Music inspired my “Shadowdance” urban fantasy saga from its inception. Not only would characters be musicians, but genres of music inspired its tone.

Since music is so intrinsic to the Dance, I decided on some music-related monikers for elements of the saga.

I’ll explain why Garbage is the featured pic below the fold.

Why music?

Music’s been a big part of my life, probably second only to movies. I’ve imbued the saga with musical elements from its inception.

Adriana Dupré sings, plays piano, and was trained by Mozart himself. Valentina Lorena is a pop star styled after Christina Aguilera’s Xtina persona.

There’s a band you’ll meet in Illusions of Love that I patterned after the band Garbage (which is why they get the featured pic).

The first saga story was Requiem for the Lonely, most of which I’ve pillaged for the third novel, Illusion of Love (more on that in part two of this post). The saga ends with a Symphony of the Damned.

I also listened to Garbage (see what I did there?), Evanescence (the pre-“let’s do all orchestral stuff!” version), Lacuna Coil, and the musical prophet Prince while creating the saga.

When it was a movie…

I’d always dreamed of making the saga as a series of movies, maybe even a TV show. I envisioned it like what the show Empire has become, with music mixed into the general story. I got close with the creation of a theme song for my as-yet-unmade “Shadowdance” movie, Wake the Darkness.

Click for an alternate version with a dash of Kate Beckinsale from “Underworld.”

Unfortunately, I don’t have millions of dollars, so I made the “Shadowdance” urban fantasy saga into a book series. But I still wanna keep that music in mind.

Defining Measures and Songs

Each of the main stories in the “Shadowdance” saga is a song. The chapters within that novel/ song are measures.

In music, a measure represents the number of beats within a given duration of a song. This fits, as each measure of a “Shadowdance” tale would equate to a segment of the overall song.

Technically, calling the novels “movements” would be more appropriate. However, that reminds me of bowel movements.

I don’t want to reference shit with the “Shadowdance,” so song wins.

Keep up with the music-inspired “Shadowdance” saga books with this short story sample.

You can read some fanfiction while you wait!

Or, you can check out the second part of this blog post where I’ll go more in-depth on how music inspired my urban fantasy saga.