My muse is evil. Faithful blog readers will remember that I dubbed him Devlin. His recent actions have given me vindication for my choice of a name.
He's engaged me in a short story when I should be concentrating on taxes, or at the very least, I should be concentrating on my novel. Thus far, I don't think it's a very good short story, either. If he's going to interrupt me, the least he could do is tempt me with something better.
Before assailing me with new characters, Devlin allowed me an exercise from the book Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot by Peter Dunne. Though this book is for screenwriters, much of what Dunne has to say applies to novel writing. I thank my writing friends Celine Shinbutsu (Writing from Japan) and Madison Leigh for the referral to this book. (Both of their blogs are on my link list.)
Celine and Madison encouraged me to try the 3 sentence summary exercise from Emotional Structure for The Art of Deception. I did, and this is what I came up with:
One of Rebecca Allyn's art gallery customers has been murdered and homicide detective Erik Thorne put Rebecca's name at the top of his suspect list. But Erik appears to run hot and cold whenever Rebecca sees him, and she has to scramble to prove her innocence while at the same time fighting her attraction to him. When the case against her unveils past wrongs by one of her family members, Rebecca finds out she must rely upon the very man she wants to run from.
Devlin then allowed me an exercise from Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. Funny how I always return to that book. I highly recommend it to my writerly friends. Emotional Structure is new to me, and I'm sure I will find it quite useful, but Plot and Structure is a book I cannot do without. I applied Bell's "L-O-C-K" method to Deception and ferreted out plot details that needed to be found. I can't post the results of that exercise here as it contains spoilers for the story, but the result of my efforts was a one-page summary.
I'd like to apply both of these exercises to my other novel Falling Short as soon as I finish the taxes. And finish Deception. I'd sure like to have the mystery done before I continue Heidi and Dave's story.
What I find most haunting about my muse is the fact that he insists on being heard when I have little opportunity to follow him. Where is he on those days when I need him? Why does he insist on showing up when I need to concentrate on something other than my writing?
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3 comments:
Kick his butt, Janelle! Show him who is boss. You need to make him work for you, otherwise he'll think he's all high and mighty, and come and go as he pleases.
Let me knowhow to do that after you figure it out, though!
Ha! He wouldn't be a very good muse if he didn't behave badly, would he?
I think I'll check both books out. Thanks for mentioning them.
And it's good to have you back.
cjh
What do you expect - your muse is male. They are logical thinkers and have no connection to the emotional aspect of anything- lol. Show him who is boss. Write the niggles down and let them stew until you are ready to use them. It's all you can do. E :)
PS - my special word is almost like your muses name - lol - dovleivi (a few more letters but close)
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