The Muse

Some authors, I hear, get a story idea and painstakingly plot out the whole story arc so they know exactly what to write.  Others say their method is to just start writing and see where the characters take them.  Me?  I lean more towards the latter group, though I do a bit of the first.  But the thing that really dictates what I write is my muse.

I give her way too much leeway.  I work when she’s in the mood to cooperate.  When I’ve got writers block, I make myself write anyway, but that doesn’t mean I get anything usable.  And my muse is a fickle bitch.  I can get a story idea and think it’s great and start writing…and then part of the way through, my muse will cut me off at the knees and while I’m lying there on the floor bleeding, she says, “Too bad, so sad baby girl.  I have this whole other thing in mind that we’re going to try.”  And I listen to her!  I let her move me to something else instead of fighting for whatever I’m working on at the moment.  She’s got too much power.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d be lost without my muse.  I’d be in a world of trouble in fact.  I really would be.  But lately, she’s been particularly idea jumpy.  She’s in my head with an idea and characters and the whole works and the minute I actually start putting words on the page, she jumps to something else.  In the last three weeks, there have been three different plots.  I haven’t written anything substantial in a while now.  And I’m feeling the loss.  So, I need to take her in hand and ask her, politely of course, to help me stick with one thing until we see it through to it’s conclusion. I think she’s giddy at having something published and something else out there waiting for consideration.  (That’s probably actually me)

Dear Muse, we need to write.  Can we try to settle on one thing, please?  It would make us both very happy if we could write a complete tale.  Sincerely, yours, Kris.