Synthetica Blog Tour (Synthetica Playlist)

Today I have the fantastic Rachel Pattinson on my blog. She is really cool. Take it away Rachel.

If you'd asked me a few years ago what my favourite music was, I would've answered Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy without any hesitation. I'll admit it – I was definitely an emo in school. If it was dark, had strong lyrics and the band had grungy-looking frontman, I was sold.

But now? My music tastes vary as much as my taste in books – Taylor Swift, Hozier, Mumford & Sons, Christina Perri, The Pretty Reckless, George Ezra, King Charles, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Of Monsters and Men, anything from the eighties - you get the picture. If it's got a good beat, I'll listen to it. I don't really mind what genre it's from, so long as I can nod along to it (I'm actually listening to Blondie as I write this).

While I'll always love Green Day and MCR, I began to realise that it was only through listening to other songs and genres of music that I felt truly inspired to write. Green Day is great for dark, emotional scenes – but what about my romantic scenes? My happy scenes? The scene where my MC is simply hanging out with her best friend (just before something dark and emotional happens, obviously)? Whenever I switched on the radio, I found myself imagining new scenes and making up conversations between characters to whatever song was playing at the time – and that was when I realised if I wanted to get to the heart of my story, I'd have to change my writing playlist. So it was with this new attitude towards music that I started to write Synthetica.

I also promised myself when I began Synthetica that I would have fun writing it. I knew that if I didn't have fun, I would never get it finished. So instead of pigeon-holing myself into listening to my type of music, I decided to play anything I liked the sound of, and luckily, this gamble paid off. I have never had as much fun writing anything, as I have writing Synthetica.

So, without further ado, here's my (current) writing playlist*:

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

Wings by Little Mix

I Am Not A Robot by Marina and the Diamonds

Centuries by Fall Out Boy

Wake Me Up by Avicii

Hey Brother by Avicii

Let It Go by Idina Menzel (Don't judge me - this is an awesome song!)

Are You Satisfied? by Marina and the Diamonds

You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison by My Chemical Romance

If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray (thank you Vikings, for this one!)

The Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games soundtrack

Left Hand Free by alt-J

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

Hollywood by Marina and the Diamonds

The Great and the Good by Max Raptor

Do You Hear The People Sing? from the Les Miserables soundtrack

Demons by Imagine Dragons

Solo Dancing by Indiana

Hideaway by Kiesza

Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson

Take Me To Church by Hozier

I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons

Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless

Although I know that I'll probably change my writing playlist again for my new WIP, there are songs that I have no doubt will remain staples for the whole Synthetica series. There were a couple of songs that I listened to, and immediately thought of scenes for the second and third books in the trilogy, so I know I'll definitely be revisiting them while outlining those books.

*I've actually cut it down to the songs I listened to the most - my original playlist is over 2 hours long, and far far too many songs for me to list here...

Rachel Pattinson graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a BA Hons in Publishing Media. Born and raised in the north of England, she shares a love for anything to do with tea, cake, bread and butter, rain, the dark, lakes, fells and Lord of the Rings. She now lives in Norfolk with her partner in crime, and is currently working on several new projects, including the sequel to Synthetica.

Find out more at www.rachelpattinson.blogspot.co.uk

Or follow her on Twitter: @REPattinson1

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