I’ve completed three books that together comprise a short story I’ve written called, “Sketches of the Inchoate”. The story makes heavy use of music in the narrative, as part of conscious effort to use music in a new way in the text of a story.

The core insight to the device I’m trying to construct is the difference between a note, and a sound:

A note is an etching on a page that relies upon the reader’s associations;

A sound is a physically real event that directly triggers the senses of the listener.

As a result, a note relies upon associations, just like the descriptions in the text of a book, which require the reader to construct a mental image of the scene described.

In contrast, a sound does not, since it is already manifested as physically real.

What I did in the text, was to supplement it with references to pieces that in turn supplement the reader’s mental portrait of the scene in question, providing hyperlinks to specific performances.

This takes a hypothetical physical environment described in words, and supplements it with a specific and physically real sound that you listen to, either as you read, or afterwards.

However, I also added hypothetical, at times technical, musical descriptions –

For example, an arrangement of a piece by Dorothy Jean Thompson, that simply doesn’t exist, that I came up with just for the story.

As a result, the reader’s associations still matter, since the text creates another level of interpretation, arguably unique to musicians –

That is, people capable of constructing a musical thought experiment will go beyond the specific piece referenced, again returning the pen to the reader, allowing the reader to fully imagine the scene.

The work is effectively free verse poetry, though if you don’t consciously look for rhyme, you likely won’t find it.

Book 1: Sketches of the Inchoate

Book 2: Sketches of the Inchoate – Information and Belief

Book 3: Sketches of the Inchoate – Black Tree