Music plays a big role in my life and it did in crafting my first novel.

I’ve been actively producing music for more than seven years now and I’ve found ways to integrate music-making into different aspects of my life.

It acts as a form of therapy and a catalyst to build cohesive communities. Music helps practitioners develop a growth mindset and is a very effective storytelling tool, especially when it comes to emotional communication.

The communication of feelings is a main reason why we turn to music — PRESS PLAY

It was the topic of my first published book — Press Play: Music As A Catalyst of Change, and it played an integral role in writing my first novel, Toffy’s Divide, in three different ways

As…

…the inspiration,

…an integrated storyline,

…and as a complement to the book.

The reason Toffy’s Divide exists is because of music. Music was what inspired the story. In 2016, I was about to create my fourth mixtape. Up until that point, I had compiled my three mixtapes and released them all on Soundcloud. When I started thinking about putting together a fourth one, I wanted to be more intentional. I wanted to put together a concept album, so I decided to write a story first. My reasoning was “I’d write the story first, and then use the storyline to put the mixtape together.”

What started as a prompt to write a short story took me on a five-year journey to publish TOFFY’S DIVIDE. Along the way, in my quest to improve my storytelling skills and to learn about the publishing process, I signed up for a writing class that led to the publication of my first book, which was also about music. I used what I learned there and applied that to finishing, editing, and publishing Toffy’s Divide.

Toffy’s Divide is now a 405-page dystopian fiction story started out as a prompt needed for a musical project. The inspiration was the music.

The crisscrossing of ideas gave me the momentum I needed to keep moving forward with my creative output and it allowed me to tell the story I was developing in two complimentary formats — a book and a mixtape.

Music also plays a pivotal role within the storyline of Toffy’s Divide. From the protagonist, Toffy, who received an instrumental mixtape that facilitates his writing to the different vibrations heard and perceived through out the story line to the council members across the divided world that they are living in.

Technological advancements is also an important, and ever-present, backdrop in this science fictional tale set in the year of 2049, but music (not as overt) also plays a role in connecting the protagonist to his humanity with references to how the right frequencies can be used as a glue to bring people together. Besides the vibes, Music is integral to the writing style that I used throughout the book — with lyrical and poetic devices sprinkled within the prose accentuated with rhymes, rhythm, beats, and meters to move the story forward and hopefully keep the reader engaged.

As I wrote multiple drafts of Toffy’s Divide, I kept making music along the way. It was the inspiration to start with, so I pushed myself to have some mental loyalty to the original idea — the mixtape. I didn’t just want to run off with the “new & shiny” interest of writing a story and forget the music that started it all. Even when I went off to write Press Play, I new I had to come back to the story and the mixtape.

So with each new iteration of the project, I would take new storylines developed from my writing and incorporate that into the music. Then I’ll take inspiration from the music, either a new beat, rhythm, or lyric, and take that back to inform the storyline. The crisscrossing of ideas gave me the momentum I needed to keep moving forward with my creative output and it allowed me to tell the story I was developing in two complimentary formats — a book and a mixtape.

https://soundcloud.com/naporepublic/sets/toffys-divide-the-mixtape?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

My goal is to make sure that both formats complement one another to effectively communicate a message of courage and self-determination. What started as a prompt for a mixtape, led to a full novel, and finally that mixtape gets to be released as a complement to that novel.

Music played an important role in starting, writing, and finishing Toffy’s Divide. It was the inspiration, it served as a backbeat to the storyline, and it’s also a complement (as a mixtape) to the storytelling in the book. My hope is that this process helps me improve my communication skills and sharpen my storytelling ability — so that I can answer the question “is my storytelling good storytelling?”

Interested in a science fiction dystopian tale of a young professional battling the constraints of his environment to tell his own story in 2049? Check out TOFFY’S DIVIDE and make sure you get the music that comes along with it to :)

Music plays a big role in my life and it did in crafting my first novel.

I’ve been actively producing music for more than seven years now and I’ve found ways to integrate music-making into different aspects of my life.

It acts as a form of therapy and a catalyst to build cohesive communities. Music helps practitioners develop a growth mindset and is a very effective storytelling tool, especially when it comes to emotional communication.

The communication of feelings is a main reason why we turn to music — PRESS PLAY

It was the topic of my first published book — Press Play: Music As A Catalyst of Change, and it played an integral role in writing my first novel, Toffy’s Divide, in three different ways

As…

…the inspiration,

…an integrated storyline,

…and as a complement to the book.

The reason Toffy’s Divide exists is because of music. Music was what inspired the story. In 2016, I was about to create my fourth mixtape. Up until that point, I had compiled my three mixtapes and released them all on Soundcloud. When I started thinking about putting together a fourth one, I wanted to be more intentional. I wanted to put together a concept album, so I decided to write a story first. My reasoning was “I’d write the story first, and then use the storyline to put the mixtape together.”

What started as a prompt to write a short story took me on a five-year journey to publish TOFFY’S DIVIDE. Along the way, in my quest to improve my storytelling skills and to learn about the publishing process, I signed up for a writing class that led to the publication of my first book, which was also about music. I used what I learned there and applied that to finishing, editing, and publishing Toffy’s Divide.

Toffy’s Divide is now a 405-page dystopian fiction story started out as a prompt needed for a musical project. The inspiration was the music.

The crisscrossing of ideas gave me the momentum I needed to keep moving forward with my creative output and it allowed me to tell the story I was developing in two complimentary formats — a book and a mixtape.

Music also plays a pivotal role within the storyline of Toffy’s Divide. From the protagonist, Toffy, who received an instrumental mixtape that facilitates his writing to the different vibrations heard and perceived through out the story line to the council members across the divided world that they are living in.

Technological advancements is also an important, and ever-present, backdrop in this science fictional tale set in the year of 2049, but music (not as overt) also plays a role in connecting the protagonist to his humanity with references to how the right frequencies can be used as a glue to bring people together. Besides the vibes, Music is integral to the writing style that I used throughout the book — with lyrical and poetic devices sprinkled within the prose accentuated with rhymes, rhythm, beats, and meters to move the story forward and hopefully keep the reader engaged.

As I wrote multiple drafts of Toffy’s Divide, I kept making music along the way. It was the inspiration to start with, so I pushed myself to have some mental loyalty to the original idea — the mixtape. I didn’t just want to run off with the “new & shiny” interest of writing a story and forget the music that started it all. Even when I went off to write Press Play, I new I had to come back to the story and the mixtape.

So with each new iteration of the project, I would take new storylines developed from my writing and incorporate that into the music. Then I’ll take inspiration from the music, either a new beat, rhythm, or lyric, and take that back to inform the storyline. The crisscrossing of ideas gave me the momentum I needed to keep moving forward with my creative output and it allowed me to tell the story I was developing in two complimentary formats — a book and a mixtape.

https://soundcloud.com/naporepublic/sets/toffys-divide-the-mixtape?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

My goal is to make sure that both formats complement one another to effectively communicate a message of courage and self-determination. What started as a prompt for a mixtape, led to a full novel, and finally that mixtape gets to be released as a complement to that novel.

Music played an important role in starting, writing, and finishing Toffy’s Divide. It was the inspiration, it served as a backbeat to the storyline, and it’s also a complement (as a mixtape) to the storytelling in the book. My hope is that this process helps me improve my communication skills and sharpen my storytelling ability — so that I can answer the question “is my storytelling good storytelling?”

Interested in a science fiction dystopian tale of a young professional battling the constraints of his environment to tell his own story in 2049? Check out TOFFY’S DIVIDE and make sure you get the music that comes along with it to :)