Wednesday, October 6, 2010

On my muse's stellar personality.

Good morning all. Just a few arrangements before I post.

Firstly, welcome to my blog to all the new followers! I hope you enjoy what I write :-)

Secondly, my follower list was so nice as to scramble you guys, so I am having a little trouble tracing all of you back to your blogs. So please, if you're a new follower with a blog, and I don't pitch up in your follower list, please leave me a link to your blog.

Thirdly, my awards page will unfortunately have to wait until I've finished writing my test. I apparently need a better Internet connection for me to find all of the links, so I'll go to a campus computer lab on Saturday. Thank you all for understanding.

That done, on to my post.

I really think my muse is out to get me. At the very least, she doesn't like me as much as she ought.

She throws me into the deepest doldrums for months, or leave me without words right when I need her or want her to help. She's also nowhere to be seen when I have time to write.

Oh no. She'll kick my subconscious on mornings right before a big test. Or she'll start buzzing around my head while I have to focus on something else. Something like... say... studying for two tests on two consecutive tests.

Why, I ask myself often, does she do this to me? It's cruel. Making me want to write so much that it hurts, then leaving me just as I pick up my pen.

It's so unfair.

She always chooses the worst moments to hit me with an idea. Like in class, or in conversation with others.

For example:

Friend: My mother died last week. (Muse strikes in: three... two... one...)
Me: Awesome!
Friend: What?! My mother died! 
Me: Yes yes I know. But that works in my story. I'll let my MC's mother die. Great for character growth... Do you mind if I use it? (friend walks away forever.)

For those of you that are severely worried about me, this hasn't really happened - yet. But I can see my muse doing exactly that. She is that dark and twisted.

But then, it doesn't really help to complain. She's not going to change her ways for a mere mortal like me. All I can hope to do is finish my book and hope that she gets replaced in time for the next one. Still. If she doesn't, I still would keep her right here with me.

For all of her moods and quirks, she does give me awesome stuff to write - when the mood strikes her. And when I write, I'm very happy.

If only she could be a bit nicer to me....

What's your muse like? Do you have a muse? How do you cope with him/her being contrary?

25 comments:

  1. She's been better these days, although I did lose an hour of sleep last night listening. But she's a lot nicer since I do listen to her these days and don't ignore her musings.

    Alex
    Breakfast Every Hour

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  2. Hmm... Alex I think you might have a point there. I've taken to ignoring her at times. Maybe she's a tad upset with me...

    :-)

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  3. I don’t have a muse. Just a warped sense of humour, a deranged mind and a bottle of wine :) Works for me.
    The enigmatic, masked blogger strikes again

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  4. haha she is a moody thing isn't she?

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  5. My muse pops in when I'm trying to focus on something else, usually during the news, do schoolwork, or when I'm trying to read a good book. My muse will say something like "Aha! Idea here! Write it down immediately!"

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  6. Blogger that is a great conmbination! Maybe I should try that too. I already have two out of three. And I can... oh no wait... can't drink alcohol for another few weeks... ;-)

    Christina, oh yes she is. In fact, part of me thinks she's evil.

    Golden I get that too! And if I don't write it down soon enough to her tastes, she'll either scream the idea repeatedly (think toddler going "LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA") or wait for me to write down the awesome idea, then walk away with it before I've written a word...

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  7. I don't have a muse. But if I am working on a particular scene my characters in that scene will start to bother me according to their personality.

    Misha...subscribe to RSS for post at everyone's site. Then you can click on the little e at the top of your blog, this will bring up the RSS feeds and you can review what everyone has written and decide if you want to comment. Then click on their blog title, comment and click on the google reader that will show at the top of the page bar.

    Hope that helps.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, fantasy author

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  8. Thanks Nancy that helps a lot. I'll definitely start subscribing as soon as I have more time (I'm following 150 + blogs.)

    Very likely I'll get this done over the weekend.

    :-)

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  9. My muse comes and goes. Usually when it's preoccupying my mind, my daughter is also pulling on my sleeve.

