Fiction By Phoenix

Guest post for Fiction By Phoenix – Phoenix aka Lee Jordan is an author who loves helping other authors by posting tips on her blog.  My guest post – “Feeding the Muses” http://fictionbyphoenix.com/on-writing/

Vroom, vroom – start your engines. Oh shoot wrong vocation. How about a cooking analogy? Get your creative juices from dripping to flowing or is that plumbing? No, no, we’re talking about writing. It never fails… when you can’t write (i.e. while you’re driving) you get little ideas starting to swirl and coalesce into something bigger and then, when you finally sit down at your writing media of choice… nada, nothing, zip, zero, fpht… blank.

I believe that each of us tackles this problem in our own way, but here is my advice to you, in case you’re stuck. As always my advice is free, so you are getting what you pay for. If you like it, then use it. If you don’t then please do ignore me. I won’t take it personally – I promise!

Care and feeding of your muses is a delicate business. I always carry a journal with me so that I can write down random bits and pieces. When I really can’t think of a darned thing to say – yeah, it does happen once in a while – then I go for a walk, talk to another author, look at pictures, listen to music, watch a movie or read a book. Sometimes I pull out an old idea and discuss it with my family or friends. It’s amazing what can happen when we share ideas!
As writers, I believe that it is very important to immerse ourselves in the culture of writing. Attend a workshop or class on an element of the writing process to get yourself revved up again. You might even consider teaching a bit of writing to kids. Talk about recharging your batteries! As a teacher, I can tell you that we love volunteers to come into our classrooms – especially if they are an expert at something. If appropriate you can even plug your book. Helping another author can give you that same kind of emotional boost that you get from seeing your work turn on a light bulb for kids and that really gets the ideas popping.
If you have ever seen a photo or painting that moved you, then you know what I’m talking about when I say that looking at pictures helps. I have clippings from magazines and downloaded pictures of celebrities that I use to visualize my characters. I use them for locations as well. Sometimes images almost speak to me. I have written many scenes by looking at a picture or while listening to a song. I nearly always listen to music when I sit at my computer to write.

Ask yourself what moves you and then try that. Most of all have some fun because if it isn’t fun, maybe it isn’t what you should be doing! Now, go get ‘em! I believe in you!