How to Create a Novel Soundtrack for your Book (A Guest Post By Rachel Meyer)

7 min readDec 26, 2018

Hey homies! What if you could create the perfect playlist for your story? A sort of soundtrack that perfectly represents your unique novel?

Well, this week, I’m introducing a great writer and friend of mine, Rachel Meyer who’s eager to help you craft a novel soundtrack so fire, your book’s gonna get third-degree burns. So ready your Spotify lists and plug into your novel, because it’s time to create a soundtrack for your story!

You know how a soundtrack ties together the whole movie, bringing scenes to life and making everything more exciting? Did you know that you can do the same thing for your novel? It’s called a novel soundtrack. It’s a playlist you create full of songs inspired by your novel, fully customizable however you want.

Doesn’t that sound awesome? Would you like to try your hand at making one? You’re in luck, because today I’m going to help you create one of your very own. It requires very little skill, only a few digital tools. There are a few different methods you can use (as we’ll discuss at the end), but they all have some basic elements. All you need is a music platform and possibly a word document to write everything down.

Character Songs

The first thing you’ll need for your soundtrack are character songs. As the name implies, these are songs that encompass the essence of your characters. You should have one or more for your main character and your villain. Other options to include are your sidekick/best friend, love interest, and mentor.

Character songs normally have lyrics, something that makes you say, “yes, that’s (insert character name here)”. It may describe their personality, their journey through the novel, or simply remind you of them. For example, on my latest novel soundtrack, I had two songs for my protagonist- “Warrior” by Imagine Dragons for her attitude in the novel, and “Invincible” by Kelly Clarkson for her character arc over the series.

One of the best ways to find character songs is to figure out what you’re looking for, then search “songs about _”. You could search for songs about being brave, working together, love songs; whatever you need. Don’t forget to write down each song and who it’s for so you don’t forget later.

A final song you may want is a novel theme song, a song that — you guessed it — makes you think of the overall feel or theme of your novel. I’ve found this can be the hardest song to find for your whole playlist, but once you do find it, it’s worth it. Like with characters, a Google search does wonders at helping you find just the right piece of music.

We’ll all have our own go-to artists, but here are a few of my favorites, in case you need ideas. I always keep a list of songs that I find that sound inspirational for creating soundtracks.

Taylor Swift
Imagine Dragons
Lindsey Stirling
Musicals (Broadway and Disney mostly)
Disney Channel movies

Plot Songs

The other major part needed for a novel is plot songs. These songs will make up the majority of your playlist. What songs you chose will vary depending on your method, but the basics are the same. You’re looking for music that will fit the sections of your plot, whether that’s the climax or the moment the protagonist steps into a new world.

Most of the time, I find that instrumental music, film and TV scores especially, works best for plot songs. It’s less distracting to listen to, plus they capture the feel of what’s going on better. If I use a lyrical song in the plot part of my soundtrack, it’s normally for an important moment or the end.

When looking for a plot song, the best way to find it is to think of a part in a movie or show where it has a similar feel to the song you’re looking for. Find that part of the soundtrack and listen to it. It may take a few different scores to find what you’re looking for, but you’ll know the right piece when you hear it.

You don’t only have to go with scores, either. You could try musicians like The Piano Guys or Two Cellos, or other music creators, like Two Steps from Hell. There’s a multitude of options out there, so hunt around. A smaller artist doesn’t make for less powerful music.

If you need some ideas for soundtracks for inspiration (or just listening to, they’re all awesome writing music), here are a few of my favorites.

Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit
How to Train Your Dragon
Sherlock
Marvel movies
Wonder Woman
Anything John Williams

Finishing Touches

Now it’s time to put the whole thing together. There are two major methods, although you can randomly pick songs that you like or do a combination of both. All options are perfectly fine. The soundtrack is supposed to help you, so do it your way.

Plot/Major Points- This is the method I use most frequently. You select songs based the plot points and/or major points in your novel. One song for the midpoint, another for the dark night of the soul, and so on. You can find a plot points outline online and use that.

Chapter by Chapter- As you might guess, this method works great if you’re a heavy planner and already have your novel divided up. Then you simply pick a song that captures the mood of each chapter. It can be tricky and time consuming if you have a lot of chapters.

Once you’ve decided how to put together your soundtrack, you get to do the fun part of actually creating it. It’ll probably take you a few days and you can keep adding to it as you find new songs that inspire you. You can use any music platform that lets you make a playlist to do this. I personally use YouTube, but I know lots of people prefer Spotify.

Don’t forget to write down all the songs you used and why you added them. This will help you remember later on. As a bonus, your novel playlist can be a great thing to giveaway when promoting your novel or as a treat for subscribers. People love getting a look at the creative process.

All that’s left to do now is to put in your headphones, turn on your playlist, and write away. Hopefully, you now have an inspirational playlist that makes you itch to write every scene in your book. I’ve even been known to put a song on loop while writing a certain part because it works so well.

While creating a novel soundtrack can be hard and take some time, it’s worth it in the end. It’s something you can always turn to to put you in the mood to write and keep your inspiration flowing. May the words never stop flowing from your fingers, my friend.

Rachel Meyer

Rachel Meyer is a blogger, future author, and voracious reader. When she’s not writing or reading, you can probably find her hiding from her TBR by watching movies or doing something creative. You can find her on her blog or Instagram

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