I’ve debated writing about this for a while now.  I hesitated giving you access to something so intimately tied to the character I’ve been holding in my heart for nearly two years.  But I think it’s kind of fascinating because this is the only instance of this I’ve experienced while writing.

Remember when I wrote a post on the music I listen to while writing?  Specifically the music I listened to while writing the third book?  Immediately after I wrote that post, my writing playlist was overwhelmed by something new, something that took over during the final push to the end of the third book.  On the day I finished it, because I knew I was going to finish it, I selected eight specific pieces and listened to those exclusively as I wrote the last 3,000 words.

So what is this music that put its stamp on the soundtrack of book three?

Let me introduce you to a group called Two Steps from Hell.

I was put off by the name at first.  Like refrigerator leftovers you aren’t sure you want to taste.  But I got over that quickly.

Two Steps from Hell (an American-Norwegian duo) writes trailer music.  And they are big in the trailer music world, let me tell you.  They’ve been featured in trailers for several Harry Potter movies, the new Star Trek movies, various Avenger movies….  You get the picture.  And they got so popular that, beginning in 2010, they started releasing public albums and now they even have live concerts.

Anyway, this music became part of those final chapters of book three, a living, pulsing part.

And that’s personal to me.  But I want to share one particular piece, the most personal piece of all, because that piece became Raef’s music, became a musical representation of him, of all of him.  Somehow.

I’ve never had a piece of music implant into a character like that and sharing it with you is sharing a part of him.  And, honestly, he might not want to be shared in that way.  Because I’m not showing you his dirty laundry, or telling you embarrassing childhood stories about him.  I’m giving you a peek into his core.

But enough.  I’ve put this off.  No more.