Muse-ili
March 14, 2008
My muse is an informant. She comes in the night, and whispers stories to me. Constantly.
The problem is, she’s very easily led.
You see – most people can’t write without inspiration – and if you write – long term, you have to keep feeding your muse, or they starve. And a starved muse is probably a form of torture for writers, to be honest.
So, ratting on your muse and sharing everything starts with reading, and absorbing experiences. WE can only write about the things we have a passing knowledge of after all – even if it’s creating events in our head and following them through to logical conclusions. Or illogical ones.
Narrating what we know, and what we’ve worked out for ourselves is an important part of creating believable, understandable, relatable experiences. These relatable experiences are, of course, the core of what writers DO, but to get there you have to find something that inspires you.
Back to the problem with my muse.
She’s SO easily led, it’s scary. We watch some sci fi – she wants to do sci fi – I read some high fantasy and she’s off chasing dragons and fairies. I watch Special Victims Unit or CSI and I’m working on my thrillers.
Which, to be honest, leaves me more than a little torn. I spend about six hours a day writing, of which I spend two or more hours of which chasing my muses’ tail. If I can get her pinned down it’s a miracle. When I get her pinned down, she’s great. When I don’t…
I’ve found though, that if I limit what I’m experiencing, if I limit what I’m watching and reading, if I stick my muse on a diet, she’s got more focus. With that focus, she’s actually fairly good. I get six hours of quality writing in….until she gets sidetracked again ;).
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