Muses

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 04 Jan 2015, 01:49

I am starting to think that a certain place is my muse. Every time I take my laptop there, I can churn out thousands of words in one sitting in the brief amount of time it takes to run out my battery. I am tempted to buy some kind of portable charger or extra battery or something just so I can have longer bursts of productivity there.

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 06 Jan 2015, 02:11

I have a muse. I spell it MusE. The 'us' (people around me, community, world) becomes part of the writer ME and the combination inspires the stories I tell.

Carla Hurst-Chandler · Post by **Carla Hurst-Chandler** » 06 Jan 2015, 06:27

KEW wrote:I have a muse. I spell it MusE. The 'us' (people around me, community, world) becomes part of the writer ME and the combination inspires the stories I tell.

Nice

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 12 Jan 2015, 04:50

KEW wrote:I have a muse. I spell it MusE. The 'us' (people around me, community, world) becomes part of the writer ME and the combination inspires the stories I tell.

Did you make that up yourself??

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 13 Jan 2015, 01:48

ALynnPowers wrote:
KEW wrote:I have a muse. I spell it MusE. The 'us' (people around me, community, world) becomes part of the writer ME and the combination inspires the stories I tell.
Did you make that up yourself??

Yes, I did. I actually use it in an online short story workshop I facilitate. I encourage people to demystify the process and understand that writing is about sitting down to work as opposed to waiting for some sacred moment.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 13 Jan 2015, 09:41

Excellent advice regarding the writing process, kew! We've got threads all the time here started by newbie writers who ask "How do I get inspired?" or "How do I get ideas?" or even "Can you give me ideas for a story?"

Writing is work. Yes it does involve inspiration but it's mostly just hard work. If people think that it's just a matter of "inspiration" or "a muse" (whether real or psychological) that enables you to create an 80,000 word novel with themes and dialogue and characters and story arcs out of the air, they're fooling themselves. I can tell anyone that the process of creating a novel (I've written 3, the 4th in progress) involves studying the scenes, working diligently to create dialogue that's realistic, evolving characters who are believable by going over the biographies and ensuring that it all fits, that story lines are consistent. In a nutshell, hard work.

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 13 Jan 2015, 21:13

[quote="moderntimes" I can tell anyone that the process of creating a novel (I've written 3, the 4th in progress) involves studying the scenes, working diligently to create dialogue that's realistic, evolving characters who are believable by going over the biographies and ensuring that it all fits, that story lines are consistent. In a nutshell, hard work.[/quote]

Absolutely. Too many times writers get excited about the spark of an idea but forget it needs to be tended and fed in order to grow. Subsequently, many stories fizzle before they ignite.

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 30 Jan 2015, 08:23

KEW wrote:
ALynnPowers wrote:
KEW wrote:I have a muse. I spell it MusE. The 'us' (people around me, community, world) becomes part of the writer ME and the combination inspires the stories I tell.
Did you make that up yourself??
Yes, I did. I actually use it in an online short story workshop I facilitate. I encourage people to demystify the process and understand that writing is about sitting down to work as opposed to waiting for some sacred moment.

Consider me impressed. I am tempted to steal it for myself, but I will respect you and not do that.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 30 Jan 2015, 08:31

Go ahead and steal it, Alynn. We won't tell (heh heh).

I realized that often my "muse" was my editor telling me that I had to get that article or interview finished 2 hours before the paper went to bed. A very very energetic muse to be sure.

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 30 Jan 2015, 08:32

moderntimes wrote:Go ahead and steal it, Alynn. We won't tell (heh heh).

I realized that often my "muse" was my editor telling me that I had to get that article or interview finished 2 hours before the paper went to bed. A very very energetic muse to be sure.

Those muses are the most motivating, aren't they?

Mine might have been my grad school adviser telling me to hurry up and get my paper written.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 30 Jan 2015, 09:19

Years later, I'd be pushed by my boss that this engineering spec was due Monday for a team meeting with the Shell engineers, and I was scheduled to make the main presentation. A "real" muse that gets you off your tail and working! Believe me, sitting in a room full of PhD senior engineers and not being prepared? Worse than the "student nightmare" by a long shot. Eeek!

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 30 Jan 2015, 11:55

ALynnPowers wrote:
Consider me impressed. I am tempted to steal it for myself, but I will respect you and not do that.

You may use it, as long as you credit me/

I think I am going to put it on a t-shirt and sell it.

-- 30 Jan 2015, 10:57 --

moderntimes wrote:Go ahead and steal it, Alynn. We won't tell (heh heh).

I realized that often my "muse" was my editor telling me that I had to get that article or interview finished 2 hours before the paper went to bed. A very very energetic muse to be sure.

Ha ha, Deadlines are the most tireless of taskmaster muses.

I credit mine for much of my published work as well. No deadlines = procrastination for me.

ALynnPowers · Post by **ALynnPowers** » 31 Jan 2015, 02:05

KEW wrote:
ALynnPowers wrote:
Consider me impressed. I am tempted to steal it for myself, but I will respect you and not do that.
You may use it, as long as you credit me/

I think I am going to put it on a t-shirt and sell it.

I think I would buy that T-shirt.

maybe.

Katherine E Wall · Post by **Katherine E Wall** » 31 Jan 2015, 02:19

ALynnPowers wrote: I think I would buy that T-shirt. maybe.

If I ever get around to it, let me know if you want me to PM you about it.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 31 Jan 2015, 09:15

Putting a slogan about writing on a T-shirt made me remember that jerkwad TV show "Castle" where he has a ballistic vest made proclaiming "Writer" and tries to horn into police raids (my gf likes the show). In real life he'd be in jail in maybe 23 seconds, but on the show they even let him examine murder evidence and question suspects. Again, in real life, an attorney would get the evidence disallowed instantly.

I went on the show's Facebook page and asked how Castle, 100% private citizen, is allowed to do this. Somewhere or somehow there's a "reason" within the show's internal plot logic that allows this, but nobody knew or cared.

I told them that since I was a mystery writer too, I'd go down to the Houston police HQ and volunteer to work with Homicide at murder scenes. Yeah, right.