When the Muse Takes Over

 

Like many writers, I haven’t always had the friendliest relationship with my muses.

Actually, that’s a very diplomatic (and less than honest) way to put it. I’ve been known to throw bricks at them. I have threatened them with fire, called them obscene names, and sang a certain unmentionable song from a certain DisneyWorld ride at them over and over and over until they coughed up a scene I wanted.

Yes, it’s childish, but they started it.

Some people will tell you there’s no such thing as muses. We are all responsible for our own creations. Others will tell you they don’t actually write their works–they just try to keep quiet and let the words come through them. I have, personally, heard both sides argued. Repeatedly. And the persons debating were quite convinced of the rightness of their disparate causes, let me tell you.

In general, as with most things, I fall somewhere in between. Most of the time, I work at my writing. Sometimes I work really hard at my writing, banging my head on my desk (only rarely literally!) to get the words out.

And then there are the times my 70wpm typing speed isn’t fast enough. The words come out of nowhere, the plot forms before me like…like the temple Data builds in that one episode of TNG.

It’s called flow, and it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. I don’t know where it comes from, but I could swear it’s not me.

Those are the best bits. And generally they are just bits–a scene here, a couple lines there. Sometimes I come across a single line of dialogue during editing and it’s perfect–brilliant, beautiful, well-placed–but I don’t remember writing it.

When the muse takes over, it’s one amazing ride. That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about releasing Burning Bright. Most of the novel was my NaNovel for 2008. (Won!) I’d planned to invoke the Zokutou Clause for NaNo 2009 and finish BB, but then I ended up writing the end of it in two wild weeks of October, and doing the second book for NaNo 2009.

Writing that second book, I won NaNo 2009 on the fifteenth. I finished the manuscript on the seventeenth.† That was two dizzying weeks of almost-constant flow and I came out of it feeling like I should go to AA.

The third book–ahh, the third book. The third book is where the muses earn all the evil things I’ve ever done to them. We’ve been in a battle off and on for years as I tried to find out what we’re doing with the third book.

After all this time, though, I know my muses. They’re not going to give up that book until I’ve written several thousand words of garbage, and then I’ll have to go back and fix most of the book to make it all work.

But by Jove, I also know it will be marvelous. Like the climax of Burning Bright, like the scene on top of the pyramid (to pull out one amazing bit) in the second book…

I hope you’ll come around October 1st, and check out the first chapter of Burning Bright. I think that might be all it takes to make you almost as eager as I am for November 1st. Because while my muses are serious a##holes, they are also absolutely brilliant.

 

† Fun fact! 2009 was the year I put my entire NaNo, garbage and all, on my blog. It’s password protected, and coming down tonight, probably, but it was there for six years. Which amuses me because people have been asking me for the next book and it was ~right there.~