Cultural Exchange: The Music That Soundtracked My Forthcoming Novel

& Meeting Elif Shafak

Jun 21, 2024

*Komposition 8* by Wassily Kandinsky (1923)

“People with synesthesia might smell something when they hear a sound, or see a shape when they eat a certain food. Kandinsky literally saw colors when he heard music, and heard music when he painted.”

- Renée B. Miller on how music can inspire art in her essay Wassily Kandinsky's Symphony of Colors

Cultural Exchange is a feature that aims to connect with The Ampersand community through art. In each edition, I’ll share a piece of culture I adore. It could be a song, album or playlist, a film, TV comedy, drama or stage play. It might be a novel, a poem, a singular piece of visual art or even an entire exhibition. Whatever I choose, I would love for you to share something YOU love in the comments – a slice of culture you think The Ampersand community should definitely check out. Think of it as an ever growing list of recommendations. You may even see some of your suggestions pop up in future editions (with credit to you for your excellent taste, of course!)

A shorter post today as I’m knee-deep in line edits for my soon to be announced debut novel. I can’t tell you much about it as it’s currently embargoed but what I can say is that it’s speculative fiction and it’ll be available later this year. In the meantime, I thought I’d share the music that soundtracked the drafting and re-drafting process.

Whenever I embark on a new creative project, I always create a playlist to go with it. This is usually made up of tracks that inspired the writing and songs that capture its essence or relate to the themes explored.

The soundtrack for this novel is no different.

The story features a dual timeline - half of it set roughly now and the other set several decades away. So, there’s some darker, electronic music that paints a picture of a foreboding future as well as some dreamier beats that I hope capture the more positive aspects of where we might be in thirty or forty years time. There’s a love triangle that involves a lot of yearning and heartbreak - you’ll hear that in the tracks by Clayhill, Moses Sumney, Bjork and Dels - and there’s a huge amount of social commentary woven in - as captured in some of the more political tracks.

I hope it gives you a feel for the novel and that the music of these wonderful artists inspires something in you too.

This week, in The Ampersand’s community chat, I asked members what helps them shift a creative block. Found Notes writer Jamal Robinson mentioned listening to music and I don’t doubt this is a method so many of you use. I’d love to hear about your favourite music to write to in the comments.

Leave a comment

Earlier this afternoon, I attended my second

Locked In

session on Zoom and, in the breakout room towards the end, one of the writers (who writes regularly on Substack) admitted they were unsure if they could actually call themselves a writer.

First of all, let me say that the person who said this is absolutely a writer. But their worry about calling themselves that is not an uncommon affliction. I’ve heard so many brilliant writers say this over the years. I used to say it myself, even after I started making a living out of writing.

The conversation made me think of this quote from

Elif Shafak

“We are storytellers. We are lovers of literature.

We do not need labels or boxes. We are writers and that is all there is to it.”

It’s pulled from this magnificent essay she wrote for her Substack Unmapped Storylands.

Unmapped Storylands with Elif Shafak

Amateur Writers vs Professional Authors

It was many years ago. I was in my mid-twenties. I had just completed my third novel—The Gaze. By now I had fully and painfully understood one fundamental truth about writing fiction—that it never ever gets easier. My first two novels, written in Turkish, had caused some sle…

a year ago · 1473 likes · 166 comments · Elif Shafak

I adore this publication and, back in April, I also read one of Elif’s wonderful novels, the beautifully heartbreaking 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. And then, just a few days after I’d devoured the last few pages, I saw Elif across a crowded room at a literary event my publisher had invited me to.

It was the shortlist announcement for The Women’s Prize for Fiction and I was there with my book agent, Ben. Despite having worked in the film and TV industry for many years (and in music before that), I actually felt a little starstruck. This was far too big a coincidence. I’d read her latest Substack post only that morning. Her novel still held my bookmark between its pages.

When I eventually managed to say hello (after a lot of encouragement from Ben), it was brief but lovely encounter. I told her a bit about my novel and how much I’d loved hers but, mostly, we talked about Substack and what a kind and welcoming platform it is. I left the conversation feeling inspired and, after almost a year lurking in the shadows reading other writer’s newsletters, I finally decided to launch a Substack of my own.

Thank you for reading it.

With love,

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