"Diary of the displaced" and doesn't the muse strike at odd times?
- Thread starter JumpingJack
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My muse is narcoleptic. She keeps falling asleep on me. She tells me a snippet, and then she's gone. I find constructing a plot for me is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. A difficult one. I've got lots of pieces on the table, but they don't all belong to the same picture... *sigh*
People with fully functioning muses are very lucky.
People with fully functioning muses are very lucky.
Yeah, I just had that experience yesterday actually (typically, it happened slap bang in the middle of a novel I'm supposed to be working on). I'm the world's worst at plotting: I've never managed to properly plot a novel or short story in my life before.
Then lying on the couch yesterday, an idea popped into my head that I quite liked, a vague one line what if... idea. I sat down and wrote straight off a four page plot synopsis, neatly broken down into 20 chapters, and a prologue. It has one narrator with a strong voice; and one other major character who seems strong and interesting.
I'm feeling a little gob-smacked today. Now I'm quite excited about it and I don't know whether to go with it and leave the other half finished one to simmer, or whether it's all a big procrastination strategy...
My muse tends to strike at odd times...I'm not very fond of her for these reasons. I hate having my shower interrupted by her or having to try writing while I'm driving. She never seems to be interested in helping me out when I'm sitting in front of the computer...in fact right now I think she's out making snow angels and throwing snowballs at my windows. Bitch.
My muse is always chafing to get free and lay about him. God knows what it would be like to have 100% free time to let him roam free.
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My muse is a very bossy guy in his late teens, and if I don't listen to him when he wants me to, he can get pretty stubborn. Inspiration usually strikes when I'm actually at the computer, but there have been showers or drives where a whole huge plot point pops fully formed into my brain, and then I have to try to remember it long enough to write it down... Sometimes he helps me remember, but other times I think he finds it amusing to see me forget.
My muse strikes at odd times, particularly as a defense mechanism against something emotionally difficult. For example, when confronted with my father for the first time after having told him he's not welcome at my wedding (long story, may be a good story someday), I couldn't stop thinking about my blog, and an entry I'm working on for it.
Fiction is an escape that way, don'cha know?
Fiction is an escape that way, don'cha know?
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My muse sometimes strikes during or immediately after work, which helps me decompress... And some of the students I work with are reading one of my YA novels for English class- not my idea- which is insanely cool and has my muse in high gear now.
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My muse bothers me at the most inopportune times. Like at work while I'm actually working. Or in the car. Or when I'm out with the family. It's always at times when I don't have access to a computer.
Then when I get to the computer my muse is nowhere to be found.
My muse is a [censored]!
Then when I get to the computer my muse is nowhere to be found.
My muse is a [censored]!
My muse hides in the shower and torments me with ideas when I'm unable to write them down, the little so and so. It's consistent enough that I should invest in some waterproof writing material, but I haven't come up with a good idea to tame her yet.
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Ideas come to me when I'm out and about, so I always carry a notebook with me. It's a bit embarassing to have a scruffy dog-eared notebook full of my awful writing fall out of my briefcase during business meetings, but it keeps a lot of inspired moments from escaping.
Everytime someone says "I don't believe in muses," there is a muse somewhere who falls down dead.
Hmm... my muse gave me a new character to play with today. She solved a minor technical problem I was having with a scene, but now I don't know what she's doing here or what my MC is going to do with her. Also she stole away a scene (not like "stole a scene" with her presence, but actually demanded a scene take place with her instead of another character... which leaves me at a loss of what he's going to do when the MC returns). Also, IMO, I suck at describing people unless i have a visual of some kind, so I spent a couple of hours not writing (or reading 
) because I had to create an image of her first. Good thing I stayed home from work due to snow today.
) because I had to create an image of her first. Good thing I stayed home from work due to snow today.I'll shoot my muse if he doesn't leave me alone when I'm sleeping or writing another story he pestered me into. He's such an excitable little chap. Like bat mite even.
My muse loves to pester me when I'm supposed to be doing the stuff I actually get paid for doing. He's kind of strange, but he doesn't let me down.
He also likes to mooch popcorn.
He also likes to mooch popcorn.
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