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I'm just curious if any of you all deal with this kind of issue. I've been fighting off and on getting my muse to cooperate for awhile. I actually had a four day weekend thanks to work being slow and MLK day today. I thought oh my god I have four days to write, I can get a good portion of what's left to Alternative written out... One might think that, I mean I thought I could... When I first started posting stories I made myself a promise that I wouldn't actually start writing another story while I'm in the middle of writing another... Last year I even wrote a super short story documenting what its like fighting with her. The Petulant Muse if you haven't already read it... The last few months trying to appease her, I've written several character backstories and story outlines for some of her new ideas. I compromised thinking that as long as I'm not actually writing the new stories, that working on the other stuff doesn't really break the promise I made to myself...
Starting four days ago I sat down to write the next chapter (22) to Alternative, and I scraped and fought for each paragraph that I wrote... It took me three days to get a page and a half that I didn't think was total garbage written... Today I completely caved to her whims... I gave up trying to fight her...
Sitting her tonight with my laptop I've got eight word tabs up, four stories and the four reference documents, one for each story... I write on one until I hit a point and start to stumble and think okay next. I click onto the next story, see where I'm at and write until I stumble on that one and click to the next. Other than the few times I had to break to make us something to eat or give my daughter a ride to and form work, I've been writing almost all day...
I think in total I've written close to 18,000 words today in four separate stories and I'm nowhere close to having a finished chapter in either of them... I guess I should be glad I'm writing even if its driving me crazy... I know, I know... Short trip LOL...
Wishing you all the best,
Rebecca J. Cross.
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18,000 words!
That's like a year's output for me.
I know it sounds like a lot...
But I type extremely fast, that and my mind constantly runs at 100mph+ all the time. That's probably the main reason that I can't keep my muse focused. I've also pretty much written out the opening chapters for three of the stories in my head, so it's just a matter of dumping it out through the keyboard. Trying to tie up the last 6 or so chapters of Alternative is causing me to pause a good bit to make sure I cover everything I'm intending, and when I pause my muse kicks it into overdrive on one of the other ideas...
Friday-Saturday I barely managed to get 1500 words hammered out because I was fighting the muse... Out of all the crap I typed out today, maybe only 1000 of them was for Alternative...
I know I’m weird. The fact that I’m trans is probably one of the more normal things about me.
PLEASE...
... just do not stop writing Better than the Alternative. PLEASE.
Write as much as you like but finish Alternative.
but it is the rare moments of beauty and peace
in between the chaos,
That makes it worth living."
- Tertia Hill
Are you bragging?
Or complaining?
-- Daphne Xu
Mostly complaining.
But that's because I hardly ever have time to write anymore, this weekend was a fluke. Of the four stories I worked on, two are just mindless fluff stuff and will probably only be seen by my eyes and never see the light of day. There just isn't enough meat to the stories for me to feel the need to ever share them. Just two mindless romps of my imagination... The third story is aimed at more mainstream (non TG) fantasy and not sure how overall it would be accepted here.
My main reason for complaining is because the story I want to finish (that I started writing last April) is the one that got the least amount of attention. I guess I'm just frustrated that I can't keep her focused on it to save my life, and having extremely limited time to write just makes it worse... I already feel bad enough about keeping the people that are following it waiting even longer...
I know I’m weird. The fact that I’m trans is probably one of the more normal things about me.
The Occasional Non-TG
The occasional non-TG story is allowed here. So is mindless fluff. In fact, I'm trying myself to write some mind-melting mush. I'm not getting very far.
I experience something similar. I've begun stories a long time ago, that still aren't finished. (*cough* BB Sequel *cough* Alice's Revenge *cough*) And I keep thinking up new stories, only the occasional of which I've managed to finish.
-- Daphne Xu
I know the feeling
my muse wont let me finish the uncompleted stories I have on file, but keeps bringing me new ideas
Muses are touchy creatures
Mine ran away for several years a while back, then found her way home. When I retired I thought 'I'm going to have lots of time to write now!' Right. I have lots of time to read now and still procrastinate. The words will come when they're ready, they just won't be forced. Relax and enjoy it when the muse whispers in your ear.
The Petulant Muse
... is one of my favorite stories.
Are any of your new stories about a dragon? :-)
Sigh... Yes...
Yeah, the fantasy (non TG) story I mentioned above is the ‘one’... She’s been bugging me about it for almost a year now... I gave in and started actually writing it the other day and not just the backstories lol.
Becca C.
I know I’m weird. The fact that I’m trans is probably one of the more normal things about me.
Lizzy
Now that Lizzy has had her dragon, she might not be so insistent on having her way. Of course, now that you have given in to her, she might become even more demanding. I hope not.
Who knows? Someday she might grow up to be six!
Care and feeding...
The care and feeding of a fickle muse. There should be a book, right? Sometimes it's important to let your muse have her head and just run with it. However, training and discipline will have a cumulative effect. Perhaps it's an indication that the current story arc is not emotionally satisfying at the moment. Give your muse cookies and arrange a play day now and then ^^
G'luck and good writing, Rebecca
*Hugs*Jenna