The Music of NORMIE

How I developed a soundtrack for my dystopian novel (even though I'm not a musician)

One of the best things about publishing NORMIE through this digital newsletter is being able to experiment.

Free subscribers get the full novel for free.

Paid subscribers get access to additional story-related content:

• An official soundtrack

• A prequel comic called “City of Lies”

In this post, I want to focus on the development of the NORMIE soundtrack.

NORMIE [Official Soundtrack]

Here is the first track, the NORMIE Theme:

Let’s take a look at how the full soundtrack was developed:

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Finding A Collaborator:

I’m not much of a musician.

To properly create a soundtrack, I needed to find a talented collaborator.

Luckily, we live in a digital age where you can find freelance services from across the world.

I went to Fiverr.com and began searching through the hundreds of musicians available for hire.

After a long search, I finally came across someone who would be a perfect fit: Indra Julfatwa.

I was instantly impressed by the music examples Indra had on his Fiverr page. Most notably, he was able to blend orchestral instruments with electronic synths. This is the musical feel I wanted for the soundtrack, so I decided to reach out.

The Proposal:

I created a proposal document for Indra that would lay the groundwork for the soundtrack.

At the beginning of the proposal, I noted my general thoughts on the possible music for the novel:

• Mood: Dark and mysterious (similar to the music of Angel of Darkness by Peter Connelly)

• Instruments: Strings, brass, piano. With added minor elements of electronic bass and synths.

• Mixing and mastering: Each track should be of a quality similar to any traditional song you would find on Apple Music or Spotify. (I don’t like when music is mixed too low and you have to turn up your speakers to hear it.)

Track By Track:

Further into the proposal, I broke down what I wanted each track to sound like.

The 9 music tracks would coincide with the 9 chapters of the novel. Each piece of music needed to capture the atmosphere of its specific chapter. I wanted readers to be able to listen to the music in the background while reading the story.

For each track, I listed three things:

• Description of the chapter

  • What was happening? Was it an action scene?

• Mood

  • What should the music feel like?

• Reference track

  • What established song should the track sound like?

The Influences:

There were a number of soundtracks that influenced the music of NORMIE.

I had even been listening to some while first developing and writing the novel.

1. Angel of Darkness by Peter Connelly

A soundtrack for a video game, Angel of Darkness throws you into the world of the story from the first notes.

You can hear the similarities to the NORMIE Theme:

2. Sneakers (1992) by James Horner

Sneakers is one of the most underrated movies I’ve ever seen.

The soundtrack is equally overlooked.

James Horner captures the feeling of unraveling a mystery, as the characters do in the film.

3. Sunporch Cha-Cha-Cha by Dave Grusin

This stands out on the list.

The song is from the soundtrack for the 1969 film, The Graduate.

I needed music for the third chapter of NORMIE, which takes place in a restaurant. It’s the only chapter where the characters are mostly idle.

Somehow my mind went back to this song from The Graduate and its relaxed and fun mood.

4. Arkham Origins by Christopher Drake

Another video game soundtrack, it features a lot of “chase scene” music.

You’ll see the clearest reference in the track for chapter 4, Escape:

5. The Batman by Michael Giacchino

So many songs from this soundtrack give you that feeling of uncovering a mystery (or a riddle, to be more precise).

In NORMIE, Jack Campbell is constantly discovering new truths about the worlds he lives in. I wanted the soundtrack to reflect that.

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