Reader Question 001

inBLUE

READER:

There are several music references in the story. Some are so important to a chapter that they almost take on a separate character. Why music?

T. Reilly:

It is hard not to notice the part music plays within inBLUE. I guess there are 3 reasons for its presence.

First, it’s personal. Music is important to my creative process. It doesn’t usually bleed into the writing as literally as it did with inBLUE, but it is always there, helping to set the mood, to put me in the right frame of mind for whatever I am writing at the time. Something dark, something scary, something funny, something sad.

Second, it is a great tool for establishing the time period, like cars or architecture. And since inBLUE takes place in multiple time periods, music helps with the transition in time.

Third, music is important to a few of the characters. For teenage Sophia, the 80s dark wave and punk awakens her rebellious spirit, and it helps adult Sophia hold onto what is left of that spirit. 90s hard alt rock is the soundtrack for Bastian’s chaos. And for young Elliott, music is the connection to how he experiences life, being a virtuoso who has synesthesia (sees musical notes as colors.) When adult Elliott loses the ability to see any other color but blue, he loses music, he loses everything.