How can I read suggestions on writing a hundred times, and suddenly, there’s something fresh. A new idea pops out, or more often, the same idea smacks me on the side of my face and shouts – why aren’t you doing this? Why don’t you remember this? Is that the Muse? Does she slap and scream? I don’t think so.
I read an article by Bill O’Hanlon (author of Write Is A Verb) in Writer’s Digest Yearbook – Writing Basics 2009. He discusses how I might escape from unhelpful voices (is that an understatement?) that mess up my writing. One writer was plagued with a voice that demanded to know, Who the hell do you think you are?
My alarmed and unhelpful voice says, If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. This has stood me in relatively good stead in my Marketing job. When I sit down to write, it’s another matter. I write psychological suspense – many of the characters are not nice and I’m telling things about them that perhaps they’d prefer to keep to themselves. When I consider the “not nice” thoughts they entertain and the “not nice” things they say and do, my fingers twitch and ache and soon collapse, unable to generate another word on the screen.
The article has a few clever solutions, but trust me, just recognizing the voice is a step forward. Unfortunately, I recognize it as I read the article and consider my writing life. I’m not always so quick to recognize it while I’m hovering over the keyboard. I do need the muse to smack me – but please do it gently.
