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Memphis Trace · 06-01-2012 04:00:00

For most of my writing life, I've wondered why I go through periods set upon by the muse(s) to believe that some mundane thought I have suddenly seems worthy of making into a story. For the most part, I've wandered through my days as an Ideahoan, a member of a tribe that migrated to Ideaho a long time ago so that the world around them presented little chance of being smitten by anything but an Idea.

When serendipity caused me to awake with an Idea, it seemed everything I saw or heard for a stretch of creative effort made me think I'd be able to reposit sliced bread to recast it as The staff of life direct from The Muse, the one in charge of inspiring songs and prayers and poetry into a coalescive picture. And voilá I had my longheld suspicion that I was The Chosen One, the one blessed with just the style, to foist off the secret of life upon unsuspecting seekers of the Truth.

My musing about wherefrom comes inspiration was jacked up again this morning when I read this review of Life by Keith Richards with James Fox: http://www.delanceyplace.com/index.php

I particularly took courage from this excerpt from the review:

"And because you've been playing every day, sometimes two or three shows a day, ideas are flowing. One thing feeds the other. You might be having a swim or screwing the old lady, but somewhere in the back of the mind, you're thinking about this chord sequence or something related to a song. No matter what the hell's going on. You might be getting shot at, and you'll still be 'Oh! That's the bridge!' And there's nothing you can do; you don't realize it's happening. It's totally subconscious, unconscious or whatever. The radar is on whether you know it or not. You cannot switch it off. You hear this piece of conversation from across the room, 'I just can't stand you anymore'... That's a song. It just flows in. And also the other thing about being a songwriter, when you realize you are one, is that to provide ammo, you start to become an observer, you start to distance yourself. You're constantly on the alert. That faculty gets trained in you over the years, observing people, how they react to one another. Which, in a way, makes you weirdly distant. You shouldn't really be doing it. It's a little of Peeping Tom to be a songwriter. You start looking round, and everything's a subject for a song. The banal phrase, which is the one that makes it. And you say, I can't believe nobody hooked up on that one before! Luckily there are more phrases than songwriters, just about."

When you're hot with your story, does it feel like there are more phrases than there are writers?

Memphis Trace

flowing pencil · 06-01-2012 09:50:30

Yes.. yes and yes! Now for me to even entertain that you have ever had a 'mundane' thought is a reach! Having said that, if anyone can take a 'mundane' thought and turn it into something entertaining? Viola! I have a blast with just your created words "Ideahoan" .. I honestly feel if I were to ask for a special gift for the MuseGod and only had one wish? It would be "Wit" ... It has work well for some of my favorite pieces of writing. C.O.D.. being at the top.

After reading etc.. I have to ask. Are your days filled with creative thoughts? The reason I ask is mine comes in bunches. Days where words are messing with any attempt to do my daily chores etc..and then when I want to sit down and just 'create?' Nada! Shouldn't a good writer be able to do that? Sit down and simply create a poem or short story etc... or would the emotional impact simply not be there?

This post gave me a lot to consider. Whether you meant it to or not.. it is a thought provoking post.

P

Memphis Trace · 06-01-2012 10:25:40

flowing pencil wrote:
Yes.. yes and yes! Now for me to even entertain that you have ever had a 'mundane' thought is a reach! Having said that, if anyone can take a 'mundane' thought and turn it into something entertaining? Viola! I have a blast with just your created words "Ideahoan" .. I honestly feel if I were to ask for a special gift for the MuseGod and only had one wish? It would be "Wit" ... It has work well for some of my favorite pieces of writing. C.O.D.. being at the top.

After reading etc.. I have to ask. Are your days filled with creative thoughts? The reason I ask is mine comes in bunches. Days where words are messing with any attempt to do my daily chores etc..and then when I want to sit down and just 'create?' Nada! Shouldn't a good writer be able to do that? Sit down and simply create a poem or short story etc... or would the emotional impact simply not be there?

This post gave me a lot to consider. Whether you meant it to or not.. it is a thought provoking post.

P

Some 30 years ago, in a class I took under Doris Grumbach at American University, she said the most important thing for an aspiring writer to do each day was open up for business. She recommended going to your favorite spot, taking the cover off your typewriter, and start your writing time by trying to defeat the blank page staring back at you. This was before the real advent of computers.

I was busy trying to make a living so doing that every day was next to impossible for me. But I did take another of her suggestions: Read, read, read I started with road signs as I drove about town selling gardening to folks. My sons said I was the only person they knew whose mouth moved when he came to a STOP sign.

Over the course of the next 30 years I did manage to find a way to get to my favorite spot every day to try to defeat the blank page. Just my luck that the world of writing is headed toward being paperless.

Would you like to buy an IBM Selectric?

I do try to compose something every day. When I'm not writing fiction, I try to engage old friends in sports arguments, review a story on TNBW, or respond to a review someone has given me. I do feel blessed that the things we call words often will inspire a story for me just by causing me to have a punny thought or provoking a memory of something overheard.

Still, many of my days involve plowing rocky ground. But I think "Open up every day for business" is great advice for aspiring writers.

Memphis

Last edited by Memphis Trace (06-01-2012 11:10:28)

linda lee · 06-01-2012 10:59:52

It's fantastic advice and like the author of your excerpt sometimes the writing I do is only in my head. I actually gasped a little when he described the state of becoming an observer to watch for song fodder--a lot of the band's friends and fans tease often about not saying too much around me for that very reason. It's amazing how much of their stuff has landed in my work.

kiwi · 06-08-2012 00:37:58

Memphis - terrific quote.
I first felt like that when I took photographs in my 20's, or when I didn't take photographs because my camera wasn't with me but I looked out of the bus window and saw the photo I should have taken. It's not just observation. Its the seeing in that particular way and then the interpretation and the conveying. That's what separates an artist from an onlooker or an observer.

Last edited by kiwi (06-08-2012 00:40:17)

worldmap · 06-13-2012 06:44:42

Ah...the muse!

I've had plenty.

Mostly they evaporate like a bad smell.

Useless buggers unless I actually sit down and roll (should I say toll) it out into a story.

Last edited by worldmap (06-13-2012 06:45:17)

#1 06-01-2012 04:00:00

Waking up with the Muse

#2 06-01-2012 09:50:30

Re: Waking up with the Muse

#3 06-01-2012 10:25:40

Re: Waking up with the Muse

flowing pencil wrote:

#4 06-01-2012 10:59:52

Re: Waking up with the Muse

#5 06-08-2012 00:37:58

Re: Waking up with the Muse

#6 06-13-2012 06:44:42

Re: Waking up with the Muse

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