Music and Storytelling · 6:55am Sep 18th, 2012
This blog exists cause insomnia.
Anyway:
I've been pondering what brought me to this point, writing 22000+ words on pastel colored ponies. It wasn't the characters specifically. The main six slot rather easily into common archetypes. The animation was a big part, after all it's the only flash TV show I've ever seen that didn't look like crap, but mostly it was the music. Music has been the key to my creative process my whole life. Specific songs can be directly pointed to as inspiring chapters of In an instant. For example:
Chapter One, in addition to being a therapeutic piece was inspired by the sad yet loving tone of Everything's Alright. This song is responsible for Octavia reciting her vows to an inconsolable Vinyl. I'll admit that I cried a lot writing the first chapter, partially because my grandmother (whom I was very close to) died that morning. The original draft of Chapter one was about 4000 words long and ended with Vinyl wishing Octavia to "Live a good life" before she died in Octavia's arms. That was in June. I intentionally didn't touch the story again until August where I rewrote it into the current version.
This song inspired the tone of chapter two as well as the scene where Octavia plays for Vinyl. I wrote that song imagining Octavia playing this. The goal was to create a poignancy in the scene in addition to a feeling of hope and reinforce the love the characters have for each other. It also served as a good lead-in for the lullaby You Are My Sunshine. The refrain for that song ties in rather well with where I have this story going.
For Chapter Three I wanted to look at how events affected Lyra and Bon Bon, plus I didn't want to get stuck in a rut in the monotony of Vinyl's misery. Bon Bon's song, 8 Melodies, fit the tone I was trying to create and inspired a lot of Lyra's actions.
Chapter Four has a couple songs that inspired it, first is:
I'm an unrepentant fanboy for the mass effect series (Garrus/femshep for life) and I liked the quiet moments of this piano piece, and the intimacy it built. The second major song influence was:
This one's pretty obvious I think...
As for Chapter Five, well no spoilers.
I will say though, there is a scene in an upcoming chapter inspired by this song:
I'll leave you to guess what the hell I'm planning with that.
P.S. Clouded Mind, DJ Vinyl Scratch: I'll bet you're the only two reading this mess. <3
AND ALL OF THOSE SONGS ARE AMAZING <3
I'm glad you didn't go with the original story, that would have been even more depressing.
? Or something more... realistic for the story such as a fight? I suck at guessing 
.
As for that song and how it'll influence the next chapter... I have no idea, is Octavia going to bring in a piano and have Vinyl Rap
367969
Well you caught me, Vinyl will have a paraplegic rap battle with other paralyzed ponies.
I have failed at my surprise.
368020Hah! I knew it, maybe I'm not so bad at guessing after all, or I should only try when I've been awake for 21 hours and only had 5 hours of sleep
. I feel dizzy.
368034
Wait till you hit hour 30, thats when things get fun