Inspiration for Writing the Past – An Eagles and Dragons Playlist

Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.― Haruki Murakami

How does music help you? How does it affect you and your creativity? Has it helped you to overcome obstacles and see the world from a different angle?

The answers to these questions will vary from person to person.

This week on the blog, I want to share something different with you, something related to my own creative process, particularly when it comes to writing historical fiction.

For the entirety of my life to this point, music has played an influential role at every stage. I grew up in a household where music was ever-present and appreciated. Whether it was classical or movie music, opera, folk, rock’n roll, period music or punk rock, music was always there. It was always marking big events in my mind, accompanying me on my journeys, accenting my experiences.

When I sift through my own memories, there is always music to go with them.

Who hears music, feels his solitude, Peopled at once.― Robert Browning

Since the beginning of my writing career in my mid-teens, music has always been a part of my creative process.

I write to music, pure and simple. I have to.

Every writer is different, and among those who do write to music I’m sure there is a vast array of musical types that inspire.

For me, the music of choice for writing has always been movie soundtracks. They’re highly emotive and varied, different tracks suited to different types of scenes.

Music is like a dream. One that I cannot hear.―  Ludwig van Beethoven

I can’t just write to any type of movie soundtrack, however. You won’t find me listening to Star WarsIndiana Jones or The Lord of the Rings soundtracks while writing. The images of those films are burned onto my memory and I know the exact part of the movie where every note is played. That would unduly affect my own storytelling.

But there are countless movie soundtracks that, to me, evoke something of the ancient world, are a bit more exotic, and have the power to transport me out of the modern world and into the past.

For each writing project, I create a separate playlist which I will listen to when doing research, riding on the subway to work, driving in my car, or when I’m out for a walk. The music is there at all times when I’m thinking about my work-in-progress.

Today I want to share with you the most prominent soundtracks on my playlist for the book I’m currently writing, Isle of the Blessed (Eagles and Dragons Book IV).

Some of these might be familiar to you, others not, but I hope you will enjoy all of them. Where available, I’ve embedded samples from some of the soundtracks (the samples are often uploaded by individual fans and not the composers, hence the pictures).

*There are a lot of embedded audio files below, so when you first load the page, you will probably need to click ‘refresh’ once on your web browser so that the SoundCl0ud players show up.

(A quick note here in the interests of transparency that the Amazon and iTunes links are affiliate links – this means Eagles and Dragons Publishing will get a small portion of the proceeds if you purchase it)

I hope you enjoy this musical peek into the creative process behind a book I know many of you are waiting for…

Fans of ancient Greece among you will be familiar with the 300 movies, and the soundtrack from the first film has some powerful, really driving tracks. But there are also some wonderfully solemn tracks that make me feel as if I am standing in the shadow of Mt. Taygetus outside of Sparta itself. This soundtrack has been with me on a couple books, from battles to quiet moments with Lucius Metellus himself. The track that particularly stands out to me is ‘Message for the Queen’. (Please forgive the picture this person uploaded – it has nothing to do with the movie!)

(Amazon and iTunes)

It goes without saying that as the Eagles and Dragons series is set in the Roman Empire, that some of the soundtracks should be from movies set there as well. I thought Pompeii was a decent film but it is not one that I watch over and over again, so it was easy for me to separate the images of the film from the music. This movie has some great street scenes in it that really do evoke the hustle and bustle of Pompeii. The track I like for that, is aptly named ‘Streets of Pompeii’.

(Amazon and iTunes)

This is the only non-period movie on the playlist. Hans Zimmer, who is one of the great film composers of our time, really created a fantastic soundtrack with Black Hawk Down. I’ve used this in the past for all previous Eagles and Dragons novels, especially as it evokes the desert and the East for me. However, the track I love most is the very moving ‘Leave No Man Behind’. When writing about soldiers and brotherhood, whether in the ancient world or the present, this track makes you feel.

(Amazon and iTunes)

If you haven’t seen the film Centurion, then you will definitely want to check it out. It’s showing on Netflix at the moment if you’re interested. Obviously this movie takes place during the Roman Empire and Ilan Eshkeri’s soundtrack is a fabulous journey of intensity and despair. One track that I sometimes play on repeat because of its sublime intimacy and ‘moment of calm’ aspect, is the track called ‘Necromancer’. Have a listen. It’s beautiful.

(Amazon and iTunes)

We’re back to the 300 movies, this time with the second one entitled 300: Rise of an Empire, music composed by Junkie XL.

