I spent a lot of time listening to different artists and songs while I wrote The Eos Key. I like to think that I was inspired to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) when I heard one song in particular. In movies, music is used to convey emotion, to transition between scenes, and helps to provide a deeper emotional connection to the scene being portrayed.
For a long time now, I have used music as inspiration for characters, settings, and plot points. I would hear a song, or even simply read the lyrics of a song, and an idea for a character or plot point would come to me. I would dissect the song and break it down into parts, using the verses and chorus as part of the story line or dialogue.
I thought I would share with you that process and some of the artists and songs that inspired Eric and Alia’s story in The Eos Key. I will be doing a series of blog posts that will shed some light on my musical musings and how these artists and songs helped me to write The Eos Key: A Wynter Blood Novel.
What better way to start then at the beginning. I think I have to thank Billie Eilish for inspiring me to write The Eos Key in the first place. I fell in love as soon as I heard her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and, as per Spotify, she has been the #1 artist I’ve listened to in 2020.
If you want listen to The Eos Key Spotify Playlist in its entirety, just click or scan the image below, or use the playlist link at the bottom of this post.
To listen to the songs below, simply click on the Spotify link or the song titles.
This was the song that inspired me to begin writing The Eos Key. I am a huge fan of Billie Eilish, and what she and her brother Finneas O’Connell have created over the years. Their soundscape and lyrics well deserve the 5 Grammys and 11 honours they won at the beginning of 2020. Every song on the the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a work of art. And to think, it was all created in the bedroom of their childhood home.
I believe the song Six Feet Under is about a relationship that took a turn for the worse and ended dramatically. It also about the possibility of said relationship “blooming” again after being watered and nurtured.
In the Eos Key Alia is just getting out of a toxic first relationship and we learn that Eric has been scarred by his own past lovers. Alia learns that what she thought she wanted, what she thought was good for her, was all a lie.
Already suffering with depression, she begins to doubt, and eventually lose any desire to be with anyone again. She wars with the idea that her boyfriend cheating on her could have been her fault and she wants to forget about that mistake all together.
When she meets Eric, she is very clear that she is not looking to be in a relationship because of how deeply her last one affected her. But, the more time she spends with the mysterious stranger, the more she opens herself up to the possibility of a new relationship.
This was the song that represented both Alia and Eric. Having both been survivors of a suicide attempt, they come from a past of deep suffering and loss. Separately the both believe that the world is not where they belong, and that the those around them wouldn’t miss them if they weren’t in it.
Though Eric and Alia both come from completely different backgrounds, they both have been well acquainted with losing the ones they love the most. Self doubt is something they are acutely connected with. They both agree that life is simply a series of heartbreaking events that made to eventually wear you down. Silently they both cry out for help in their own way, and yet feel as if no one is able to hear them.
When they find each other and begin to open up, they learn that they have more than they in common than they initially realized. They also learn that they are not alone in how they feel, and eventually find comfort in that fact.
Both Alia and Eric believe that love is not in their future. Love means risk, love means embracing the unknown. Love means trust, and respect and being open, and honest, and bearing your soul to the other person.
None of these things either of them want to do willingly anymore. I read that Billie Eilish wanted to convey the fact that love is one of the most terrifying things in the world, and I think that’s true. It can be all consuming, all encompassing, and, at the same time, it can be the best thing that ever happened to you. If you give it the chance to take shape and actualize.
When Eric and Alia come to the realization that love could be something they are open to once more, they realize that they are both terrified of the idea. They have been so hurt by their past relationships that they don’t see how love could ever be a good thing again.
And as much as they both try put it out of their minds, the idea of love takes root, and begins to sprout and blossom.
Watch out for Pt. 2 of my Inspirational Music blog posts where I will delve further into the relationship between Alia and Eric, and what drives them as individuals and as a couple.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE EOS KEY SPOTIFY PLAYLIST BELOW.
