GILT playlist - The End

Everyone knows how Cat Howard's story end - or anyone with access to Wikipedia does.  But what about Kitty Tylney?  That, my friends, is a little more mysterious, and has to be left up to the imagination.  Not wanting to be too spoilery, but that last phrase is key.  Imagination is important.

However, so is this week's playlist song - Quelqu-un ma dit, by Carla Bruni.  Now, I don't go around listening to French music very often (I did, however, take four years of French in high school.  Totally useless, except for one trip to France straight out of college, when the ticketmaster at the Lyons train station looked at me after I used my best schoolgirl French to purchase tickets to Bordeaux and said, "Excuse me, but I do not understand English." Hmph.)  And I haven't put this song in here to appear more worldly-wise or cosmopolitan than I am (which is to say, not very.)  But I did see the movie 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, and the simple beauty of this song moved me.  And when I really listened to it, so did the lyrics, at least what little I could understand.  (There are ways to find the lyrics - and the translation - online, but I chose to come to my own conclusions).

My own version, based on what I heard, translated the chorus this way:

Someone told me that you loved me still....


It is possible, then.


Love opens up a whole realm of possibilities, does it not?  I chose to imagine that it does for Kitty, too.

GILT Playlist -- William's song

I listened to a lot of different kinds of music when I was writing GILT, most of it modern.  I usually get inspiration in the car or while out for a long walk (or run), and I usually listen to music while I do those things, so often music from the radio will get churned  up in my mind with plotlines and character flaws and even full scenes.  But during the year it took me to write and revise GILT, through the several incarnations of the character (who was originally called Thomas), this song was always William's.

It's hard to explain why.  Some of it could be that Chris Martin reminds me of William (crossed with James McAvoy).  But I think more of it has to do with intention.  The idea that love is a bright, shiny yellow.  The idea that the expression of love can be something as simple as pointing out the color of the stars.  The idea that no matter what, William thought Kitty was beautiful.  We can all hope for that kind of love, can't we?

GILT playlist -- Cat's theme song

A few weeks ago on my Facebook page, a reader asked the question, "What is Cat's theme song?"  I replied that I would have to do a blog post about my playlist in order to explain fully.  Because some of my choices require explanation...

I listen mostly to modern music, much of it "alternative" or inspired by punk.  Though I do have some CDs of Tudor and baroque chamber music, much of what inspires me is what I hear on the radio or is recommended by friends who share my taste.  It was important to me to put entirely modern music in my GILT playlist because I wanted the book to have a modern atmosphere and be compelling and relatable to a contemporary audience.  I kept thinking of how well "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow fit into the film Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola.

Cat, in GILT, is Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth (and youngest) wife.  I wanted to write a character who was smart and manipulative, self-involved and overly aware of her own appearance.  I also wanted to write someone who didn't have awareness of her own actions and their repercussions.  Someone who acts on whim and desire and does an awful lot for show.

For me, this was all represented in the song "The Fear" by Lily Allen.  The lyrics go, I want to be rich and I want lots of money/I don't care about clever, I don't care about funny/I want lots of clothes and (I want lots) of diamonds/I hear people die while they're trying to find them...I have a feeling that the irony would escape Cat, but it suits her to a T. And the title hints at something more ominous.

This song includes explicit language, so be warned if you search for it on YouTube!