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My writing process involves marinating on a topic for a while. One way I do that is through music. The musician I listened to most during a period of revision angst and relationship turmoil was Frank Ocean. I put Channel Orange on repeat while on walks to work and to my writing class. His music accompanied me on buses to New Hampshire and New York. On planes to Arkansas, Mississippi, Mexico. Channel Orange came along at a time when I most needed it, for both my novel and my rocky-at-the-time life.

The reclusive artist, along with Harper Lee, leads off this week’s music-filled Friday Feast. Read on.

• “How could someone with such an astute understanding of the world apparently want so little to do with it? How could someone craft so perfect a piece of art, only to shy away from the acclaim it produced?” Eve L. Ewing on Frank Ocean, Harper Lee, and the Reclusive Artist.
• Like pretty much everyone in my friend circle, I’m addicted to the Netflix show Stranger Things. From the 1980s horror cover title sequence and the film and TV references of the same era, it’s a visual, spooky, and nostalgic treat. And the music elevates it all. Here’s What Stranger Things Can Teach Us About Characterization. #jesuisbarb
• Over at Brevity, Allison Williams is digging Sia’s single “Cheap Thrills.” When no one bought the song, Sia decided to sing it herself. Writers can learn from this. “… we’re grown-ups now, and standing in line is a choice. There’s no amusement-park snake line with Success at the end. You don’t have to be any particular height to ride this ride, even when someone else says Oh, I think you have to have a degree, or Some very qualified people are going out for that, or, Maybe you should see what your teacher suggests.”
• In her post, This is Why I Write: Almost All Stories about Trans Women are Written by Cisgender Authors, Ana Valens writes about Topside Press’s first-ever Trans Women’s Writing Workshop. “As trans women, we can use the written word as a form of catharsis. We can work through our own fears and come to terms with our past. Stories become a way to speak to what our subconscious bars us from thinking about. Writing is our therapy.”
• Carrie Brownstein’s Reading List: How Many Have You Read? Sadly, none. Click through to find your next book and to explore more curated reading lists for One Grand from esteemed writers, directors, musicians, and more.