maggie stiefvater
maggie stiefvater
maggie stiefvater

As an artist and musician, I can't work in a vacuum when I write—music and art is always in the back of my head in one way or another. Here on this page you'll find the stop-motion animated book trailers I made for Shiver and Linger, playlists of some of the music I listened to while writing the book, and the music I wrote for the series. Plus, some links to some real wolf howls because that's just cool.

The Videos

On the page I have the serious stop-motion videos I did for the books, but on my Youtube channel, I have silly and random videos about the books and writing as well.

Book Trailers for Shiver

(This trailer was created by Maggie with hundreds of paper cut-outs and multiple photographic frames per second. Music composed & performed by Maggie Stiefvater & Kate Hummel.)

Here's a behind the scenes look at the making of the Shiver trailer

Book Trailer for Linger

Find out more about the making of the video for Linger in these blog posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The Playlists

I have to have music playing non-stop while I write, or I can't focus. All I can think about is doing laundry, taking a walk, making cookie dough, or laying on the floor. So I create focused playlists for each book, every song picked to reinforce the mood or help me through a scene. They tend to be hours long, but here's a selection from each book.

The Shiver playlist

(rock music I listened to while writing Shiver)

  1. "The Ocean"—The Bravery (the general thematic song)
  2. "Sundrenched World"—Joshua Radin
  3. "Run"—Snow Patrol
  4. "Cemeteries of London"—Coldplay (hunt scene)
  5. "Make This Go On Forever"—Snow Patrol
  6. "Matroshka"—Dredg
  7. "Underwater"—Vertical Horizon
  8. "Star Mile"—Joshua Radin (making quiche)
  9. "Set the Fire to the Third Bar"—Snow Patrol
  10. "Jeremiah"—Starsailor
  11. "Bug Eyes"—Dredg
  12. "Everything'll Be Alright"—Joshua Radin (bookstore scene)
  13. "Hide and Seek"—Imogen Heap (car scene near end)
  14. "A Clock is Ticking"—Snow Patrol (Jack scene near end)
  15. "Peter Returns"—James Newton Howard (last scene)
  16. "Wake Up, Open the Door, & Escape to the Sea"—Blaqk Audio (ultimate nookie scene)

The Linger playlist

(music I listened to while writing Linger)

  1. "Wash Away"—Matt Costa
  2. "Cath"—Death Cab for Cutie
  3. "Teardrop"—Jose Gonzalez
  4. "Close Your Eyes"—Young Love
  5. "Hallelujah"—Rufus Wainwright
  6. "Her Morning Elegance"—Oren Lavie
  7. "The Golden Floor"—Snow Patrol
  8. "How Low"—Jose Gonzalez
  9. "Goodnight"—La Rocca
  10. "Coming to Terms"—Carolina Liar
  11. "Color Bars"—Elliott Smith
  12. "White Winter Hymnal"—Fleet Foxes
  13. "Out Come the Wolves"—Jacob Golden
  14. "Spaceship"—Jonas & Plunkett
  15. "Girl"—Jim Sturgess
  16. "Loneliest Girl in the World"—Cary Brothers
  17. "9 Crimes"—Damien Rice
  18. "Almost Lover"—A Fine Frenzy
  19. "A Message"—Coldplay

The Music

Back when I was a tiny creature—you know, college—I thought I might write soundtracks when I grew up. I have yet to write a soundtrack or grow up, but it makes me really cheerful to compose music for my books. These tracks are both written by me and performed by me and my sister, Kate Hummel, They're available for download (read the directions for download and use carefully, pretty please).

Music written for and inspired by Shiver

Special treat! Borders' exclusive track (written and arranged by me)

You can listen to the music below three ways! For immediate listening, use the little play graphic. To listen in a new window in Quicktime, click the blue link. Or to download the file to your computer, PC users right mouse click and select the "Save As..." option. Mac users, hold down the Control key and click on the image to see menu options, and choose "Save Link As..." Note that Maggie's music is made available as a free download for your non-commercial listening usage and for nonprofit fan-videos. When used for any fan material, please credit Maggie with the title of the song, her full name and a link back to this page.

The Golden Woods

Download the MP3

Music written for and inspired by Linger

You can listen to the music below three ways! For immediate listening, use the little play graphic. To listen in a new window in Quicktime, click the blue link. Or to download the file to your computer, PC users right mouse click and select the "Save As..." option. Mac users, hold down the Control key and click on the image to see menu options, and choose "Save Link As..." Note that my music is made available as a free download for your non-commercial listening usage and for nonprofit fan-videos. When used for any fan material, please credit me with the title of the song, my full name and a link back to this page.

"One Thousand Paper Cranes"—written by M. Stiefvater, arranged by M. Stiefvater & Kate Hummel

One Thousand Paper Cranes

Download the MP3

Listen to real wolves howl here

I don't think there's many sounds more beautiful than wolves howling. I found these links while looking for inspiration for Shiver.

All About Wolves
One Wolf
Wolves Howling