Earlier this month I was made aware of a Spotify playlist that had been created by a reader of Not Famous. I checked it out and was very impressed by it.

I asked @lit_tracks0 about the process of creating the playlist. “While I’m reading a book I’ll start to get inklings of music I’m associating and begin compiling. There are times it does not happen until after the reading phase has completed. But typically it’s a trickle, and then there’s a scene or a phrase that usually hits and all of a sudden there’s a downpour,” I was told.

“The playlists usually start out with about three times the number of tracks and get wittled down as the story progresses. For instance, in Not Famous, the downpour ticked off pretty quickly when Nick was wondering the streets after being eviscerated. Of course, the rest of the novel was so hopeful that I had a hard time keeping anything too dark and melancholy.”

In Not Famous, the character Alli Conwell, an aspiring singer/songwriter, takes gigs playing cover songs to help pay the rent, so there are quite a few songs mentioned in the novel that appear in the playlist. “If a novel makes mention of specific tracks those are added (sometimes they make it on the final, sometimes they don’t),” explained @lit_tracks0. “@Once I’m done reading and have a draft playlist the story marinates and the playlist is pretty much on repeat until the ambiance lines up.”

There are a lot of songs on the playlist that are referenced in the novel, and quite a few others that weren’t. I’ve considered trying to make a similar playlist in the past without much luck, but I’m happy to see one created by a reader! If you have Spotify, check it out and tell me what you think!