This soundtrack has been one of the most influential on my writing of late, and in addition to inspiring the battle scenes in Warriors of Epona (Eagles and Dragons Book III), and scenes in Isle of the Blessed, it was also a huge inspiration for me when writing the climactic scene for Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics. The track ‘History of the Greeks’ gives me chills every time. Every track has something to offer here, so you won’t want to miss this one. Here is a sample of several tracks from the album.

(Amazon and iTunes)

One movie that I don’t think got the recognition it deserved is Dracula Untold, and the music for this is no different. Ramin Djawadi, most famous for his soundtracks for the Game of Thrones series, created a fantastic soundtrack for Dracula with glorious highs and lows. One of my favourite tracks on this one is ‘Mirena’. If you like Dracula films with history thrown in, you have to check this out.

(Amazon and iTunes)

Those of you who have known me for a while will know that I’m a big fan of all things Arthurian. When I first saw the BBC series Merlin, I was a bit sceptical at first, but after a few episodes, I was hooked. The series is dramatic, funny, tragic and uplifting and the music and themes created by Rob Lane and Rohan Stevenson are no different. As Isle of the Blessed takes place in Britannia, the music fits nicely with the mystery of the setting. The track ‘Gwen and Arthur’ is a particularly moving one.

(Amazon and iTunes)

Speaking of Ramin Djawadi, it was inevitable that at least one of the Game of Thrones soundtracks should be on my playlist. Actually, the music for both season one and two are on the list. I’m not a super fan of the television series, though I do enjoy it. I am, however, a super fan of the music. The vast array of themes for different characters and settings, countries and more that Ramin Djawadi has created is truly mind-blowing. There’s something for everyone and every situation in the music for Game of Thrones. I am hard-pressed to pick just one track but I have to say that I am post partial to the ‘Winterfell’ theme.

(Amazon and iTunes)

One movie that got absolutely panned at the cinema was Immortals, the movie about Theseus. Now, I have to admit that I actually like this movie quite a bit. Granted, it’s more of a big-time fantasy movie that a serious take on mythology, but that’s ok. These tales are meant to be reinvented. That’s why they’ve lasted so long! Trevor Morris is a composer whose work I’ve enjoyed for a few years and his soundtrack to Immortals is one of my favourites. It just transports me to another time and place and makes me feel like the gods are standing right there with me. The track ‘Do Not Forsake Mankind’ is the track to listen to on this, though they are all pretty fantastic.

(Amazon and iTunes)

Composer Joseph LoDuca is no stranger to television soundtracks, having written the music for the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess shows back in the nineties. He’s been a favourite in our family as my own mother, a former opera singer, performed on the Xena Season Four soundtrack. Joseph LoDuca’s music is fantastically exotic, quirky and emotional. More recently, he composed the music for the television series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand.

Spartacus was a fantastic and gritty series and LoDuca’s music fit the bill perfectly. You really do feel like you are in ancient Rome, on the sands of the amphitheatre, or in the characters’ private dwellings. Check out the soundtrack for the first season, in particular for me, the track ‘No Life Without You’.

(Amazon and iTunes)

A more recent history-themed show is Vikings. This epic series has found quite a bit of success, and the atmosphere that the film makers have created is only enhanced by the music of Trevor Morris. I’ve only delved into the first season’s soundtrack for this series, but it is a wonderfully sprawling and mysterious soundscape. There are so many tracks to choose from, but at the moment, one of my favourites is ‘Ragnar Takes the Throne’.

(Amazon and iTunes)

One of my more recent soundtrack acquisitions is from the Arthurian-themed movie Tristan and Isolde. This is quite simply, a beautiful tragic tale that does this story of doomed-love utmost justice. Composer Anne Dudley has such a knack for inserting gut-wrenching feeling into the most intimate, quiet scenes. This soundtrack has been a big inspiration for Isle of the Blessed. You need to listen to this one right now. I’m especially enjoying the track ‘None Can Die’.

(Amazon – but not available on iTunes)

And finally…

I would be utterly remiss without mentioning the soundtrack that has been with me almost from the beginning of the Eagles and Dragons series – Gladiator.

This is the soundtrack that brought the names of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (of Dead Can Dance fame) to the fore, and for good reason. Whenever I write about the grandeur of the Roman Empire, the frontiers of Numidia or Africa Proconsularis, or even Severus’ war in Caledonia, the music from Gladiator is churning in my brain.

I know this movie well, having watched it so many times, so it is strange to me that the images from the film do not intrude on my own conjurings. Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s music has succeeded even in transcending director Ridley Scott’s vision and Russell Crowe’s outstanding performance.

