Using music to move the narrative along - linking or playlists?

[redgarters]

I've had a WIP in stasis for some months that I've now revived for the next Valentines challenge. It's about a country radio DJ in Tennessee, and country music is both heavily referenced and plays an important role in the narrative.

I've seen people put together playlists, and I'm going to do that, but does anyone have experience with linking directly to songs in the story text? If you have done it, how was it recieved, and if you haven't, do you think it's a good idea? Will it add to the readers experience - will they listen to the song while reading - or is it just a nuiscance that will draw attention away?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I've had a WIP in stasis for some months that I've now revived for the next Valentines challenge. It's about a country radio DJ in Tennessee, and country music is both heavily referenced and plays an important role in the narrative.

I've seen people put together playlists, and I'm going to do that, but does anyone have experience with linking directly to songs in the story text? If you have done it, how was it recieved, and if you haven't, do you think it's a good idea? Will it add to the readers experience - will they listen to the song while reading - or is it just a nuiscance that will draw attention away?

You can’t link outside of Literotica. In other times, I’d suggest PMing Laurel and asking for a derogation. I recall doing that for the Karoke event a few years back and she wasn’t very receptive. Then you may be more lucky.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

I haven’t, but my fear is that Lit might be construe it as an advertisement. If you’re pasting it in the middle of the narrative, I’d think it also might be distracting for a reader to click, taking them away from the story.

 

[redgarters]

You can’t link outside of Literotica. In other times, I’d suggest PMing Laurel and asking for a derogation. I recall doing that for the Karoke event a few years back and she wasn’t very receptive. Then you may be more lucky.

Ah, I guess that kills that idea then. I wont be able to link to the playlist in the notes either I guess. Grumble.

 

[AchtungNight]

I have referenced songs in stories many times in the past. Mention title, artist, and if you want, have characters karaoke a few lines or sing along to a recording. It’s all been fine. If readers don’t know the songs already, they have access to Google. Example published stories include “Ruleskirter”, “Compensation”, and “Passion 4”. The latter two stories feature professional singers in prominent roles.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Ah, I guess that kills that idea then. I wont be able to link to the playlist in the notes either I guess. Grumble.

Yeah - sorry

You could say something like: if you want to access the accompanying play list, then it’s on [site name - name, not URL] and is called [playlist reference].

 

[CalBishForNow]

For my first story I just quoted several song lyrics in the text. I wish I had set it off better from the other text just to make it easier to read. The indentation in my Word document wasn't preserved by Literotica, of course. Maybe I should have used keyboard font? Does Literotica suppose the nonbreaking space tag? &nbsp

On the other hand, it was published without a problem (in hindsight I wouldn't be surprised if something like that triggered AI/plagiarism detectors) and no readers complained, so maybe it was fine.

 

[FrancesScott]

Just to confirm. Laurel went through my essay on using HTML on Literotica with a fine-tooth comb and also added her own text. It confirms that no linking outside of the Literotica domain is allowed (you can link to stories, or comp pages, or forum threads, or FAQ lists, basically anything like literotica.com/something).

 

[FrancesScott]

my first story I just quoted several song lyrics in the text. I wish I had set it off better from the other text just to make it easier to read. The indentation in my Word document wasn't preserved by Literotica, of course. Maybe I should have used keyboard font? Does Literotica suppose the nonbreaking space tag? &nbsp

I believe &nbsp; is supported, but I have not used it myself. For indentations consider using <blockquote>. It doesn’t work in preview, but it does in the final story.

 

[redgarters]

Yeah - sorry

You could say something like: if you want to access the accompanying play list, then it’s on [site name - name, not URL] and is called [playlist reference].

Thanks, I'll have to try doing it that way then and try to entice people to try it in the notes at the start.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

As @FrancesScott said, you can link to a forum thread. You could create a "Playlist for [my story]" thread with the playlist as message 1 and link to that. Easy-peasy.

--Annie

 

[EmilyMiller]

As @FrancesScott said, you can link to a forum thread. You could create a "Playlist for [my story]" thread with the playlist as message 1 and link to that. Easy-peasy.

--Annie

Great idea!

 

[EmilyMiller]

As @FrancesScott said, you can link to a forum thread. You could create a "Playlist for [my story]" thread with the playlist as message 1 and link to that. Easy-peasy.

--Annie

I guess you could go further and create a posting for each item on the playlist within the thread and then link to each of those from the appropriate place in the text.

As in:

<a href ="https://forum.literotica.com/thread...g-linking-or-playlists.1644542/post-101852209">Link to Emily’s post</a>

 

[PennyThompson]

@THBGato has made and shared playlists for stories before, but she posts the URLs in her author profile rather than in the story. If it were me I would probably:

1. Post the story, freely reference song titles and artists in the story text, but don't try putting any external links in it
2. Post a link to my Spotify or YouTube playlist in my author profile, plus an explanation of what it is
3. Make a comment under my story as soon as it's published, saying that there's a companion playlist posted on my profile.

 

[THBGato]

I have the playlist links in my profile. [Edit = Penny just beat me to it.]
However @Nightaelf managed to get some YouTube links into one of their stories.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I've had a WIP in stasis for some months that I've now revived for the next Valentines challenge. It's about a country radio DJ in Tennessee, and country music is both heavily referenced and plays an important role in the narrative.

I've seen people put together playlists, and I'm going to do that, but does anyone have experience with linking directly to songs in the story text? If you have done it, how was it recieved, and if you haven't, do you think it's a good idea? Will it add to the readers experience - will they listen to the song while reading - or is it just a nuiscance that will draw attention away?

