I wanted to do something that’s never been done before. Essentially, Love Isn’t Always on Time is an experience almost like you’re watching an eccentric 80’s movie at home, but you’re reading it as a young adult paranormal romance-horror-comedy set in 1988 instead.

To fit with the “movie” theme, I put in a “soundtrack” with song titles as scenes moved along. In my last fit of editing before submitting my novel to Amazon, I finally decided against the song titles.

My intended audience is teens and adults who love young adult novels. What was making me question my choice of including song titles was this: not one person who read my novel before release knew every song reference without looking them up, and all of them are familiar with 80’s songs. When it comes to teens, especially, I didn’t want too many of the references to completely fly over their heads to the point it ruined their enjoyment of the novel.

When it came to including music for the “soundtrack”, I still mentioned band names in all places except two spots. It was a nice middle ground. I got to include my soundtrack (my mood-setters for the scene) and the band references will be good enough, but small enough to not annoy people if someone does not know the band. Also, it’s easier for the reader to put their own song from the band in the scene in case the reader didn’t like the song I originally wanted. Everybody wins. 😃

For kicks, here is my intended soundtrack for my novel (and if Love Isn’t Always on Time ever becomes a movie… in my dreams):

Prologue (Opening Scene/ Beginning Credits) – “Hold the Line” by Toto (this is the only song mentioned not released in the 80’s, but in the 70’s)

Chapter 3 as Sadie tries to fall asleep – “The Killing Moon” by Echo & the Bunnymen

Chapter 7 as Sadie leaves her bedroom – “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division

Chapter 8 when Sadie meets Tristan – “The Promise” by When In Rome

Chapter 9 with Alice – “How Soon is Now?” by The Smiths

Chapter 10 at Galactice – “Into the Groove” by Madonna

Chapter 16 with Rella and Tristan – “Papa Don’t Preach” by Madonna

Chapter 18 in the kitchen with Tristan – “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper

Chapter 27 – “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears

Chapter 28 – “The Promise” by When In Rome again, followed by “Asleep” by The Smiths

Epilogue (End Credits) – “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure