Young Writers Society

I know this is going to sound really weird, really new-agey, really strange. But it works.

When you can't write, when you're having trouble and your creativity just isn't flowing, sit down and write out a conversation with your muse. Your muse can be a guy or a girl (mine's a guy) and he/she can be however you want him/her. Describe your muse in detail. Describe the place where your muse lives (mine lives in a dusty, fancy house in the middle of a wheat field), and describe it all in very great detail. Tell what the chair looks like. Tell what the desk looks like and what pictures are on the wall and what the view out the window is and how your muse greets you. Is he sort of cool towards you - after all, you haven't come to visit for just about ever? Is he immediately welcoming and friendly? Does this reflect your personality at all? What does he do? What does he say to you? Play music in the background, bring anyone into that house you want, friends and people who've influenced you and they'll help. Here you're god. You may do what you like. And they want you to do well.

Tell your muse you're having a problem writing. Describe the problem. Describe what he says. Do your people offer you inspiration or are they just there for comfort? What do they say to you? Write it all down. You will be surprised at what comes up.

Write very slowly. Write in the present tense. You will not like this. Your mind will scream at you and chuck nails and thorns at your subconscious. It will do everything in its power to keep you from doing this exercise. I need you to say to it, "Shut up. I'm learning things. You want me to do well, don't you?" You will have to tell yourself this a lot. Eventually you will begin to believe it.

Do this exercise without stopping, writing whatever comes to mind. No one's going to judge, no one should even see it. Ask your muse for help. Ask for inspiration. Describe a scene to him you can't get. He'll help. But only if you stick with it. Only if you do it the whole way through. You'll feel it when you reach the point where it all clicks, where this exercise is no longer drudgery, force feeding for your subconscious. It's like flying. It's good from there.

You'll feel it. It's the best feeling in the world. But until then you'll suffer huge discomfort. Grit your teeth and bear it. This exercise works. Believe me. _/)

Your muse will thank me. He's been bored a long time.

What a coincidence; I just wrote a blog entry explaining my muse. In fact, I had planned on talking to her tonight and recapping the conversation tomorrow. This is very good advice, and it's fantastic for getting out of a writer's block and also (if you think it through enough) for finding your writing niche.

Oh, and want to know one of the fun things about a muse? It's all your own. You can name it, dress it, buy it a fancy cage, whatever. It's like having a pet.

I don't have a muse.

I have a character who has grown impatient with both the fact that I have not written his part yet and the fact that I'm so lazy and undisciplined when it comes to writing. So he has now taken over, and I don't have a choice about it. I have to write. The end.

It's somewhat amusing and somewhat annoying at the same time.

So I suppose in a way he's my muse, although he chose me and not the other way around.

I don't just have one particular muse, but a lot of times I'll write out characters' conversations, which gives me a better idea of how they think, what types of things they'd say, how they react, etc. and often that's enough to get me going again. Fun stuff.

Thats what I am doing when I write as well. I talk with "myself" There are a number of characters that I "release" when I want to write something or just kill some time Its fun.

Moved to writing tips - since you said no one should even see these writings, it's more of a helpful tip than a shared activity.

My muse thinks I can't write! What a crazy muse it is ... I'm never going to it for help again. Except I'm going to prove it wrong, so I guess that helped my resolve after all.

My muse's name is Sergio Velasquez and he lives in a room identical to mine. I hate him, so much.

Just writing that, I feel like I wanna do this activity. I wanna do it differently though. I'll report back if my way works.

I have no muse. *grins* Which is good, because we'd probably fight all the time considering all the fights I get into with my characters.

Or maybe that's it, for each story, those characters become my muse. It's an interesting thought.

And then there are the people that think that my frogs are my muse, because they seem to show up all over the place.

And then, if you actually want to talk about the people that inspire me, I'd have to say that's my family since they all me to bounce ideas off them all the time.

So... can my muse be a combination of all of that?

Duskglimmer wrote:I have no muse. *grins* Which is good, because we'd probably fight all the time considering all the fights I get into with my characters.

Or maybe that's it, for each story, those characters become my muse. It's an interesting thought.

And then there are the people that think that my frogs are my muse, because they seem to show up all over the place.

And then, if you actually want to talk about the people that inspire me, I'd have to say that's my family since they all me to bounce ideas off them all the time.

So... can my muse be a combination of all of that?

Hmm, maybe your muse is a morpher (like mine) in disguise?

I like having a muse; you can go to it for help, and you can blame it when you write crap!

