Get the Muse to Work for You; Challenges in Writing a Novel: Volume XII

Should a writer only write when inspiration strikes?  

E.C. Henry says, no!

One of my tenant beliefs is that a writer should write 1-2 hours a day--whether "the Muse" inspires you or not!

There is nothing like the times when things are going well at the keyboards.  Sometimes when I'm really into it I can got 2-3 hours and not realize I was there the whole time.  You can get so enthralled in the world/reality that you're creating that time just flies on buy, and you don't even know it!

That's a good day at the keyboard.  Times when inspiration reigns supreme and you're in the zone.  You feel like Steph Curry reigning down 3's and you just can't be stopped!  But eventually, even like a good NBA game, the session does come to an end.  

"Ya just know this shot's going in!"

So what do you about the days when you feel like Shaquille O'Neil at the foul line and can't make a free throw to save your life.  The muse isn't with you, and words aren't flowing?  

"Ya just know, this shot's gunna clank off."

E.C. Henry says, write anyway!  Maybe not stream of consciousness, first draft kind of writing; but maybe go back over your work and seek to technically improve the prose (which is a fancy was of saying make you sentences flow better).

Okay, so I've thrown out a term that needs to be explained and defined, "the muse": 

1) Muses: any of 9 sister, Greek goddesses in Greek mythology who presided over music and literature.  

2) a source of inspiration, a guiding genius.   

3) to be absorbed in thought.

4) a period of reflection.

"Hey, E.C. I'll be your Muse.  Sounds kinda flattering..."

Well, Miss Swift; and in many ways you already are... BUT E.C. Henry doesn't roll like that.   

Rather, E.C. Henry wants ALL of his stories to come from the Holy Spirit.  I will NEVER leave out rotten banana peel or pray to the "gods" for inspiration.  I want ALL my material to be blessable by Creator God, and you don't get there by opening yourself up to being visited by demons and unclean spirits!

I bring this up, as I have before, because I remember reading somewhere that some writer kept ROTTEN BANANA PEELS in a drawer in effort to attract their spiritual source of inspiration.  That warning always stuck in my craw.  It's TOTALLY WRONG.  Something I would NEVER do, and hopefully will always run from and avoid like the plague.  

I pray before I write.  Pray to the ONE TRUE GOD of Heaven: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  No, I don't JUST write stuff of spiritual and biblical significance.  Heck, even when I wrote "The Commune" and "The Commune II", which are dark stories, I STILL prayed to God for the skill to write well.  Didn't go to the devil for that, I went to the Lord.  Hopefully I'll always do that.  

I want my inspiration/muse to come from the Lord, not from other sources.  And, hopefully I'll never change.  Being a Christian doesn't limit what I write; rather, I believe it provides the conduit from true, great expressions of art to come from.  

Now as for the crux of this post, lets really get into it.  How do you get inspiration to work for you as endeavoring artist?  Let me give my take on how artists should view "inspiration".

1. Realize that not every day is filled with inspiration.  As a practicing artist you're going to have good and bad days.  It's not all magical.  There is a discipline to being an artist.
2. Don't let your feelings rule over you and decide your writing schedule.  If you're not feeling it--do it anyway!  Stay in the practice of writing every day.  
3. It's okay to audible.  If things are going bad in one area, switch off and go to something else.  Line edit.  Make your prose better.  Do spell checks.  Do some research of weak areas of your story.  
4. When inspiration strikes, go with it.  Go where it takes you, and be overly critical.  I've had days at the keyboard where was feeling it, but then suddenly inspiration strikes.  A breakthrough!  So what do you do then?  Go for it, follow that breakthrough and get it down.  There will time for critical thinking later.  Be willing to go where inspiration leads you.  

Did you notice how now in this post I'm using the word "inspiration" more than Muse?  If so, good.  That was intentional.  I prefer inspiration over Muse.  As I noted earlier, I am very leery of writing Muses.  In the back of my mind I tied Muses with demons and unclean spiritual things.  Don't want that, ever.  But inspiration?   Doesn't EVERYONE want that?  I hope so.  

Inspiration: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something--especially something creative.

Mental stimulation.  That what you want when you write.  You want to feel something and creatively express that to someone else so they can share. When I write I'm NEVER looking to parrot what someone else says.  Rather, I want them to see and feel what I see and fill so they can achieve a happier state of being.

Being a writer means that you're trying to entertain other people.  Yep, each time I sit down at the keyboards and attempt to write, you are on my mind.  My readers.  And I want to entertain you in a way that is pleasing to God. 

No matter what station of life you're in, have something to offer up to God