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  10. Patti now I have a mental image of your daughter on the one side, your muse on the other, both pulling at your sleeves. :-)

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  11. I normally don't post links in my comments...but this was just too perfect. Misha, I'd like to introduce you to my Muse, that fickle wench who shows up late to parties and always says the wrong thing: http://valeriegeary.blogspot.com/2010/05/things-my-muse-says.html

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  12. Lol that's a lot like mine too. Thanks for sharing the post. :-)

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  13. Oh yeah, ideas show up at the worst times.

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  14. Ha! My muse is AWOL most of the time. :-)

    I decided to include international entries in my contest, so feel free to enter and spread the word! :-)

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  15. My muse is sulking at the moment. She had delusions of grandeur recently, but when she wasn't chosen for various competitions she folded her arms and turned away, nose in the air, with a heavy sigh. So I'm just biding my time until the call to write overcomes her and then we'll be back on track. ;O)

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  16. My muse demands chocolate for inspiration...oh wait, that's just me :P

    But I so hear you on this one. Muses are tricksters. The moment you think you have them under control, they fly away.

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  17. I'm pretty sure that mine is always lurking, waiting for me to wake up and pay attention . . .

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  18. No muse for me, although I love the band ;)

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  19. Sorry, I totally understand. My muse is just as cruel. Mine waits until I'm at the point where I'm just about to fall asleep, then *boom* idea hits that I can't forget. So with squinted, crusty eyes I have to email myself at like 3:00 in the morning. Sucks. I'm always afraid I'll forget.

    Hope your muse lets you write soon ;o)

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  20. Shame Jolene you have my sympathy.

    Shannon an AWOL muse is never fun. I hope she comes back soon. Thanks for letting me know about the entries. I'll enter as soon as I can.

    Madeleine that's so sad to hear. I hope your muse realizes quickly that writing is subjective and that she can't win every time ;-P

    Hahaha Lynda, I try to convince my muse that she needs chocolate, but she isn't biting. I guess the secret here is to not try to control them...

    Kelly, if that is the case, you're quite lucky. Not a lot of muses wait around for us and stay quiet during the wait.

    Lettuce I LOOOOOOOOOOVE the band.

    Erica that's terrible. My muse at least respects my sleeping pattern. ;-)Thanks for the follow.

    Thank you all for commenting :-)

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  21. I suppose it's a muse but my muse comes in the form of eight characters in my head.... and they are always there but they do pick the absolute worst times to give me the intense amazing ideas. When I'm asleep, at school, on the bus with no paper or anything to keep track, when I'm studying (this is the worst!).

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  22. Ellison (my muse) and I, after many long years of head-butting, have come to an understanding. I gave her a Cafe to play in with all of the Characters (aptly named the Character Cafe) and as long as she is willing to work when I want to work she can play all day with whoever she wants and I won't stop her (and if she wants to play during work time I lock her into the Cafe alone, and she hates that). So if she wants to play with Rebecca and Lane, or Karigan and Bren, or Holly and the Manticore, or whoever else while I'm working all day that's fine. But when it's time to sit down and work on Fie Eoin (or in November when it's time to finally work on Book of Souls!) she must sit down and work on those.

    This month we aren't working on anything in preparation for NaNoWriMo, so she's getting out all her fun and craziness before the work of November rolls around. Then it will be all Book of Souls, all the time. And then in December she can play again :)

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  23. Melissa I get that too. See, my muse is the one going "PSSSSST! Listen to your characters." and "You might want to write now..." The rest of the time my characters make such a constant noise that I forget they're there...

    Sticky that is a great understanding to have with your muse. Maybe I should try that too, although heaven knows she'll just come back with another WiP for me. Good luck with NaNoWriMo!

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  24. Oh, she will always come back with another WIP, but as long as she's willing to work when I want to work I'm willing to play with new WIPs whenever she wants to (we worked on 5 different stories this year so far, and storylined another :P). Thing's don't always get done very quickly, but I never run out of things to write and I almost never have to worry about her hitting a wall (although sometimes even Elli wears herself out ;) ).

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  25. That's awesome sticky.

    I would love to let my muse play with other stories more, but I set a goal of finishing Doorways by the end of this year. I can't do that if I keep WiP hopping.

    Sigh. :-)

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