I suspect that this soundtrack will be with me for many more books. All the tracks are good, but if you want to hear one of the more haunting ones, listen to ‘The Wheat’.

(Amazon and iTunes)

Music, when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory.― Percy Bysshe Shelley

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek at the creative process and the wonderful music that is accompanying me on this very personal journey writing Isle of the Blessed.

Like the music, there are highs and lows, moments of inspiration, and times of despair, and that’s the beauty of the creative process, that we get to feel the full range of human emotion. With hope, I can impart the full measure of that to all of you, just as these wonderful composers have done for me.

Thank you for reading.

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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The Nine Muses – Creativity and the Higher Realm

apollo-and-the-muses

And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the goddesses said to me – the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis: “Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things.”

So said the ready-voiced daughters of great Zeus, and they plucked and gave me a rod, a shoot of sturdy laurel, a marvellous thing, and breathed into me a divine voice to celebrate things that shall be and things there were aforetime; and they bade me sing of the race of the blessed gods that are eternally, but ever to sing of themselves both first and last.

(Hesiod, Theogeny)

Hesiod

Hesiod

Sometime between the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. the poet Hesiod created his Theogeny, a work outlining the birth and genealogy of the Gods.

At the beginning of this epic poem, Hesiod talks about how, as a shepherd, he was caring for his flock on the slopes of Mt. Helicon, in the region of Boeotia. While there, Hesiod says that the Muses came to him and inspired him to create the Theogeny, a work that to this day provides the basis for ancient Greek religion.

Hesiod, before that, had not discovered his artistic self. He was a shepherd, the son of a farmer.

And yet, while on the slopes of this sacred mountain, the goddesses, the Muses, came to him and inspired him to bring forth his great work.

Mt. Helicon - 1829

Mt. Helicon – 1829

Hesiod does not say he invented the contents of his work, or that he gathered existing tales from all over the Hellenic world.

The Gods gave him that song to sing. They inspired it in him, and he heard them.

We may scoff at this sort of thing today, our modern, media-driven minds too dense and distracted to hear anything beyond the ping of a mobile, but in the ancient world, and later ages of faith, the greatest artists and creators were those that paid attention to divine inspiration.

In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, creativity and artistic endeavour were the realm of the Nine Muses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, or ‘Memory’.

Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy. He saw the cities of many people and he learnt their ways. He suffered great anguish on the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home. But he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own transgression that brought them to their doom, for in their folly they devoured the oxen of Hyperion the Sun-god and he saw to it that they would never return. Tell us this story, goddess daughter of Zeus, beginning at whatever point you will.

(Homer, The Odyssey)

Greece 2006 076

There is a wonderful book that every creative person should read and re-read. It’s called The War of Art, by historical fiction author, Steven Pressfield. The book is about doing the things that you love and were meant to do without giving in to any excuses, or ‘Resistance’, as Pressfield calls the artist’s enemy.

Whenever I read The War of Art, Pressfield reminds me of something that I forget from time to time.

Creativity should never be taken for granted.

If you feel that there is something creative you want to do, or be, it is your sacred duty to do or become that. When you feel those urges, you have to fight ‘Resistance’ and rationalization with all of your might so that you can bring those things you were meant to create to fruition.

Those urges are the Muses speaking to you, telling you it’s time. If you ignore them, it’s to the detriment of your own soul.

Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitable and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.

This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight.

(Steven Pressfield, The War of Art)

Homer and his Guide - William Adolphe Bouguereau 1874

Homer and his Guide – William Adolphe Bouguereau 1874

In ancient eyes, those who ignored the Gods didn’t do too well.

Hesiod and Homer knew that it was their duty to honour the Muses, they knew that they could not have created the works that they did without the goddesses’ help. Hubris was not a good thing in the ancient world.

But it was not just Hesiod and Homer who called on these goddesses for help. Throughout history, some of the greatest poets and other artists did so too.

Tell me, Muse, the causes of her anger. How did he [Aeneas] violate the will of the Queen of the Gods? What was his offence? Why did she drive a man famous for his piety to such endless hardship and such suffering? Can there be so much anger in the hearts of the heavenly gods?

(Virgil, The Aeneid)

Praxiteles' Hermes and Dionysos

Praxiteles’ Hermes and Dionysos

The artist who called on the Muses for aid and blessing was the one that was listening.

