montage from Rocky IV here. (I can neither confirm nor deny that this was one of my own suggestions.)
Over the coming weeks we'll be sharing more of these playlists. Our plan is to keep them and the collective growing, so if you want to join the fun then drop me a line or message us on Twitter. We'd love to hear your suggestions.
But for now...buckle up, buckle in, and get ready for The InkWalker Collective's first ever playlist...EPIC.
