You\u2019re about to go on a run, but first things first \u2013 you select your workout playlist, right? You\u2019re on a road trip with your bestie, windows down and air blasts through your hair, but before you considered it your next epic adventure, I\u2019m one-hundred percent sure you carefully created or selected a playlist that you could sing your lungs out to while on the road. There are many things we do in life that simply require<\/em> a soundtrack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, if you\u2019re an avid reader, imagine you\u2019re about to crack open a fresh new book, you settle down in your comfiest chair by the window that lets in that perfect ray of sunshine, grab your cup of steaming coffee, and you turn the page ready to dive in\u2026 but instead of encountering the first chapter, you see a playlist that the author put together as a companion for the book. What do you do? Do you ignore it? Do you grab your phone and search for the songs to play in the background while you read? Or do you wait to explore it until after you\u2019ve finished the book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The options are endless, but if you\u2019re anything like me, you probably winced at the idea of a book playlist. As an avid reader as well, but most importantly as a writer who writes fiction, I cannot decide if I would be open to share my<\/em> inspiration with my readers so directly. Would I be okay with influencing their thoughts about the book and its characters and deprive them of coming up with their own internal soundtrack? As a writer, as yourself \u2013 will my reader feel forced to listen to said playlist due to the fear of missing out? But here on out I\u2019ll focus on my perspective through a reader\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the greatest joys about reading works of fiction is that you as the reader, get to imagine and build the author\u2019s world in your mind in your<\/em> own way. One of my favorite professors once told our class, \u201cYou and another person can read the same book, but you do not read<\/em> it the same.\u201d Meaning, your imagination and perspective is your own! When you read fiction, you take the author\u2019s world and you add to it \u2013 you build on it. Your mind expands beyond the words you see on paper. There is no limit to your imagination and even the author cannot control how you manipulate the world they so carefully and painfully crafted during sleepless nights. That is the beauty of reading.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re reading a chapter that quickly becomes your favorite and you are now severely obsessed with the main characters. Hey, I\u2019m not judging! But as the scene unfolds before you, it stirs in you a particular memory or perhaps one of your favorite songs, but then you remember that playlist at the beginning of the book and you can\u2019t for the life of you put together that playlist to work in harmony with any of the author\u2019s words. There is now unnecessary friction between you, the author, and what is quickly becoming one of your favorite books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe I\u2019m exaggerating a bit but think about it for a minute. Do you, as the reader, want outside influence before you even start to read a new book even if the outside influence comes from the author? Let\u2019s say an author curates a playlist to appease the Swiftie gods, but you\u2019re not a Swiftie fan and it makes you cringe seven ways \u2018til Sunday. Do you think that\u2019ll negatively influence your reading journey? Maybe, maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, I do understand why authors would want to share their inspiration with their readers. In today\u2019s world where social media is so readily available to everyone, why wouldn\u2019t an author try to bond with their readers through music as well in addition to the written word? I\u2019ve come across a few book reels on Instagram and TikTok that have left me emotionally damaged in a beautiful way. Fans create reels by incorporating the author\u2019s playlist and let me tell you, there are no dry eyes left in the house. So maybe\u2026 book playlists aren\u2019t necessary evil? Probably not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, call me old-school, but I prefer to read books without playlists. I\u2019m a strong believer that once authors finish their job and deliver their babies to the world to be dissected and loved \u2013 the job of interpretation without the influence falls to the reader; and if you take your job as a reader seriously like me, you don\u2019t appreciate outside influence, thoughts, or spoilers to ruin all the fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a writer of fiction as well, ask yourself these important questions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Think of the type of relationship you want to build with your readers and lead with the heart. Happy reading (and writing)!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Caroline Zamudio You\u2019re about to go on a run, but first things first \u2013 you select your workout playlist, right? You\u2019re on a road trip with your bestie, windows down and air blasts through your hair, but before you considered it your next epic adventure, I\u2019m one-hundred percent sure you carefully created or selected a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/dazed-starling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n