Pub Club Authors Bring their Books to Life with Playlists
By Lauren Larking
It’s hot academia winter and both the music and publishing industry are ready.
Every semester, the Undergraduate Students for Publishing (Pub Club) organization publishes two manuscripts written by Emerson College students through Wilde Press, the club’s imprint. This semester’s authors, sophomore Madeline Monroe and junior Karina Jha, created playlists of songs they listened to while writing their books.
Always Winter by Madeline Monroe follows Maeve and Ethan and the rekindling of their relationship on a Spring Break trip in Cabo, Mexico after spending months apart. I asked her a few questions about her book and the curated playlist for it.
Can you tell me about the role music played in your writing process?
Music literally is the whole reason the story exists. Basically, when Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers came out I listened to it all the time. And ‘Moon Song’ was one of my favorite songs on it, especially because I’m such a music video in my head person. So particularly the beginning when she’s describing some couple with history walking home from a party and ending up in a pool, that really came to me and now it’s literally the first 10 pages of Always Winter– spoiler alert. The relationship she describes in that song, like the weird tension and history but the very obvious intense emotion and love that is still there really is what kickstarted Maeve and Ethan’s relationship entirely.
Can you tell me a little bit about how Waiting Room by Phoebe Bridgers comes into play?
There’s one scene in the middle that involves a character running through a hotel room and the particular ending is like the intense build-up part in the song where she keeps repeating ‘No it’s for the better.’ I really saw that playing as I envisioned her running through the hotel and up stairs and through the elevators. There’s a lot of doing this because it’s right, not necessarily because it’s what she wants.
On your playlist you have “Be My Mistake” by The 1975, who do you think makes the most mistakes in your book?
It’s definitely Maeve and Ethan together. My main characters are faulty people. That’s just a big theme– they do things that kind of suck. I know that is kind of a cop out, but I would say it’s a tie.
Out of these four artists: Phoebe Bridgers, Mumford & Sons, Hippo Campus, and The 1975, who would you most like to give your book to?
My gut wants to say Hippo Campus because I’m a Hippo Campus freak but I’d probably give it to Phoebe because her songs gave the most inspiration for Always Winter. I think she deserves a copy. Maybe I’ll send her one.
Lisoyid by Karina Jha is a Ukrainian folklore-inspired novel that centers around a young girl named Yeva and her best friend Marta. After Marta is forced to marry a man she doesn’t love, the two friends run away into a magical world far away from home and chaos ensues. Karina answered some questions about her book and the playlist she made to go with it:
What role did music play in your writing process?
I have a weird relationship with music when writing. When I’m actually writing dialogue or setting I need to have music off, but if I am planning a story I need music to get me into the world of the story.
Is there any specific song you connected to while writing?
There’s one on the playlist called “Голос води” by a bunch of artists. It’s very atmospheric and there’s a lot of different sections to it that have different sounds. One of the sections has a lot of voices and the other one has xylophones, and I could actually write to it because there aren’t that many lyrics.
Did you mostly listen to Ukrainian artists while writing Lisoyid?
I exclusively listened to Ukrainian indie while I was writing. I wanted to stay in the world and also any other music felt wrong. I tried to listen to movie soundtracks and stuff, but nothing was really doing it besides Ukrainian music.
Outside of writing, who are some of your favorite artists?
My favorite artist of all time is Billie Marten. Her music is just incredible and I got to see her in a concert in May and it was amazing. One of my friends said I listen to a lot of “lesbian music” which I guess is a lot of female artists that do lowkey, indie music like beabadoobee, Dodie, those sort of artists.
If you could choose any musician to have read your book, who would you pick?
I would pick Billie Marten. She’s my favorite everything. She’s such a musical genius in my eyes. To have her know who I am would be really cool.
If your book got turned into a movie, who would you want to write the soundtrack?
I think Tember Blanche. Three of her songs are on the playlist and she has a very young voice which would work well with the two young girls that are the main characters in the story. Her music is very soft and lowkey, and I think it would fit perfectly with the story.
Madeline and Karina will do readings and signings of their books at the Pub Club Launch Party on December 8 at 8:30 p.m. in the Semel Theatre. All proceeds from Always Winter will go to TACO and all proceeds from Lisoyid will go to Striving For All.
Listen to the full Spotify playlists here: Always Winter, Lisoyid