Welcome to the Piercing the Fold Blog Tour stop #9! We are counting down the days to the release of book 2 in the series, Surfacing the Rim, releasing on March 14th! As a special treat for our readers, our tour stop includes a chance to read about Venessa Kimball’s inspirational writing process that is heavily influenced by music! So we have below some insight from Venessa & two different mixtapes that inspired both Book 1 & Book 2. Hope you enjoy and be sure to read to the end to enter a special 24hr Rafflecopter Giveaway of a SIGNED paperback copy of Piercing the Fold book 1!
Also, feel free to read my review of Piercing the Fold: Book 1 here.
How Music Influenced the Creation of the Piercing the Fold Series by Venessa Kimball 
Thank you Venessa for stopping by the blog today to give us some insight on the music that inspired you while writing book 1 and book 2 in the Piercing the Fold series.
Of course, thank you for having me Kelly. So, let’s flash back to 1994. I was a senior in high school and I was settling into my creative writing elective with Mr. Gries at John Marshal High School. All of us were chattering about non-sense while Mr. Gries was setting up a boom box at the front of the classroom. One of my fellow students inquires and Mr. Gries turned to us and said something along the lines of get out a sheet of paper.
He gave us simple instructions. He was going to play us a song. While the song is playing, we need to have our eyes closed. When the song stops. We were to open our eyes and write down what the music moved us to think about. He would then start the music again. This time we would continue writing with the flow of the music. I never thought music could stir so many emotions, moods, and images in my mind. After that, I was spoiled. I had to have music either before or during my writing time.
Flash forward to 2010, I started drafting Piercing the Fold: Book 1 with a set of songs that motivated and inspired me as I developed the storyline, the characters, the scenes, and the direction of the entire series. The songs would be playing on the radio while I was driving or while I was running the trails in my neighborhood, and they would carry my mind back into the story. Many scenes from Piercing the Fold: Book 1 were played out in my mind in this fashion. And, it did continue through the development and drafting of Surfacing the Rim: Book 2. Some of the music in Book 2 is darker in some ways. While editing both book 1 and book 2 in the series, I found myself wanting to revisit the songs that inspired me in the writing process. That is when I created a playlist for myself on Spotify for both PtF: Book1 and StR: Book 2. I found myself returning to these playlists often. Almost like a scrapbook that I could turn back to and reflect on where those songs took me. The emotions the songs stirred and remembering the exact scenes I wrote to the mood of a specific song. Truly amazing feeling.
Book 3 in the Piercing the Fold series is currently being drafted?
Yes, I am drafting to music and creating a playlist for it along the way. It is really interesting to see how the playlists for each book differ and are progressive; similar to the series itself. I can’t wait to start sharing the music for that playlist on Spotify and Facebook!
Kelly, here at BookCrush has done something uber awesome! She has created the mixtapes for Piercing the Fold: Book 1 and Surfacing the Rim: Book 2 to share with you today! Right now! I do hope you enjoy listening and thank you Kelly for making this music available to the readers!
You can listen with either Spotify (if you don’t have an account – you can create one for free when you click on the link) or you can listen totally free, without signing up, through the awesome YouTube player and watch the accompanying videos as well, bonus!
Piercing the Fold: Book 1 Mixtape
Spotify link
YouTube Player:
Surfacing the Rim: Book 2 Mixtape
Spotify link
YouTube Player:
The giveaway is for a SIGNED paperback copy of Piercing the Fold: Book 1! Open for 24 hours for a real quick turnaround & US residents only. Just use the Rafflecopter form below to like our facebook blog page, like Venessa’s Author facebook page & tweet about the giveaway for more entries to win! Remember only open for 24hrs, the winner will be announced on Venessa’s facebook tour event page, our facebook page & we will contact the winner as well.
Piercing the Fold Blog Tour Facebook Event Page Tour continues until Release day 3/14!
Venessa’s Website, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest
Piercing the Fold:Book 1 Links- Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, Smashwords
Surfacing the Rim: Book 2 Links – Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook Virtual Release Party
Remember the Blog Tour continues with 2 stops everyday to find out where to go next check out the Facebook Event Page
[…] my 4 heart reviews of Piercing the Fold, Book 1 and Surfacing the Rim, Book 2. I also did a special mix tape post in conjunction with the author, Venessa for the blog tour when book 2 was […]