We know of writers and poets who have called on the Muses in their work because they have been written down, but I imagine that painters and sculptors would have done so too. What might Praxiteles have done before he broke the surface of a piece of marble? Or Michelangelo before he put his brush to the ceiling of the Cappella Sistina? What went through Mozart’s head before the first heavenly notes of his Clarinet Concerto in A major came to him? Just listen to it…

Before an ancient singer breathed those first notes, or before the lyre player plucked that first string at the Panathenaea or the Pythian Games, you can be sure that some inner prayer, conscious or unconscious, was sent up to their own Muse.

Apollo

Apollo

You can also be sure that for the artist whose heart was open to this, the Muses spoke back.

…and I alone was there, Preparing to sustain war, as well Of the long way as also of the pain, Which now unerring memory will tell. Oh Muses! O high Genius, now sustain! O Memory who wrote down what I did see, Here thy nobility will be made plain.

(Dante, Inferno)

But who were the Muses? Early traditions said there were three, but that eventually turned to nine, and that is the number that has been given for ages. Their leader was Apollo, the God of Art, Light and Prophecy, and in this particular capacity he was known as ‘Apollo Mousagetes’, or ‘Apollo Muse-leader’.

Each one of these goddesses was responsible for a particular art form, and so, individual artists may have called on certain Muses. The names of these goddesses and their assigned art are as follows:

Calliope - Epic Poetry

Calliope – Epic Poetry

Clio - History

Clio – History

Erato - Lyric Poetry

Erato – Lyric Poetry

Euterpe - Song and Elegaic Poetry

Euterpe – Song and Elegaic Poetry

Melpomene – Tragedy

Melpomene – Tragedy

Polyhymnia – Hymns

Polyhymnia – Hymns

Terpsichore – Dance

Terpsichore – Dance

Thalia – Comedy

Thalia – Comedy

Urania – Astronomy

Urania – Astronomy

I will begin with the Muses and Apollo and Zeus. For it is through the Muses and Apollo that there are singers upon the earth and players upon the lyre; but kings are from Zeus. Happy is he whom the Muses love: sweet flows speech from his lips. Hail, children of Zeus! Give honour to my song! And now I will remember you and another song also.

(Homeric Hymn to the Muses and Apollo)

Some of the arts assigned to the Muses might not seem like ‘art’ to us today – I’m thinking of Astronomy and History in particular. However, to the ancients, this made perfect sense. Astronomy involved philosophy and the understanding of the Heavens; it required great imagination and thought.

Mnemosyne by Gabriel Dante Rosetti

Mnemosyne by Gabriel Dante Rosetti

And History? Well, to me that is ‘Mnemosyne’. History is the record of human achievement in all areas, including art. History, poetry, and storytelling go arm in arm.

It must have been a humbling experience for ancient artists to know that the Muses were looking over their shoulders as they carried out the work they were inspired to do.

It must also have been a wonder-full experience to feel that, to know that you were not alone.

My hope is that we have not totally lost this today – artists, writers, athletes, inventors, creators of all kinds will find themselves in what we call ‘The Zone’. Many will thank ‘God’ for their successes, they will be exhilarated after a good session.

Sun

As a writer, I know that when I sit down and have a fantastic writing time, even after the worst of days, there must be something more at work. I feel like I’ve had help that day. I feel like I have done justice to the art that I love, and for that, I am grateful.

If you are a creator of something, anything, it behoves you to acknowledge the help that you have had, especially if that help is Heaven-sent.

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

(William Shakespeare, Henry V)

Thank you for reading.

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Facing Fear with the 300 Spartans

Hear your fate, O dwellers in Sparta of the wide spaces;

Either your famed, great town must be sacked by Perseus’ sons,

Or, if that be not, the whole land of Lacedaemon

Shall mourn the death of a king of the house of Heracles,

For not the strength of lions or of bulls shall hold him,

Strength against strength; for he has the power of Zeus,

And will not be checked till one of these two he has consumed.

The Pass at Thermopylae

The Pass at Thermopylae

Thus spake the the Oracle at Delphi, long ago, as recorded by Herodotus, the ‘father of history’, in Book 7 of The Histories. This was the prophecy that was given prior to the Greek stand at Thermopylae in which 300 Spartans and 700 men of Thespiae made one of the most heroic stands in the history of the world. Roughly one thousand Greek hoplites defended the pass known as the ‘hot gates’ (photo above) for three days against an army of about 1 million under Xerxes of Persia. This is a deed of heroism by which all others have been measured in western history ever since, and it echoes across the ages, unspoilt, radiant, despite politics and the greed of much lesser men.

