Creating a Character in 5 Songs

Pinterest is bad for me, I'm convinced. I've never had so many writing prompts in my life and I don't have time to do them all even though I really really want to.

So I'm making do and combining some similar ones into a prompt of my own. And then executing that prompt in public. Well, online. On my blog. Where I can backspace.

But close enough. XD

(In all honesty Pinterest has actually been great. I haven't had such a creative high in a long time and it's fantastic. The only issue is that it will be distracting when I'm done brainstorming and am ready to actually sit down and write. But that's what sprinting is for. XD)

So! Here we go.

The Prompt

Ever heard of creating a character from music? The only thing I'd heard of was creating a playlist for your character once you already have an idea for them in your head. But Pinterest has introduced me to the very fun-sounding-but-possibly-not-productive idea of taking five songs and using them to build a character. I've taken a few of the different lists I have saved and combined them, so I will be using this list to create today's character:

Musical Character Design

(1) Put your playlist on shuffle

(2) The first song is your character's theme

(3) The second song is their backstory

(4) The third song is what they're like around others

(5) The fourth song is what they're like when alone

(6) The fifth song is their name meaning

That's all there is to it. Five songs, five things about your character that should help to build them.

Now all we have to do is test it. XD

1. The Playlist

I have a gabgillion playlists. Like seriously, a lot. My biggest has almost 500 songs, my smallest has 1. (In my defense, I'm still building that one. It's a charrie playlist and those take a lot of time, ok? XD) So I decided to go with the playlist of my current top 100 songs. They switch a lot, but it's a good start. XD

2. His theme

Alright, so the first song that came on is one of my current favorite favorites: The Silence of God by Andrew Peterson. The bittersweet longing in here is just... *chef's kiss* How this fits in with a theme song is up in the air... hmm... *listens longer*

First, I think this song makes it clear that this is a male character. That definitely helps stuff. I would say what his theme is centers around the age-old question of, "Why does bad stuff happen to us if God is all-powerful and loves everyone?" He finds the answer through the soul-searching he does when God seems to be silent. And, ultimately, he finds that God's silence doesn't mean He's gone, and that he can trust Him even when "the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God". Maybe said charrie wrestles with jealousy over others' happiness too.

Okaaay I like where this is going...

3. His backstory

God Only Knows by For KING & COUNTRY and Echosmith, the Timbaland remix.

We're giving this character trauma, guys. So much trauma. I'm thinking a divorced parental situation, suicidal or already-committed-suicide older sibling, friend betrayals/fake friendships, all that jazz. He's lonely, broken-hearted, and has lost trust in everyone ever thinking he's loveable the way he is. So he puts on a mask. And this is when he finds God. Which is how we got to a Christian struggling with God's silence.

4. How he acts around others

Slow Down by Julianne Post (friend of mine, by the way. She rocks XD)

He says a lot of stuff he shouldn't. XD He's impatient and impulsive, but persistent. Others may find him abrasive and sour. He sees social stuff as a ladder to climb, nothing more. And while some people find him abrasive, a good many are drawn to that same bold, blunt side that turns others away. He's an open book about some things, but others (like the thematic question he's wrestling with) he keeps to himself. Other people have to tell him to slow down a fair amount.

5. How he/she acts when alone

I cheated and skipped the song that came up for this one. XD It was Scarborough Fair by Celtic Woman, which... just didn't work. Like at all. XD

Not Goodbye by Colton Dixon. This one is a liiiitle difficult with this prompt, but it's better than Scarborough Fair by a long shot. XP

Okaaay what have we got here... *listens* Pain. Ooh, pain from his older sibling dying and parents getting divorced, things that have still to heal. I don't think he's bitter, just... sad. Still hurting over everything, and the fact that he sees other Christians supposedly living the life while he's going through all of this without God's comforting presence to help. So when he's alone, he's quiet. Sad. Maybe on the verge of depression, which is why he throws himself into his activities so much. He spends a lot of time soul-searching, wondering how to fix this, and if he'll ever see healing.

I'm not sure how much that had to do with the song, but it works out in the end. XD

6. His Name Meaning

*blinks* Uh... you guys... 🤣🤣🤣 The song is International Harvester by Craig Morgan, a song I find to be purely amusing about a farmer driving a tractor in annoying traffic.

There goes all my moody, deep, abstract name ideas. *goes to find names that somehow fit this song*

(P.S. Please be nice to people on tractors driving down the road. They can't go faster and they might be growing your food. So just be patient, slow down, and be polite. Thank you. XD)

Possible names:

• George (literally means "farmer". There are a lot of different variants out there too to pick from.)

• Riku (Japanese; meaning "generation of the land", which is rather fitting meaning-wise but doesn't really have the contemporary fiction vibe I was going for.)

• Tractor (apparently that's an actual name... I feel bad for those kids. XD)

• Amos (it means "carried by God", which fits the theme though not really the song that was supposed to pick his name. But, Amos in the Bible was originally a farmer, so I'm rolling with it. XD)

• Byron (English; "barn for cows".)

• Omer (Hebrew; "sheaf of corn".)

As Smaug would say, "Lovey titles." XP

The Final Product

As amusing as it would be to name this guy Byron Tractor Omer, I'm going with Amos George Riku. XD He's of Asian descent, had a very rough life, and is currently questioning why God would be silent when he's begging for Him to be there, to comfort him, to guide him through all this mess. When he's alone, he's quiet and sad, spending most of his time trying to figure out where God is and why He's "left". When he's with others, he throws himself into whatever is going on in the hopes of forgetting the aching hole inside left by the silence of God he's experiencing. If Amos had a novel, I would say my opening scene - or very near my opening scene - would be him returning home from wherever it was that he became a Christian only to find out that his older sibling committed suicide.

Man, this would be a hard book - to write and to read. But I think it would turn out alright in the end.

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All things considered, I'd say Amos turned out alright. What do you think? Would Amos work as a character? What songs did you recognize? Which ones did you not? Were there any that surprised you? XD Go ahead and do this challenge and let me know what kind of smorgasbord character you end up with!

Until next time,

Take courage, pursue God, and smile while you still have teeth!! ^_^

-Joelle