Character Playlists

New journal, woot!

Recently, I’ve been working hard on adapting the venerable Marcus Bloodaxe for use in .  Part of that process is broadening the character a bit, especially trying to get him to fit into the modern world, but without losing his personality or character design.  So lately, I’ve given thought to music as characterization.

As a general rule, when you’re designing major characters, you should know a great deal more about him or her than what is needed to move along the plot of your story.  Those seemingly needless details reveal a great deal about the character’s personality and can (and should) be revealed just a little at a time.  Music makes a fantastic example of a few small details that can reveal a lot about a character.  A rare few may absolutely abhor music of any type, but most will have favorite songs and a favorite genre.  Some many have entire libraries of music they enjoy or be playing it themselves.

In general, music choices allow us to infer a lot about character.  Since most people embrace culture during their teenage years and early twenties, it allows us to guess their age (this is especially true for long-lived or immortal characters where it may not be clear) and the time period they’ve lived through.  Music tends to reflect culture – you probably won’t find a kid from New York City listening to country – and sets characters apart when their tastes are unusual.  Temperament may be revealed by music choices, with more laid back characters unlike to enjoy darker, heavier music.  All in all, it can really tell us a lot about characters and overall, makes them feel more like fully developed people rather than just figments of our imagination.  To give an example, you can probably guess who put this playlist together…

-“Gimme Three Steps” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
-“Ramblin' Man” – Allman Brothers
-“Tall, Tall Trees” – Alan Jackson
-“Convoy” – C.W. McCall
-“Ain’t Living Long Like This” – Waylon Jennings
-“Sweet Home Alabama” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
-“Big Iron” – Marty Robins
-“Free Bird” - Lynyrd Skynyrd

But enough about me – this journal is to open the floor for you.  And therefore, I ask you one question:

What would your characters put on their playlist?