Music Behind The Story: Haunted
Welcome to a new series on the Rock ‘n’ Romance Blog called Music Behind The Story. In these posts, myself and other authors I invite to hang out with us will write about how music inspired their writing, whether it’s a character, a sound, a mood, or a vibe. You might recall the VH-1 series Behind The Music, Those of you who have been with me for a long time know that music is typically the starting point for my books, and for those who don’t this will be a way for you to get to know my characters and stories and maybe encourage you to check them out. Without further ado, let’s go back to the beginning and explore the music behind Haunted.
Haunted is the story of an artist from California who gives up a promising future as a psychotherapist and moves to New Orleans for a fresh start with her best friend and booming tattoo business. When a beloved client persuades her to move in with his nephews and their band Maggie’s Bones and design a memorial tattoo for them, Jaylene thinks she’s in over her head. When she meets lead guitarist Devon Boudreaux, she knows she is. Over the course of seventeen days, she’ll fall in love with the tall, blue-eyed, sad man who carries deep sorrow and she’ll use her both her artistic and therapeutic skills to help him heal, even if it means losing her heart in the process.
The band Maggie’s Bones is made up of the brooding Devon, cocky frontman with devilish charm Marcus, his brother and the band’s comic relief Jade, bassist and spiritual leader Mage, and damaged drummer Starr. Their sound is a conglomeration of metal and metalcore bands I was listening to at the time including Bullet For My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold, and Falling In Reverse. I wrote this book in 2012 and the albums Fever, Nightmare, and The Drug In Me Is You were all on my heavy rotation. A couple of tunes from Papa Roach and Falling In Reverse, in particular, showed off the attitude Marcus portrayed in his lyrics.
If I were to choose a title track, the song “Say You’ll Haunt Me” by Stone Sour was inspirational for lyrics like:
I can see the patterns on your face
I can see the miracles I trace
Symmetry in shadows I can't hide
I just want to be right by your side
I will give you everything to
Say you want to stay, you want me to
Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me
I want to know I belong to you
Say you'll haunt me
“Anna” by Stone Sour was also on my playlist and provided the right mood for the story. Throw in a little Tab Benoit, who I discovered when visiting New Orleans that spring for the flavor of Houma—where “dem boys” are from—and you have an idea of what it might have sounded like while Jaylene was embedded with the band in the French Quarter.
Haunted was my first self-published book and was a loveletter to the music and the city I’ve come to adore. It was also my first attempt at writing song lyrics. Here’s one of the songs Devon writes:
Heavy is the weight on my chest
Heavy ae the burdens I carry
Heavy is my heart
Heavy is my soul
Heavy is the only thing that keeps me
Here, I’m flattened by this pain
It rips at my heart
It tears at my soul
Heavy is the only thing that keeps me
Living alone
Living without you
It’s crushing me inside
Why can’t I move?
Why can’t I move on
From this heaviness inside
Heavy are the memories
Heavy is the love I felt for you
Heavy is my heart
Heavy is my soul
Heavy is the only thing that keeps you
Here, you left me behind
I’m buried in my guilt
I’m buried in my pain
Heavy is the weight that drowns me
Living alone
Living without you
It’s crushing me inside
Why can’t I move?
Why can’t I move on
From the heaviness inside…
I do plan to write more stories set in the Hauntedverse, but for now, you can check out the stories in the following reading order:
Haunted
Bated (Prequel)
Fated
Minded: A Paranormal Haunted Story
Minded starts off a whole new paranormal journey into the Afterlife for Maggie Boudreaux and her Intervention Specialist love interest Louis. That series consists of:
Minded: A Paranormal Haunted Story
Blossomed
Father F’in’ Christmas
Shifted: A Minded/Magic and Mayhem Universe crossover
Ghoul Me Once: Magic and Mayhem Universe
Gator Me Twice: Magic and Mayhem Universe (Out June 22, 2020)
You can find playlists for most of my books on Spotify including this one for Haunted. And if you’d like a taste of the characters from the novel, you can pick up the prequel novella Bated for FREE for a limited time.
For those of you who are rabid music fans, I also write reviews and recommendations on HorrorAddicts.net. Check out my latest Ro’s Recs here and Stay Tuned for more Rock ‘n’ Romance...
