Does love ever die?

To follow on from two recent posts, I thought I'd talk about new music that's helped me get a better handle on the tone and mood of my works-in-progress. 

I'm obsessed with musicals. I'm not kidding about this, some might argue it's a clinical, fundamental kind of obsession. My mother is hugely musical, and her love of musicals crept into the womb and into my childhood. While I can't sing a note, I'm more than happy to run through entire musicals anyway. My favourite is Jesus Christ Superstar, followed closely by Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera, both tied in second place. Wicked comes in at third, missing the cut to second place only because I like fewer actual songs. I think I know every word of Jesus Christ Superstar, and most from Les Mis and Phantom. I know I've certainly driven poor Steve mad because I've often started singing a musical from beginning to end, and refused to stop.

Which makes it rather astonishing that it was only about a week ago when, courtesy of my mother of course, I found out about Love Never Dies, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. I downloaded the album yesterday, started listening to it, and bam! Musical inspiration.

It was rather funny, actually. Because all those scenes that had been writing themselves in my head? Well, when I started listening to 'Beneath a Moonless Sky', I sort of jerked upright and thought but this is just what I was thinking about earlier, about [insert my main characters' names here].


Other recent musical inspiration: 'Another Heart Calls' by the All-American Rejects, 'All The Right Moves' by One Republic and the music from the Doctor Who episode 'End of Time' (the bit where the Master saves the Doctor. Sorry if I just spoiled that for you.)


Any suggestions? What do you listen to when you need inspiration?