Sometimes my muse looks like this art piece I did many years ago. Oh trust me, I still suck at drawing, though someday I hope to at least try and refine my skills. But, alas, it’s crooked, has an evil smile as it stares upon me, and has been all ripped up and put back together again. The life of a writer relies upon their muse, after all. What is a ‘muse’, to those unfamiliar with the word? Well. It’s your inspiration and motivation, something that gets you to create a piece of art, be it writing, drawing, videos, music, or whatever else your heart desires.
The worst feeling in the world is the ability to write when your muse is begging you to. This often happens when I’m driving home from work and listening to music on the radio. Or at work itself. My muse chimes in, evil as it is, and says, “You know what you should be doing right now? Writing!” And of course, I can’t write. Not until I get home, that is.
But when I get home, damn it! My muse has gone to sleep, ran away, or is doing something other than letting me write. It’s fun personifying my muse, but at times it can be frustrating. I want my characters to speak to me, and I want my plots to flow. Sometimes, though, writer’s block gets the better of me even if I had a very strong muse earlier in the day. Listening to music helps with that, of course, but not all the time.
My muse can be very obnoxious. It gets in the way of me reading or watching movies. Why? Well, when I try to do such things, my muse yells, “WE SHOULD STOP DOING THIS AND WRITE!” It’s a blessing and a curse. Sometimes the ideas I get aren’t meant for the part I’m at in my story, after all.
For example, I have in mind the adventures I plan on writing for books 5 & 6 of my series, but am still working on book 4! It’ll be halfway done upon the conclusion of National Writing Month, but I’ll still have a long way to go until I can write up my future adventures. I feel like writers often struggle with either not enough ideas, or too many that aren’t relevant to their current project.
And so, that’s where I’m at. I want to get some more writing done tonight, and need to decide the direction of my story. I’ve had so much bloodshed happen in these first ten chapters to demonstrate the severity of the ‘dystopia’ I’m building. It contrasts heavily with the ‘utopia’ safehaven I’m trying to set the story in. Granted, it’s far from a real utopia, as it’s always on the fringes of utter chaos due to the constant attacks. Vampires as the dominant species take their place seriously.
My muse keeps telling me to add to my compendium of lore. I’m heavily considering just adding it as another section as my website–it’s free on wattpad right now, of course, but having it built as a website section could be cool too. I have tons to add to it as well, including how my magic systems work. When I get into self publishing, whenever that might be, I’ll make it so that people can purchase a hard copy. I figured it’d be a good idea, dedicated fans to the series could hold the compendium of my urban fantasy lore in their hands.
Anyway, hopefully other artists have muse that behaves for this month, if they do have National Writing Month goals. If not, hopefully it behaves anyway!
I’ll have some more art of my characters soon. Here’s a piece of Fallynn that I haven’t added to my character corner yet. I don’t think Cobratongue characters will be added to that section of my website until I’m finished getting a piece for every single one. Credit to Harcloniter for this wonderful piece 🙂 I love how well he depicts my characters. He’s making some sketches for a couple more of them now. Can’t wait to share them!
Des M. Astor 