My post about a popular, new game needs a little more time to cook, so I thought I’d fall back on the original plan today.
We’re kicking off a new series.
As writers, we all have different, very specific relationships with music. Some of us can’t write with it, others can’t write without it.
I’m somewhere in the middle; I absolutely love finding the right song for a project I’m working on. But also, on occasion, I hear a song that I love so much that it inspires me to write a story for it (music that I’ve always thought of as “righteous,” but “evocative” obviously makes more sense).
In either case though, I can never write with that music on; what I do instead is brainstorm with a particular song, letting it inspire random imagery that I can pull together into plot events. Essentially, it’s my “blue sky” planning phase for a story, where I just imagine what could happen and then write it all down to sift through later.
If you’re anything like me–or even if you just like awesome, evocative music–this series is for you. “That Writing Playlist” will feature one song that I personally find evocative. I’ve either written for these songs already or I intend to. A lot of it will be video game music (I usually prefer no lyrics), but that won’t always be the case. Either way, I’ll also lay out what I love about the song and what it inspires me to write, if further insight to my process is what you’re after.
To kick things off, here is “Immortal Imperium,” by Jesper Kyd. Enjoy.
“Immortal Imperium” is part of the soundtrack for Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. With it, Jesper Kyd, a Danish composer, goes harder than anyone has ever needed to go for any video game soundtrack. Absolutely amazing.
Why I Love It
Phew. There’s just so much here. It’s such a wild mix of sounds that’s comes together to be the most intense, awesome, 80’s techno–like–worship-punk song? I don’t want to say it’s religious because I’m not a religious guy, but the Latin chanting and pipe organ elevate this song, making it as wild, interesting, and multi-faceted as the 40K franchise itself. Every time you think you know what you’re getting here, Kyd pushes in something else that makes you reel in awe until you have a picture of something grand, epic, and fathomless.
What It Inspired Me to Write
The intro’s tribal drums slowly rise out of the silence to mix with Latin singing. Already dramatic enough to imagine a protagonist starting a journey or coming back from a defeat, determined to heal, reflect, and try again.
But for me, the song doesn’t really start until 42 seconds in, when the pipe organ comes in, suddenly turning this into trailer music for the most epic, weird, grungy, 80’s Dark Fantasy movie that never happened.
And that’s really what it inspired in me. The fact that it works so well as trailer music makes it incredibly easy to brainstorm with. The weird, Dark Fantasy imagery almost comes out on its own–especially to the beat of the heavy, secondary drums that pulse from the beginning to 1:02. Those drums are at their most evocative for me between 0:42 and 1:02, where I’ve sat for a while imagining a bunch of wild stuff.
Full disclosure: at first, I wanted to write something for this song, but then I realized that my reimaginings of an old project fit the music really, really well, at which point I experienced the mental explosion we writers only suffer when something fits perfectly. The unseen ecstasy of old, narrative puzzle pieces finally fitting into place. You know the one.
I’m still brainstorming with this one on the regular as I passively worldbuild that project. But if it makes you imagine something different or evokes particular imagery for one of your projects, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Either way though, I hope I’ve added something to your writing playlist today.
Coming up…
Next week, I’m definitely going in on that new game everyone’s playing. How it’s very likely at least co-written by AI and why that sucks.
If you’d like to check out some of my fiction…
“Aixa the Hexcaster” was published at Mirror Dance Fantasy in 2016: http://www.mirrordancefantasy.com/2016/09/aixa-hexcaster.html.
“A Facet of That Faceless Death” is available to read, for free, on this site: https://louissantiago-author.com/short-fiction/a-facet-of-that-faceless-death/. However, it was initially performed on the NoSleep Podcast in 2024 (be advised, my story is one of the two on the pay-walled, members-only section of the episode; to hear it, you would have to get a $5 membership to NoSleep): https://www.thenosleeppodcast.com/episodes/s21/21×11.
Until next time, take care, and if you know a writer, ask them how their projects are going. Why not? It’s a new world and we have to look out for each other, so engage and support if you haven’t already.
Inktrap 
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