Why is it that this single event in western history is revisited again and again? What do we get out of it today when our lives are so very different from those of 480 B.C.? There are probably several answers to that question, but for myself, it’s summed up in one word: Inspiration.

I know, “there he goes again, on about inspiration. Totally corny.”

Not to me. Inspiration, whether conscious or unconscious, is highly individualistic. I’ve stood on the battlefield of Thermopylae, and though there is a motorway running through it, and the sea has silted up for kilometers, the place casts a spell. It’s not the impressive modern monument to Leonidas of Sparta and his men that I find moving, but rather the little hillock on the other side of the road where the Spartans made their last stand, where they died for what they believed in, for their way of life.

Temple of Apollo at Delphi, home of the Oracle

Temple of Apollo at Delphi, home of the Oracle

It’s difficult for the modern mind to grasp this concept, no doubt, and out of misunderstanding, or perhaps fear, many might dismiss this as something that happened long ago. These men and their king volunteered for death, and they shall never be forgotten. They lived strongly, true to themselves. They’ve been celebrated through history to the modern age. Artists, filmmakers and yes, writers, have paid their tributes.

I remember seeing a picture of American troops in Afghanistan, sitting in the sand reading copies of Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (sadly, I couldn’t find the picture again to share with you). I think of what reading that book must have done for their morale; I can only guess, but I suspect that it inspired in them something of a will to fight on and face their fears. This is completely separate from the politics around our sad and current state of war and the reasons for it. There are few Leonidas’ in history.

I know I’ve written about this before, but Thermopylae has come to mind again as I’m reading a wonderful book by historian Michael Scott, entitled From Democrats to Kings: The Brutal Dawn of a New World from the Downfall of Athens to the Rise of Alexander the Great.

Scott’s book brings the world of ancient Greece after the Peloponnesian War into stark contrast with those days of honour and glory during the Persian invasion of Greece. It never ceases to blow my mind that a society (or polis, people, cultural group etc.) can achieve such magnificent glories, pleasing to the gods themselves, and then proceed with ease to piss it all away.

The make matters worse, Athens, Sparta, and Thebes each in their own turn, for years after, went to the Persians, cap in hand, to ask for aid in fighting their fellow Greeks! If there were any veterans of the Persian wars left, they must have been shaking their aging heads in shame at what was happening around them.

Maybe that is another reason the battle of Thermopylae is still celebrated. Not only was it a strategic and symbolic victory, it was also a selfless act. It was simple, and it was true. Leonidas ignored the politics that threatened to hold him back, and marched to certain death.

The Spartans at Thermopylae - Illustration by the great, Peter Connolly

The Spartans at Thermopylae – Illustration by the great, Peter Connolly

Many will say that this simply doesn’t apply to them, for they’re not soldiers fighting in a war on some foreign field. True, granted, though for many today, that is a reality. However, some past events, deeds, transcend all else, including war, and are applicable everywhere. We all face our own struggles day to day, and must meet whatever it is we must meet on our own, on our personal battlefields.

For a youth, that battle might be the fear of exams or being bullied in school. For an adult, it could be facing that daily commute to go to a job that is anything but inspiring. It might be not having a job at all, or failing to achieve one’s dreams or goals. A new mother may fear yet another day inside with the same routine, over, and over and over again. A family too may be dealing with the looming spectre of an allergy or something worse. However small and insignificant these things may seem, they are our own battles, fears, and it’s crucial that we fight on daily.

No doubt that Leonidas and his men each wrestled with some measure of fear, perhaps of loss, of not being remembered, of failing their way of life. But they overcame their fears, and though they died, they raised the bar of human achievement to heights we can only now dream of, but for which we should never cease to aim. And now, they grace our canvases, our screens, and our pages.

In closing, let the words etched upon the memorial stone at Thermopylae echo in our minds…

Memorial inscription on the hill where the Spartans made their last stand

Memorial inscription on the hill where the Spartans made their last stand

Ω ΞΕΙΝ ΑΓΓΕΛΛΕΙΝ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΟΙΣ ΟΤΙ ΤΗΔΕ ΚΕΙΜΕΘΑ ΤΟΙΣ ΚΕΙΝΩΝ ΡΗΜΑΣΙ ΠΕΙΘΟΜΕΝΟΙ


‘GO TELL THE SPARTANS PASSERBY,
THAT HERE OBEDIENT TO THEIR LAWS WE LIE’

Inspiring!

Thank you for reading.

 

 

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