Digital Song is a music-powered near-future dystopian thriller novel (and soon, a fiction podcast). The idea for Digital Song came to me when I was enveloped by music, and I realized the singers were telling a story. To ensure that I had captured the essence of the music that inspired the book, I wove this Spotify playlist into the story.
It may sound gimmicky, but if we don’t challenge the boundaries of the medium, how will we continue to tell stories in ways that reach everyone?
Music-Powered Novel
Each song in the playlist is a chapter in the book. The lyrics and music of each song helps to tell that chapter’s story. So, the Digital Song playlist includes many genres of music, like deep house, alternative rock, 90’s pop, melodic indie, and folk. Rose, one of the two major protagonists, performs several of the songs in the playlist for members of the Pyramid Club.
The book revolves around Pyramid Song by Radiohead. The lyrics and powerful melody drove the development of the plot. However, the Pyramid Song is not the only music that makes it a music powered sci-fi novel; the book’s prose references many songs from the playlist, which makes the story a musical scavenger hunt. Some of the songs in the playlist provide another layer of story: they may predict what will happen, inject energy into the chapter, or add emotion to the words on the page.
Interactive Novel
The FOREWORD describes the vision of the book and how the playlist fits into it. I imagine that the way people consume books will change. For instance, I imagine a world where authors superimpose art over the words for an immersive experience — drawings, painting, short film, music, and commentary will all contribute to the reader’s experience. Picture the reader’s eyes hovering over a passage in his/her favorite book. As that happens, an illustration flashes into being alongside the page and a song associated with those words fills his/her ears. Notably, however, the reader will still be able to get lost in the story the old way — with just the book.
