Music Inspirations

Music has always been a big part of my life. It’s part of how I process complex emotions. It has been the center of friendships, and brought me closer to people through mutual interests (and sometimes exposure to new artists or songs).

So it’s fitting that music has played a big role in writing “The Shadows the Ocean Keeps”.

As I was developing my main character, Thomas Landry, I came across the song “Hurricane” by Band of Heathens. The song’s portrayal of resilience in New Orleans inspired me to make that Landry’s hometown — and what a great match it was. New Orleans was home to a large amount of shipbuilding in WWII, giving me a natural character progression from his father’s line of work to his own understanding of systems that ultimately led him to enlist in the Navy.

More recently, Ariana Grande’s release of “nowhere, nobody” has shaped how I fundamentally view the romance between Landry and Parker, while something as mundane as the brand of cigarettes my main characters smoke was brought about by Troye Sivan’s song “Lucky Strike”.

You can find my inspiration playlist in its entirety here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5PrdF3KD0mOE0OfDvmj6EQ?si=sADSLwKkQRSAOwND8F8tHw&utm_source=copy-link&pi=dZNv9QtIT6OJM!