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Sometimes the hardest part of writing is getting those first words down on paper (or in pixels). Other times you just get stuck. Discuss beating the block here.

What's Your Muse?

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Posted on 6/15/2012
There's been a lot of talk lately on some of the other boards about things people do to procrastinate from writing, and things that help people get back into the swing of things.

For myself, I've found that a lot of my story ideas can be traced back to a song, or can be re-inspired by certain lyrics.  In fact, at one point I'd started to write an outline for my current WIP, Strain, but then it ended up being taken over by relevant/inspiring song lyrics, and now it's basically an insert for the book's soundtrack!  However, when I'm actually writing, I've found that it's better to work in silence than to have music in the background, or I'll get distracted listening to the words.  :P

Another thing that works on-and-off well for me is a change of scenery.  If I'm stuck in a scene and I'm not sure where I'm going next, sometimes it helps to get out of the house with the laptop for awhile - maybe go down to the bookstore and grab a cup of coffee and try again there.  This has varying degrees of success, though.

How about all of you?  Where does your muse come from, and how do you convince it to stick around?
Showing 1 to 10 of 13 comments
11 months, 4 days ago

My current muse came from the NASA gift shop on the day the last shuttle went aloft.
It's a piece of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite that landed in Siberia in 1947. A jeweler mounted it on a gold chain. Thoroughly analyzed, argon-dated and traced back to the asteroid belts, it's an iron fragment about the size of a small olive and at least 1.7 billion years old.
Touching something that spent the last billion years orbiting in space between Mars and Jupiter lends an other worldly perspective for writing science fiction.
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11 months, 4 days ago

I draw creative energy from the rain! The rain is magical, and I love it. I think I get most of my ideas from the rain, or dreams!
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11 months, 4 days ago

I decide that I want to write a certain kind of  story. Then I build the idea based on interesting facts, technology, a situation I may have encountered or seen, or a place that gives me inspiration. The idea usually builds like that.

When I'm stuck, I do something like walk a long with music that reminds me of the story I'm writing or clean house, something mundane and I just let my imagination flow without pushing it.

If, I can't seem to get the flow going, music will help but I have to keep my mind focused on the story and usually if I'm persistent, I can work myself into the mood.
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11 months, 4 days ago

I had listed a bunch of inspirational things in another thread a few months ago (art, leaves fluttering in the wind, a book by a favorite author, and so on), but I couldn't say there is one specific object like GD's 1.7 billion-year-old meteorite! (I have rocks I had collected and analyzed for my geology thesis that are mere youngsters - 200 million years old!)

I can be sitting at my desk at work looking up drug doses or walking to the water fountain to refill my mug and a bit of dialog will suddenly invade my brain. So, I guess I would have to say that my muse is just about anything. My muse is the world around me.

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11 months, 3 days ago

Mostly, I create characters and give them problems. When they start talking in my head is when the story gets going.
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11 months, 3 days ago

I find my relationships provide lots of inspiration as a romance writer.  Without interesting people around me to inspire me to write about desire, hope, and pain, then I would struggle to produce my work.  

Also, meeting people I share an attraction with helps my work.  There is something inspiring about physical attraction.  For me she is the ultimate muse!

I also find inspiration in my daily life.  Struggles, things I've overcome, they have a way of helping me build characters that have more depth than I had earlier in my writing career.
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11 months ago

I get inspired by music. Alicia Keys, Sade & Erykah Badu are my go-to performers when I'm having a particularly hard time writing a piece. 

Also, really good writing! I feel like I focus better if I think of the writing process as paying homage to a beloved author. 

:)
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11 months ago

Nevena, that's interesting that you have particular artists that get you going.  I have go-to artists, definitely, but more because I've drawn inspiration from them before and hope for more of the same.  At this point, for this book, it's a pretty big list!  The starter was a song by Tokio Hotel called "That Day," which I think of as Trev's song - if ever I have a hard time calling up his character (not so much now, but in the beginning), I would play that song on repeat until I was in the groove again.

I'm reading a YA gay fiction novel right now, and I thought it was awesome that in the back of the book, the author created a playlist to go with the book.  Each song has a little description of why it's important to the main characters, and you can even download the compilation off of iTunes.  I thought that was the coolest pairing for a novel.  :)

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10 months, 16 days ago

There is no doubt that music inspires me too. Lately it has been piano recitals from Jane Austen adaptations. My problem is that I don't have much time to devote to my writing and it is not only because of my work (free lance content writer) and being a mum, it is also because of poor time management. (There! I admit it) However, when I do find the zeal to write, it is because I have read a book that creates a drive within me to write. When I do sit down to write, and when the words flow incessantly, it is because of the music playing in the background, an A4 size unlined notebook and a fountain pen with green ink that does the trick : )
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9 months, 7 days ago

I don't have one specific source for inspiration.  I have gotten ideas from completely random flashes of thought.  The other day, something called to mind the place of relics in the Catholic Church.  Now I've got a basic conflict and plot for a two-book series (which really will have nothing to do with the Catholic Church, that's just where the idea came from).

Another time, I had been listening to a lot of podcasts about Hindu mythology and reading about the history of yoga, which gave me an idea for a setting.  Combined that with some historical speculation and poof, another novel idea.

A third idea I have came out of watching some documentaries on the Discovery Fit and Health Channel.

I have always had the ability to take small things, single images and so forth, and create whole stories out of them.  Perhaps this means I'm not terribly grounded in reality, but it sure makes life more interesting.

I could go on but my computer is down to 1% battery life and I have to go find the power cord.

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Showing 1 to 10 of 13 comments

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