Category Archives: Updates and Information

News and information.

Writing Music – Where to Compose?

Following my post the other week about composing, songwriting and producing music, I started thinking the other day that I might want to take a shift in my music back toward more ‘classical’ music – that is to say, I’ve always wanted to write a symphony. I actually did write most of one back when I was, like, fourteen, but it was awful and I never finished it anyway.

For a long time, I’ve considered whether or not I should try to write something in a more contemporary classical vein. I don’t mean like Beethoven or Brahms – I’ve done enough pastiche in my time – but something that is genuinely original, true to my own musical influences and style, and that could stand in its own right at a concert amongst other contemporary music.

A symphony is an opportunity to explore the textures and dynamics of an entire orchestra, which is something you don’t usually get the chance for in rock and metal (outside of those instances where bands are backed by an orchestra). I’ve always loved the sounds possible from flutes and violins and trumpets and timpani, and with over twenty different instrument lines to work with (consider that, despite there often being over a hundred instruments in a full orchestra, many of them play the same thing, such as the string sections), there’s an enormous range of complexity available.

But this is where things get complicated when it comes to actually writing the music. Conceptually, I understand the idea of composing at a piano and arranging the composition for orchestra. But I find that when I move to try and arrange/compose in a music production application such as Logic Pro X, I lose track of the harmonies, the melody lines, and I don’t end up with music that is as interesting or detailed as I think it could be.

So then I wonder – should I be composing in notation software again? I used to use notation software – Finale, in particular – exclusively, and whilst I still have a copy of the program on my computer, I’ve really not used it in over ten years. It doesn’t have the same level of sound quality for playback, but it helps me ‘visualize’ the music better, so I’m wondering if I should return to Finale for the composition of my new symphony.

I could, of course, always re-produce it in Logic afterward, but that ends up being nearly twice the effort. I did that with some old metal songs originally wrote in Finale, and it took frigging forever. In the end, though, the idea of composing is to get the damn notes down, so perhaps Finale is the way to go; when it comes to making a living, breathing recording of the music, I might just have to bite the bullet.

For those of you with experience with music production and notation software, what’s your preferred go-to?

A Change of Pace

I’ve been struggling to write for nearly a year now. When I released my young adult novel in the autumn of 2017 (under my real name), I had a plan that I would spend 2018 writing the fourth Redemption of Erâth novel, and 2019 could focus on my second attempt at YA.

Sadly, this isn’t how things have turned out. I spent most of 2018 trying to start writing (with very little success), whilst also attempting to market and sell my YA novel. This did not work. I’ve spent most of 2019 trying to get going on the second YA novel … which also didn’t work.

In the midst of all of this, I’ve become increasingly negligent of my blog, and The Redemption of Erâth has dropped off the face of the earth. There have been a lot of ups and downs (mostly downs) over the past two years, but nothing I haven’t been able to weather before. No – this time, I think I’ve really just become complacent, and found it easier to do the things that keep me going day by day, without finding room for the things that make those days worth living.

That thing is writing. The feeling of accomplishment, of success, when writing the final lines of a novel … there is nothing comparable. It’s a deluge of heady satisfaction, and it doesn’t matter if another soul in the world ever reads it. Just knowing that something exists in the world that did not before is a reward worth a thousand kingdoms.

So what can I do? The first thing I know I can’t do is make a promise. Promises lead to broken hearts, and I’d not have that for anything. But I can try. I can continue to try, day by day, and if I write a word or not, I know that the next day will come, and with it new energies and new ideas that might be able to revive me.

So for now, I will put a pause on my YA work, and see what the world of Erâth has to hold for me, for Brandyé, Elven, and all the others. I am going to try diving back in to the fourth book in the Redemption of Erâth series, and see if my mind can fathom the next steps there better than it can in the real world.

I will do my best to post regular updates and thoughts, but as before – no promises. I do look forward, though, to the idea of regaining this community, discovering new people, and writing new worlds.

Here’s to the next 12 months!

New Year, New Resolutions (New Promises to Break)

I’m not sure why the start of the year (or, I suppose, the end of the year, depending on how you look at it) is a time for resolutions, other than it’s an easy marker to know when you last make promises you (probably) knew you weren’t going to keep. I mean, I could make a resolution to write more in July, but something about January just makes it easier to remember something you’re going to forget.

I wrote forty-nine posts in 2018 (including this one), which is up from the twenty-nine in 2017, although in fairness I wasn’t working on fantasy at all during that year (instead focusing on completing my YA novel, 22 Scars). Still off from the goal of at least one a week, but better than I’ve been for a while.

The thing is, this blog isn’t just about fantasy. I mean, yes – it’s under my fantasy pen name, Satis, but it’s also where I built my first following, got two articles posted on the WordPress front page, and set up the idea of Thoughts of the Week, Movie Nights, and many other short-lived topics. This blog was meant to be a place to express myself, a safe place to talk about mental illness, and all the things I think about.

But I think it’s time to focus and tighten up, and that means separating what I write, where I write it, and why I write it. I now have three blogs I write for regularly: satiswrites.com, cmnorthauthor.com, and thebipolarwriter.blog (the first two are mine; the third I guest write for). My plans for the next year include writing a second YA novel, probably before focusing on the fourth book in The Redemption of Erâth series, and so I imagine that I’ll have a lot to say over at cmnorthauthor.com. I also want to contribute to thebipolarwriter.blog more frequently (at least once or twice a month).

That doesn’t mean I want to leave satiswrites.com to languish, however. Even if I don’t have many fantasy contributions for the next twelve months, I still intend to post here for my Thought of the Week, Movie Night, Music I Love, and other random bits and pieces. So here’s the plan:

There might even be room for crossposting, but we’ll see how things go. I want to write more this year, but I don’t want to promise things I realistically know I can’t deliver on.

So consider this the first post of 2019 – and let there be many more to come!