On the subject of muses
Every writer has one, whether it's a person, or a thing, or a thought. Muses are what gives us the sudden, elusive "inspiration" that writers talk about. As someone who is maturing in his literary career, I'm coming to understand that muses don't have to be flashes of inspiration, or even flashes of anything. They can simply be determination or even ritual. Writing doesn't need to occur only when the "inspiration" strikes, that's all nonsense, just like "writer's block." There's only one block, you.
As time goes on you can learn to write through it, to just sit down and start typing out sentences, dialogue, anything to set a scene for your characters. It might take an hour, or five minutes, or just seconds, and suddenly the words come pouring out. I've found you have to write through it, break through your blocks and you'll find a muse waiting on the other side.
Last night was a good example. I sat down and for an hour I couldn't do much more than type two paragraphs for the new chapter. I knew what I wanted from it, knew its direction, but just couldn't get the words down. But I soldiered on, got 200 words and then had a brief idea to write in something new. I wrote 1200 words in that. Sometimes it pays to switch it up for a little bit, gather up your writing legs and start running again.
As time goes on you can learn to write through it, to just sit down and start typing out sentences, dialogue, anything to set a scene for your characters. It might take an hour, or five minutes, or just seconds, and suddenly the words come pouring out. I've found you have to write through it, break through your blocks and you'll find a muse waiting on the other side.
Last night was a good example. I sat down and for an hour I couldn't do much more than type two paragraphs for the new chapter. I knew what I wanted from it, knew its direction, but just couldn't get the words down. But I soldiered on, got 200 words and then had a brief idea to write in something new. I wrote 1200 words in that. Sometimes it pays to switch it up for a little bit, gather up your writing legs and start running again.