Inspiration Station - Demi Lovato

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 18,079

Now that NaNoWriMo is going strong, I figured it's time for another round of Inspiration Station!  I can use all the help I can get during NaNoWriMo, so I'm going to be talking about an artist who's really helped me in the past when writing my stories, and who's actually helping me right now with Fins and Fangs.

That amazing, incredible, outstanding artist is Demi Lovato.  Demi is my girl.  I actually cried when I found out about her overdose, especially during those first few days when we weren't quite sure if she was going to be okay.  She's such a fantastic artist and talent, and she's been through so much.  That's definitely why her music has such powerful tones to it.  She's survived a lot.  She channels all of those turbulent emotions into her music, and she's so much more astounding because of it.

I could go on and on about her for hours, but I just want her to get better.  I want her to live the happy life she deserves.  I'd rather not hear another new song from her ever again and know that she's getting the help she needs than her not be around at all.  The world is a better place with Demi Lovato in it.

Alright, getting back on track.  The first time I became a fan of Demi was back in like... I don't know whenever Camp Rock came out?  Google told me 2008, so I was about 15.  That also means I've been a fan of hers for a decade now.  Her earlier music was definitely more Disney-pop level of acceptable.  Meaning it was in their commercials, on their radio station, and not really too mainstream yet.  But it was still so good!  And her music has absolutely changed in the last ten years, but every album has been full of such amazing songs!  Ugh, why is she so good?

Her music is also perfect for helping to write.

I went through the soundtracks I made for my various novels over the years, and it turns out that Demi's songs appear at least 7 times.  So, let's dive right in with how Demi Lovato's songs have inspired me to write over the years!


"Fix a Heart"

I don't know how she does it.  Demi always has such passion and darkness in her songs.  Her emotions are right there.  And "Fix a Heart" was just what I needed to get into a sad place for a scene in a book I wrote called The Evolution of a Hero.  The book is in my series of superhero stories, and this one follows a superhero, Zack, who just likes to screw around in his off time.  And by screw around, I mean it quite literally.  Never the same girl twice.  A player.  Kind of a douche, but also not a complete douche.  Opposite him is the typically reserved schoolteacher, Chelsea, who never does anything risky.  But, then she finds our her fiancé is cheating on her, ends up moving out of their apartment, and at the behest of her best friend, goes out and ends up going home with Zack.  So, for the first quarter of the book, Chelsea is pretty down in the dumps.  In her first chapter, she finds out the fiancé is cheating.  In chapter three, she gets kicked out of their apartment.  I needed to be somewhere sad, somewhere down, to write her first several chapters.  And "Fix a Heart" brought me right there.


"Warrior"

I've written several stories about women who've gone through very difficult and trying situations.  Typically, the first half of the story will be the woman maybe reliving the trauma, maybe just being haunted by it, or letting it get in the way of having a full life.  One such story I wrote was also in the superhero series, and it was called The Legacy of a Hero.  It's the final story in the series, and it follows a superhero, Damon, who had been leading the superhero team of the city for years.  His wife had been killed in an attack, and he'd let that stop him from having a personal life outside of his day job and night job.  The other protagonist is a woman named Persephone, and she is where this song really came into play.  She was in an abusive marriage, and she got up the courage to leave her husband and take their two kids with her.  He found out about it, and nearly killed her.  So, several years later, she's dealing with being a single mom to her kids, working a full-time job, and dealing with her ex who's now in prison, and possibly going to get out on parole.  She and Damon meet, and they both like each other, but neither is really ready to move on.  When writing Persephone in the first act of the story, "Warrior" just made so much sense.  It completely fit what she was going through, how she was becoming more and more empowered as the story went on.  As she stood up for herself, for her kids, for her future.  I don't know if I would've been able to write this book like I did without this song.  So, thank you, Demi.


"Tell Me You Love Me" & "Ruin the Friendship" & "Smoke and Mirrors"

All three of these masterpieces are helping me currently with the novel I'm working on for NaNoWriMo.  Fins and Fangs is a love story between a mermaid (Faye) and a vampire (Tony), and all the issues they face while trying to be together.  They start off as friends, but have always suspected there was something more there - "Ruin the Friendship".  I obviously don't have it all written yet, but I'm working on it!  "Tell Me You Love Me" is going to be really helpful when it comes to writing big emotional scenes between the two where they decide whether or not it's even possible to be together.  "Smoke and Mirrors" is such a powerful song.  And it's already got me thinking of ways to horribly tear Tony and Faye apart.  Which, I don't want to do.  I hate making my characters sad and go through painful things.  I hate it.  But, sometimes, it has to be done.  They have to go through things to find themselves - it's not genuine if they don't.  They aren't relatable characters if they don't.  And I freaking love this song.


So, those are some of the Demi Lovato songs that have inspired me over the years.  She is an amazing artist, and I'm so glad we still have her in our lives.  She's an incredible human, and she deserves all the happiness in the world.  Love you, Demi!

Write on,
Amy