This post started out on just some thoughts about finding and using your muse. However, since it seemed pointless to even talk about finding a muse if you don't know how to use it properly, I expanded the topic to include the entire creative process.
And so we have the following.
My Basic Formula
I realize that not everyone is going to, or even needs to, follow my exact formula. However, it is what works for me, so this is the framework for this discussion.
Routinely practice skill - Ask a question - Trigger the muse - Put it down - Question/Critique
Routinely Practice
Duh. Why do you think I have a blog?
Art is work. If anyone tells you otherwise, they don't get what art really is.
Not every post is muse driven. Most of my posts are driven by the simple need to practice and so I ask myself "what sounds interesting today?" and I go from there. This gives me space to be imperfect and to practice the more mundane skills like grammar, transition, and clarity. Besides, when your muse hits, it can only use what you skills you currently have.
Ask A Question
All new things started with the plausible answers to a question. Is there another way to have light besides fire? Lightning is bright. What if there was a way to capture it's energy?
I use questions to trigger thoughts that usually lead to stories that explain my answers. If practice is the laying out a fireplace, the question is the spark that starts it on fire.
All About Respecting Muses
A muse is a habit, ritual, occurrence, person, pet, place, sound, touch, thing or combination thereof that gives rise to the creative inspirations.
That's great and all, but what if you don't know what your muse is?
All I can say is, trial, error, no small degree of self awareness, and practice at respecting the inspiration when it does come. By respect, I mean taking the time to really think it out, write it down, or do something to acknowledge it. That action creates a habit and a greater awareness for future inspirations.
Eventually, you'll start to get a sense of what circumstances will usually trigger your inspiration. I say usually, because inspiration can be fickle sometimes and requires a little ground work and some patience.
Putting it Down
As I kinda already said in the previous section, you have to respect the muse by acknowledging it. For me, that's writing notes on whatever I can get my hands on. Paper, pen, phone, scraps, whatever. Then as soon as is possible, I revisit those notes and flush out the broader thoughts I was thinking in a word document.
Questions and Critique
This is the part where I may butt heads with a few people. Some people get the impression that creative words, plays, movies, songs, just kind of appear perfectly out of thin air to lucky individuals who then just tell the rest of the world about it. We "ooo" and "ahh" over the genius of it, then move on.
Reality, inspiration is rarely perfect, but it has the potential to be with some work. If practice is laying a fireplace, and questions are the spark, then the muse/inspiration would only be the tinder. Anybody who has laid a fire before knows that tinder will burn and brightly, but only briefly and with very little heat. If you want a fire, you have to build it on the tinder with small sticks, then gradually adding larger lumber till you can sit a log on the coals and then let it burn. You can't even be willy nilly with that part. If the sticks are misplaced, you can smother your fire or fail to catch anything alight. Fires are logical and systematic. They can be individual and creative, but it has to make sense.
It's the annoying part of creativity. The logic. The grammar. The rules. Realizing that what makes perfect sense and seems awesome to you, may not make sense to Joe in Atlanta. After you've got something going, you have to question it's existence a little and notice the mistakes. It's a painful, but necessary part of creativity that only makes the work stronger. And work it is. Refining takes a long time and a lot of patience. This is what separates the hobbyists from the artists. The willingness to be honest with their creations and to put in the time and the work towards making them perfect. Even this practice blog post has gone through several rewrites.
In Case You're Lost: Example
Practice
As some of you might know, I hadn't written much in the two years after receiving a Creative Writing degree. I missed it. So I dusted off this blog and started to regularly write about things that interest me. I also started studying my art by reading again. It's different than audio books because I can see the words and how they are laid out and that reminds me of some of English's more obscure rules.
Question
My current novel was entirely triggered by the questions: "If there were magic in today's world, where would it have come from? How would it have been created?"
Trigger the Muse
I've been working slowly on this novel for over a year now. I know that relaxing to music while traveling by foot, car, or plane triggers my better thinking. It's not a guarantee that those circumstances will result in brilliant creative thoughts, but it helps.
Over the holidays, I spent a good twelve hours traveling longer than I would have normally due to bad weather and airline maintenance. I took the extra time to ask myself some questions about the plot holes in my current book and boy was the creative muse on fire that day. I would have rather been with my family, but since circumstances were against me, I still consider it time well spent. The point is, it probably wouldn't have been as good if I hadn't been reviewing the project as a whole the week before.
Put it Down
I was grateful my memo pad on my phone was operational in flight mode. When I got home, I transcribed the notes into my usual storage area with additional thoughts and questions.
Question and Critique
After I get a chance to write a few mock chapters with my new ideas, I'll go over them again like a critic or a fan and see if I still have glaring questions.
If I feel like the project is almost done, then I would ask my final questions. "I really like this, but how appealing would it be to other people? Has it been done before, and if so, is it cliche or classic? If it's likable that's great, but is it relatable? If I were someone else, would I still like this?" Most importantly! "Is there anything I could change to make it even better?"
Sometimes, I feel like I'm working at Ironman's computer. I have a bunch of elements and scenes scattered in front of me. I switch, modify, rewrite, review logs, add, subtract, and play it again in my head until it feels just right. Always, I am building and cross referencing to make sure everything will fit together into a complete whole when it is done. (Note: It took many beginners novels and mistakes to learn the importance of that particular skill.)
This is the line where we cross from using the muse, to using the inner critic and the mountain of work that happens afterwords. Both are essential. The inner muse creates the heart and framework, while the inner critic notices the inconsistencies, the gaudy use of "be verbs" and saves us from regrettable mistakes reaching the printing presses.
After the muse, it's all hard work. This is what separates the writer from the hobbyist, but that's for another blog post.
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