Audio Imagery

I love audio imagery.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate video imagery as well. Video is such an integral part of our fabric that without it, things would be incredibly drab. I am grateful for video, because video has from time to time, inspired my creativity to the point where I've written stories like this and this.

But whereas video is the solid foundation to whatever story I write, audio is the material and driving force to the story itself.

For instance, I live across the street from my blog's title, and while the view can be inspiring and breathtaking at times, it's the sound that gets the ball rolling. I could step out on my back porch on a Saturday or Sunday morning and simply inhale the early morning beauty of the mountain, but what really makes me weld a pen and paper, is not the outside beauty of the mountain but the interior beauty of the mountain.

Flocks of birds or even a singular bird chirping and singing. The wind blowing through the mountain and the gentle roar of the branches and leaves swaying in the breeze. Or sometimes, the complete lack of noise as the mountain stands there napping in a quiet solitude.

Not only do the sounds of the mountain influence my writing, but the sounds of my neighborhood and radio greatly inspire my writing as well. I can say that about 95% of the stories, either published or upcoming on FSG, have gotten their inspiration from music, with the remaining 5% split between the sounds from the neighborhood and the occasional video.

Most of that 5% is contained in just three upcoming stories on FSG:

1} Creativity Inaction. Inspired by a headache, a chainsaw, a young lady in a sandwich shop, a dept collector and a live sex show.

2} Red Strip. Inspired by a supermarket cashier dressed up for Halloween.

3} A Desirable Image. Inspired by a piece of flash fiction that was originally inspired by a co-worker.

However, the stories that were inspired by music are as diverse as the songs that inspired them. The artists that inspired them range from old school punk (The Ramones) to power pop/rock (Train) to hard rock (Saliva and Nickelback).

But there are two songs that have inspired such intense audio imagery that they've formed the foundation of what I currently write.

Saliva's Your Disease. This song has created such an intense and long lasting imprint in my mind, that it became the basis for several stories. To whit, the entire collection of stories that made up the long story "Persona Non Grata", were inspired by this one song. A lot of the items that peppered the story (the desert, the arrogant biker chick mentality and dark sibling relationship) are a direct result of this song.

The Hooters Boys of Summer. The original version of this song by Don Henley didn't do diddly for me. This version, with its stripped down beat and simple mandolin accompaniment, has created a permanent tattoo in my brain. Specifically, the image of that girl in the song has created the foundation of what my current output has been.

To whit, that one song originally inspired a short story called The Beach, which in turn inspired a sequel called The Sand. After writing that second story, it inspired me to write a story about a woman who was turned into a minion for one of Lucifer's minions. With that same image of the girl, it contributed to the aforementioned "A Desirable Image" and was the driving force behind my current novel "Line 21".

Final tally is two short stories, a medium short story and one novel. All of which originated from the one song.

The ability of two songs to generate almost ten stories between them is something truly remarkable, and I have no doubt that those two songs will continue to inspire and generate stories from my mind and my pen for many months to come.

So what about you? In what way does audio imagery factor into your creative output? A lot, a little or somewhere in between?