Wow. Lots of responses to that one. First of all, thanks, Crysi, for the heads-up about moving it. Just thought you'd get a kick out of the fact that I went to Writing Activites today to check on my post and I couldn't find it. Freaked me out quite a bit.

Wanna know a secret, Inertia? I hated my muse so much too at first. Or rather, he hated me. He was very cold. He was a little miffed that I hadn't come to talk to him for - well, you know - ever. He's Croatian, which is weird, and for some reason he is always wearing a gray suit. He smokes. Don't ask me why this is. I didn't know it until I wrote it down. I'm looking forwawrd to hearing if your way worked.

This one's to Duskglimmer. You can make your muse a combination of frogs, family and characters if you want. The only reason I suggested keeping your muse and influences seperate is because it works for me, but feel free to play with your world. After all, you are god there. Me? I sit and write with my muse while I get to call in my favorite singers to play music for me while I write and my favorite authors (mostly all dead by now) to give me suggestions and ideas. I suppose it's like coaxing your subconscious mind out with representations of people. After all, I'm sure these people aren't telling me anything I don't already know on some deep level, but making them talk to me about it brings out feelings and ideas I didn't even know I had.

Sorry, Angie, my muse isn't a morpher. He is a very solid, very arrogant, very brilliant, and on occasion very sweet guy who has taken his good old time getting use to me. It must've annoyed him at first that suddenly out of blue a person barges into his house and bombards him with questions and demands.

I'd be annoyed to.

I'm glad so many people commented on this tip. It was so hard, so crummy, so terrible-feeling when I did it for the first time, but it was so very worth it.

Glad you guys thought it was alright. _/)

Dream Deep wrote:Wow. Lots of responses to that one. First of all, thanks, Crysi, for the heads-up about moving it. Just thought you'd get a kick out of the fact that I went to Writing Activites today to check on my post and I couldn't find it. Freaked me out quite a bit.

Wanna know a secret, Inertia? I hated my muse so much too at first. Or rather, he hated me. He was very cold. He was a little miffed that I hadn't come to talk to him for - well, you know - ever. He's Croatian, which is weird, and for some reason he is always wearing a gray suit. He smokes. Don't ask me why this is. I didn't know it until I wrote it down. I'm looking forwawrd to hearing if your way worked.

This one's to Duskglimmer. You can make your muse a combination of frogs, family and characters if you want. The only reason I suggested keeping your muse and influences seperate is because it works for me, but feel free to play with your world. After all, you are god there. Me? I sit and write with my muse while I get to call in my favorite singers to play music for me while I write and my favorite authors (mostly all dead by now) to give me suggestions and ideas. I suppose it's like coaxing your subconscious mind out with representations of people. After all, I'm sure these people aren't telling me anything I don't already know on some deep level, but making them talk to me about it brings out feelings and ideas I didn't even know I had.

Sorry, Angie, my muse isn't a morpher. He is a very solid, very arrogant, very brilliant, and on occasion very sweet guy who has taken his good old time getting use to me. It must've annoyed him at first that suddenly out of blue a person barges into his house and bombards him with questions and demands.

I'd be annoyed to.

I'm glad so many people commented on this tip. It was so hard, so crummy, so terrible-feeling when I did it for the first time, but it was so very worth it.

Glad you guys thought it was alright. _/)

Lol, why would I be offended that your muse isn't a morpher?

Hmm, I think we may all be skitzo or something. . . Me being the worst case, of course. . . Hey, insanity breeds creativity, no?

Writers are neurotic by nature. Have you noticed?
_/)

My brother picked up one of my notebooks the other day and I practically disembowled him.

Artistic types are nuerotic by nature.

And Angie - there's a quote by one writer or another that says that writing is the only acceptable form of schizophrenia.

Dream Deep - I don't think choosing my muse is something that I really have to do. I've never had a problem with writing before I started trying to take the time to clearly define what exactly my muse was, and I doubt I'll have problems now. So, instead I'll just stick to my inane babblings when people ask about it. *grins* Good luck with trying to contain all those dead authors within your own head. They can be a bit stubborn at times.

Dead authors can be tricky. Glad you looked at it, hope it gave you at least some ideas.

(Maybe I should take up inane babbling?)
Considering, it might be benficial.

Good luck in writing, pleasure reading your posts. _/)
I'm glad you tried my suggestion - but like I said. The same stuff doesn't work for everyone. Have fun, Duskglimmer!