Today's Musical Accompaniment
A follow-on from last week
I’m one of those people that does much better writing when I have music playing. I vary the type of music based on what I’m writing at the time, so I can be all over the musical map with what type I’m listening to.
When I write combat and action, I frequently listen to Sabaton. They’re one of my favorite bands, combing my love for history with spectacular music. It’s certainly not for everyone, but I find their music inspiring. I’ll sometimes get one song stuck in my head when working on a particular story and listen to it frequently. The Sabaton song Winged Hussars recently had a brief mention in a story that will be coming out later this summer.
In the case of To Have and To Hold, you could say that the anthem of that book is the Sabaton song Resist and Bite.
I love this song so much. It’s about a group of Belgian soldiers—the Chasseurs Ardennais—who were tasked to defend the border with Germany against the Wehrmacht. Major Maurice Bricart of the 5th company and his men were stationed in the Sauer River valley near the village of Bodange with orders to hold that border. As mass German attacks drove through Belgian units all along the frontier, orders were issued to withdraw, but Bricart and his men never received those orders. True to their motto ‘résiste et mords’ (Resist and Bite), the men fought tooth and nail for six hours against overwhelming odds before being forced to surrender.
That spirit of defiance, of confronting overwhelming odds is a theme throughout my novel, one I hope comes through in the story.
If you missed the post from last week where I talked about my experience writing To Have and To Hold, check out that post here:
When writing this book I listened to Resist and Bite probably a thousand times. It was absolutely an inspiration and helped me get over the hump of writing that book. If you’re interested in the history behind the song, check out this link for an overview.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!