Music is a big part of my writing life, and I make a playlist for every novel, to help me keep a sense of the novel’s themes and tones in my mind. I may play it while I’m working, but more often, I just put it on while I’m driving or doing laundry, to keep my imagination chugging away in a direction I want it to go.

Here’s my playlist for my novel The Valkyrie, which you can find on Tidal or on Spotify. I’ll talk below about the connections to the novel, and so I’ll touch on some plot a...