It's December. Days are short, colder. Nights are longer, icier. Still, the writing process goes on.
I start the month by listening to recitations of my favorite poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. It's a sad, somber poem however I find the rhyme and rhythm captivating and it takes place in December. It's a fairly long poem, thus works as a sort of 12 or so minutes of ASMR with a good recitation.
Here are some good versions:
Recited by horror legend Christopher Lee and with dramatic music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BefliMlEzZ8
A more low-key version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAdQ3CcPHQU
When first recited by Poe, this poem gave people nightmares. It was a different time, but I think a good recitation can still stir some thoughts in those writing somber scenes and/or themes.
What is your wintertime inspiration?
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I don’t have specific inspiring music, but I love writing while listening to Il Divo, even though I don’t understand the language.
Their songs put me directly into the writing mood, because I was listening to them when I wrote my first book, The Disabled Puzzle (Arabic version).
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Thanks for sharing the poem, Michael Dzurak. My wintertime inspiration is the usual (pictures, videos, life, social media, etc.). Also winter and holiday movies and things.
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I recently saw a documentary on Poe. He is now one of my favorite "old timey" authors. The Raven is classic stuff.
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Meriem Bouziani That's very interesting. I'll give them a listen as like with The Raven I often look for off the beaten path type of stuff around the Holidays so as to start the New Year with some new things.
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Maurice Vaughan What are your favorite Christmas movies? There are "the usual" but films like Die Hard as well as many of Shane Black's films such as Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight take place during Christmas but are not coventional "Christmas movies."
Some movies also just have a Christmas Party scene such as Eyes Wide Shut.
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Jennifer Rolle, Poe is definitely "old timey" but in many ways timeless. He's also from Boston, my hometown, so I've had English class units with his work since junior high. Liked his work ever since my 7th grade English teacher read The Pit and the Pendulum to class for Halloween and we had a field trip to a one act play version of it. Her version was as intense as the play, she practically acted it.
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Die Hard, Home Alone, Scrooged, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (starring Jim Carrey) are some of my favorite Christmas movies, Michael Dzurak.
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Ah yes! I Scrooged I remember seeing that long ago, but have since forgot about tit. Need to rewatch it. Thanks for the unlikely reminder, Maurice Vaughan.
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You're welcome, Michael Dzurak. I might rewatch Scrooged this weekend. Double feature. Scrooged and Home Alone. I'd like to get my hands on the scripts too. I'm gonna look for them.
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Maurice Vaughan Both Home Alone and Scrooged are on ScriptSlug.
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Thanks, Michael Dzurak. I definitely need to read the Home Alone script.