I tried this with Savage Daughter and it got kicked back for an outside link. I gave general information on the writer and where to find it in a postscript, i.e.:


As I noted in my brief foreword, the song 'My Mother's Savage Daughter', written by Karen Kahan, strongly influenced this story. I can't offer you a link, but I can recommend you look it up and give it a listen

 

[Lifestyle66]

I've written a few stories which started and ended with song lyrics to try setting the reader's mind in that direction. My story "The Maneater" begins and ends with lyrics from the Hall & Oates song "
"Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up.
O-ooh, here she comes,
She's a man-eater!"

If you're writing a story which includes a DJ with a playlist, it might just need text indicating the DJ's voice announcing the next song, then some strategic interruption with other character dialog or scene description before again listening to a portion of the lyrics.

 

[redgarters]

As @FrancesScott said, you can link to a forum thread. You could create a "Playlist for [my story]" thread with the playlist as message 1 and link to that. Easy-peasy.

--Annie

I guess you could go further and create a posting for each item on the playlist within the thread and then link to each of those from the appropriate place in the text.

Those are excellent ideas! Thanks!
I have seen how @THBGato does it with the profile links, I was wondering if there was a way to do it that didn't require the reader to go out of the story for the link. But both the profile link method and the forum one can work I think.

 

[redgarters]

I've written a few stories which started and ended with song lyrics to try setting the reader's mind in that direction. My story "The Maneater" begins and ends with lyrics from the Hall & Oates song "
"Watch out, boy, she'll chew you up.
O-ooh, here she comes,
She's a man-eater!"

If you're writing a story which includes a DJ with a playlist, it might just need text indicating the DJ's voice announcing the next song, then some strategic interruption with other character dialog or scene description before again listening to a portion of the lyrics.

I've used music that way before, using song names and lyrics directly in the text. The difference in approach now is that the songs are a bigger part of setting the mood of the narrative, there's more of them and I want(or am at least hoping that) the reader will listen to the songs while reading. Aaand then to complicate things I may have an original song in the mix as well that's a pivotal part of the story. You can read the story fine without listening to the music, but it would add another dimension to it.

 

[Actingup]

For “Letting The Sunshine In”, I put in an Author’s Note (as below) at the start, then a list of all songs (with composers noted) in an Afterword at the end, then non-live links to playlists in the first comment after publication. It was published without issue and I got my prize money, but I’ve got no idea if anybody played the playlists. The playlists were probably more for my entertainment than anything else, inspired by @THBGato.

Text of Author’s Note:

“The story title comes from the finale of the 1968 tribal musical 'Hair': The Flesh Failures / Let The Sunshine In, written by Galt MacDermot (music), James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics). Quoted lyric snippets are the property of the authors. A complete list of songs mentioned appears at the end of the story, and the songs are widely available on streaming services.”

Text of comment after publication:

“Thanks again for reading. Below are some URLs for matching playlists of the music mentioned on Youtube and Spotify (note that consistent with site policy these are not live links - you would need to copy and paste into a web browser)”

 

[redgarters]

For “Letting The Sunshine In”, I put in an Author’s Note (as below) at the start, then a list of all songs (with composers noted) in an Afterword at the end, then non-live links to playlists in the first comment after publication. It was published without issue and I got my prize money, but I’ve got no idea if anybody played the playlists. The playlists were probably more for my entertainment than anything else, inspired by @THBGato.

Text of Author’s Note:

“The story title comes from the finale of the 1968 tribal musical 'Hair': The Flesh Failures / Let The Sunshine In, written by Galt MacDermot (music), James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics). Quoted lyric snippets are the property of the authors. A complete list of songs mentioned appears at the end of the story, and the songs are widely available on streaming services.”

Text of comment after publication:

“Thanks again for reading. Below are some URLs for matching playlists of the music mentioned on Youtube and Spotify (note that consistent with site policy these are not live links - you would need to copy and paste into a web browser)”

Thanks, since you posted non live links to playlists in the comments, could that be done in the author's note at the start of the story? Or would purgatory catch that as advertising in the submitted text, even if it's not live?

 

[Off_base]

I've used music that way before, using song names and lyrics directly in the text. The difference in approach now is that the songs are a bigger part of setting the mood of the narrative, there's more of them and I want(or am at least hoping that) the reader will listen to the songs while reading. Aaand then to complicate things I may have an original song in the mix as well that's a pivotal part of the story. You can read the story fine without listening to the music, but it would add another dimension to it.

I'm excited to read this story!

 

[Actingup]

Thanks, since you posted non live links to playlists in the comments, could that be done in the author's note at the start of the story? Or would purgatory catch that as advertising in the submitted text, even if it's not live?

I thought about doing that, but I didn’t want to risk a delay in publication or having the link texts hard-wired into the published story (it’s easy to add and delete comments). Oh, and I put the links into my Author’s profile as well on the day of publication.

I just read through the comments on the story. There are a couple of references to people intending to listen to the music, but the more obvious theme is that readers appreciate the respect shown for the music. Several readers had sung or played the choral / musical pieces themselves.

Good luck with your story!

 

[redgarters]

I'm excited to read this story!

Oof! No pressure! I hope it won't disappoint. You might want to have a box of Kleenex handy though... (for the tears I mean... for the tears!)

 

[Britva415]

will they listen to the song while reading - or is it just a nuiscance that will draw attention away?

It's a nuisance, and it will draw my attention away if it really is supposed to "move the narrative along."

If the story isn't doing that all by itself, what am I even reading it for.