“Music has that power to revive memories, sometimes so intensely, that they hurt.”  

—Haruki Murakami, Men Without Women

In honor of karaoke week, we thought it would be fitting to consider music in fiction—an often overlooked element that could be a creative and powerful tool in your next book. 

While music and books might at first seem to be two modes of expression that are too different to combine, there are ways to weave these art forms together in a way that will create a memorable impact on your reader. Like reading, music is very personal. Music evokes memories and affects us sentimentally, moving us to experience a wide range of emotions from heartbreak to joy to ennui. And in music, as much as in good writing, what is left unsaid is often as important as what is said—the reader fills in the rest with her own knowledge of life, love, and loss. Thus, writing music into your book could engage your readers in new ways, creating new avenues for meaning, relatability, and understanding. 

There are many ways to go about writing music into your book. Here are some helpful tips and examples for you to keep in mind! 

Ways to Write Music into Your Book

“I got up closer so I could hear what he was singing. He was singing that song, ‘If a body catch a body coming through the rye.’” 

—J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

When writing music into your book, the first place many authors want to start is by incorporating song lyrics and song titles into their work. 

  • Quoting song lyrics – The poetry and melody of song lyrics can be powerful and effective. If you want to quote specific song lyrics, it’s important to remember you’ll need to obtain permission to use the lyrics if the song isn’t under public domain. Author Colleen Hoover shared in an interview that she was deeply inspired by the Avett Brothers when writing her book Slammed and obtained permission to use their song lyrics throughout her book simply by reaching out to them. 
  • Writing your own song lyrics – Maybe a song has been passed down to a character from her grandmother and she hums it absentmindedly while she parks her car, while she waits at the dentist office, and in the bathroom stall at work when she thinks she’s alone. This can be a song you write that occurs repeatedly throughout the book. While there are many examples of authors incorporating their own lyrics into their book, one notable example you’ll likely remember is the song “If Only, If Only” that plays a significant part of the book Holes. This method allows you to benefit from the poetry and melody of song lyrics without having to worry about copyright. 

Describing Music in Creative Ways

“If there was music in this scene it would be a quick staccato music.” 

—Joyce Carol Oates, from Blonde.

While a reader probably won’t know what you mean by referring to Chopin’s “Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat major,” you can still effectively describe music in a scene by using some of the creative writing tips below. These techniques will allow you to take what’s important about the musical experience and apply it for the purposes of your work. 

  • Figurative Language – One way to describe music is by using figurative language that personifies elements of the song or compares it to another sound that your reader would be familiar with. The sound you describe will probably reflect the inner mood, thoughts, or emotions of a character. For example, the wailing cries of a violin when a character walks into her sister’s wedding might reflect her own anxiety that her sister is making a terrible mistake. Then, when the wedding march starts, the horns might strike her as being as cacophonous and unwelcome as the sound of 8 am traffic.
  • Describe how the music affects the character – Another effective way to describe music in your book is describing the way the music affects the characters in the scene rather than trying to describe the music itself. When done right, the reader will no doubt recognize and relate to the feelings that you describe in the character, and this can be a more effective way to convey those feelings than stating them explicitly. This strategy allows you to use music as a vehicle for characterization. One great example of characters reacting to music is from James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues”: 

“As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last.”

A character may also voice their reaction to a song in dialogue, revealing pertinent information about their character, such as in this example from Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood: 

“That song can make me so sad,” said Naoko. “I don’t know, I guess I imagine myself wandering into a deep wood. I’m all alone and it’s cold and dark, and nobody comes to save me.”

  • Describe music in terms of action/movement – Music may also be described in terms of the action involved in its production, either by describing the movement of the music itself or the movements of musicians or dancers. In this case, music can function in the scene as the main action, as an allegory, or as a metaphor. For example, in the final scene of a story, instead of describing the characters’ actions at a wedding ceremony, the author might instead describe the notes of the organ and the voices of the choir as they assemble together: At first nervously, and then confidently and unwaveringly, as if for the rest of time.

Other Ways Music Can be a Part of Your Book

“The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.” 

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

While the list of ways to incorporate music into your book is probably endless, we have added a few more of our favorite ways authors combine the literary and the musical. 

  • To create setting – Our world is filled with music, from when we turn on the TV to a snappy jingle to encounters with ABBA in our grocery store. Remembering to add musical details to scenes is a great way to make those scenes memorable and relatable, especially if you also have a chance to combine these details with some of our other tips above. 
  • As a catalyst for a flashback or action – A great example of music used as a catalyst is James Joyce’s short story “The Dead.” Perhaps a song reminds a character of her first love, causing either a flashback to some fateful event that the reader will then learn about or causing the character to do something rash in a moment of sentimentality.
  • Use music as inspiration for your character – Many authors have shared that they find it helpful to the writing process to create a playlist for their character or book. This allows them to get into the character’s headspace and further develop their character by exploring their relationship to music. 
  • Create a playlist for your book to share with your readers – Becoming more popular, many authors are beginning to create playlists on music streaming platforms that complement their book. Some have done this by including a playlist at the end of the book, or including a song with every chapter. This is a fun way to engage readers across multiple platforms, and there is also an argument to be made that storytelling is a versatile art that isn’t bound to one form of expression. Music and other forms of art can enhance storytelling and build new bonds of meaning and engagement between author and reader. For examples of books with playlists, see Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson, Turtles all the Way Down by John Green, and A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole.