The publication date for our Hey! Young Writer Amazon Kindle Magazine is quickly approaching! The Zine will be available to purchase on August 16th. To get everyone excited, we’ve asked our contributors to share a song that conveys the mood of their piece. Their responses are as moving, thoughtful, and diverse as the magazine itself:
Darby Brown – “Rivers and Roads” by The Head and the Heart
Piece title: “I Wish That My Friends Were Not Scattered Across The World”
My poem is about that feeling of being so far from all of the people that you love, and the song really captures this. I love this line in particular:
“A year from now, we’ll all be gone, all our friends will move away.
And they’re going to better places.
But our friends will be gone away.”
Alyssa Tepfenhart – “Dream” by Priscilla Anh
Piece title: “So She Could Find Herself”
“I was a little girl alone in my little world
Who dreamed of a little home for me
I played pretend between the trees
And fed my house guests bark and leaves
And laughed in my pretty bed of green”
Vanessa Perez – “Heavy in Your Arms” by Florence and the Machine
Piece title: “The Body is a Blade”
I find a lot of inspiration in Florence Welch. She has incredibly imaginative lyrics!
“I was a heavy heart to carry
My beloved was weighed down
My arms around his neck
My fingers laced a crown”
Kailani – “Meant to Live” by Switchfoot
Piece title: “Past Tense”
“We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside”
Alexandra Rexford – “They Don’t Want What We Want (And They Don’t Care)” by Asking Alexandria
Piece title: “The Ghosts of Victor Stonehill and Tavon Jackson”
My writing playlist, which is named “Characters” is specifically for my novel series that I’m working on. I listen to it as I drive because each song is selected for one of my characters and something that they are going through. It helps me think about the plot, the emotions I want them to experience, or even events that they are put through. I think a good example of this is the song “They Don’t Want What We Want (And They Don’t Care)” by Asking Alexandria. How it describes the overwhelming feelings of panic is exactly what I wanted my protagonist to be experiencing!
Gillian Corsiatto – “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven
Piece title: “A Leak in the Sink”
“A Leak in the Sink” is about a woman named Ramona. This sounds very much like the soundtrack that she would be playing on loop in her apartment, where the story takes place.
Danielle Koziol – “My Immortal” by Evanescence
Piece title: “An Undying Affliction”
“You used to captivate me by your resonating light
Now, I’m bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me”
Maggie Handron – “My Tears Ricochet” by Taylor Swift
Piece title: “In Mourning”
A specific line that inspired me in the song is “‘cause when I’d fight you used to tell me I was brave,” because it let me imagine some sort of sibling bond that was broken because of outside forces, which is the basis for my story.
Deborah Rose – “the end.” by November Ultra
Piece title: “A Thought That Tastes Like Rich Tea Biscuits”
“Where should I go?
‘Cause I’ve been everywhere
But I belong nowhere
But in your arms”
Hannah Zwemer – “Pinch Me” by The Barenaked Ladies
Piece Title: “Can I…?”
It’s a song about the trials and tribulations and low points in life where there are often more questions than answers: “when you’re trying to figure out what all this is for…”
Susanna Semerdzhyan – “The Voice Within” by Christina Aguilera
Piece title: “Amota”
“When there’s no one else, look inside yourself
Like your oldest friend, just trust the voice within
Then you’ll find the strength that will guide your way
If you will learn to begin to trust the voice within”
Elizabeth Day – “Mr. Perfectly Fine” by Taylor Swift
Piece title: “Blond”
This song is all I thought about when I learned of the events that inspired this poem. It didn’t seem fair that my high school love got to marry the woman of his dreams while I was still bringing him up in therapy sessions half a decade later.
Featured image by AlphaColor.
