Lena Corazon

Flights of Fancy

ROW80: When a Good Muse Goes Rogue

The good news this week: I’m exercising on a regular basis. I’m hammering out the days that are best for hanging out on FB, Twitter, and G+. I’m getting better at tweeting/liking/promoting people’s blog posts as soon as I finish reading them.

Even better, I’m in the midst of a Work-From-Bed marathon, and it’s really nice. (Napoleon might be enjoying it more than me.)

The bad news: My muse has gone a little cray-cray.

As most of you are probably aware, National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo, aka my favorite month of the year) begins in barely a week. Outlining and prepping my still-untitled steampunk novel has been at the top of my priority list this month, and for the most part it’s gone well.

I’ve got short but solid character bios. I have a name for the country in which the tale is set. I’ve got a brand-new character that emerged out of the ether and refused to leave (the “accidental queen” mentioned below). I even have an incredibly sketchy, incredibly cliched synopsis! Try this on for size:

A horrific attack plunges the nation of Vorewin into a war it is ill-equipped to win. Can two girl geniuses, a reluctant witch, an ambitious soldier, and an accidental queen join forces and save the land?

Masterful, no?

So things are going well… or were going well. Because my muse has decided to jump ship and go rogue.

Never mind this NaNoWriMo thing, she says. What about that fantasy novel you’ve been playing with for a year? I have IDEAS for it.

And hey, she adds, remember how you said you’d never write a contemporary or futuristic novel? I’ve got the BEST idea for a near-future paranormal romance!  Then she dangles the carrot: You can even add Pierce to it!

So for the last week or so, I have been frantically scribbling everything that isn’t my NaNoWriMo novel. I have thousands of words worth of brainstorms for how to plug up my many plot holes in PATH TO THE PEACOCK THRONE (which may be getting a new title one of these days… THE PEACOCK QUEEN, perhaps?). I have all these scrawled pages with ideas for this absolutely ridiculous paranormal romance thing. The heroine even has a name–Falco, a woman who is part bird-shifter and has a very complicated past with Pierce, who is all mysterious and might maybe be a mercenary and/or a magic wielder. With a motorcycle. And leather pants. *fans self*

As far as the next week is concerned, I am going to give in and let my runaway muse have her way. I’ll be hammering out scenes for PEACOCK and jotting down ideas for the paranormal romance. If I can steal a minute or two for other things, I’ll try to massage the NaNo novel. Hopefully by the time November 1st rolls around, I’ll have exhausted the random frenzy that’s taken over my brain.

WriMos, how goes your preparation? Anyone else ever dealt with a muse-gone-rogue?

Be sure to swing by and wave hello to the other ROWers who are checking in today!

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20 Comments

  1. Multiple plot bunnies attacking at once? Yikes! So far I’ve only dealt with one at a time. Dealing with one of those for my NaNo novel, as a matter of fact. The plotting isn’t progressing as quickly as I’d like, but it IS progressing! Good luck taming your plot bunnies in time for NaNo!
    Jennette Marie Powell recently posted..WANA Wednesday: An Interview with Maria McKenzie, plus ROW80 UpdateMy Profile

    • Thanks, Jen! I usually end up juggling ideas, but I’m *normally* able to isolate one or two and focus… but not this time. I can’t totally complain, though. I think I’d rather have too many ideas than not enough.

      Hope your plotting as gone well and you are writing up a storm for NaNo!

  2. Oh wow! Attack of the story ideas! I’ve had that happen to me, only not quite as intensely. Sometimes all you can do is write down the ideas, give them their own names and files, get all the info down and then hope they settle down and leave you to the writing you meant to be working on just now. Good luck! (Off to work on my NaNo plans now–hoping a few ideas will attack me. :D)
    Kim recently posted..Rest StopMy Profile

    • Glad I’m not the only one who knows what this is like, Kim. I’ve really been meaning to set up a Scrivener file to hold all of my crazy bits and pieces of ideas. It would make my life so much easier–no more flipping through notebooks trying to track them down.

      Hope your NaNo plans have solidified in the last week or so!

  3. I think it’s a pretty common phenomenon with writers…especially right when you’re about to start a big project. I keep getting ideas for other things I could be working on that aren’t the novel I’ve been brainstorming for NaNo. I think it’s probably best to stick with the original idea when the time comes. Shiny new ideas are always attractive because they’re new, but once you start working on them, you’ll go back to thinking about the one you planned in the first place.
    Alana recently posted..Is The Grass Always Greener? (Confessions of a Quitter)My Profile

    • Yeah, this is definitely true, Alana. I love starting projects because there is just so much possibility, so many different avenues to consider and follow. I *think* I’ve finally figured out a way to wrangle a few of my newer ideas in line, and still maintain the original plot I conceptualized a few weeks ago… but we’ll see. I think I’m going to be pantsing this project. 😀

  4. oh yes – anything to distract us – the mind is not always our bestest friend:) keeping jotting down the ideas but still with clenched teeth concentrating on nano next week – I will get there – I will:) all the best
    alberta recently posted..Prudence Macleod being interviewed on the Red CarpetMy Profile

  5. Well at least you’re writing stuff down. My muse goes MIA and AWOL quite often, but when she’s back, boy is she eager to get to work.

    Good luck on the NaNo! You can do it!!

    Patricia Rickrode
    w/a Jansen Schmidt
    Patricia recently posted..“I’m Watching That!”My Profile

    • I was totally thinking about this, Patricia–given the choice, I think I’d rather have too many ideas than not enough. 😀

      Thanks so much for stopping by!

  6. Wow, fantastic progress. I wish my muse behaved like that. 🙂
    Good luck for NANO. My username is Laura Parish (yes I know, original,) if you want to add me.
    x
    Laura recently posted..#row 80 – 24th October check in. NanoWriMo is almost here.My Profile

  7. I need your head in mine – NOW! Brilliantly enthusiastic imagination – I’m hoping its catching 🙂
    Shah Wharton recently posted..Getting to Know Andrew Valentine – Author of Vampire EroticaMy Profile

  8. Oh, Dobby! Seriously just choked on my cereal 😀 He’s just so into it! So I’ve heard that your muse and my muse are just so darn good lookin’ that Captain Mal made off with them in the middle of the night. All those plot bunnies are just clues on how to find them. Allegedly.

    Love the synopsis!! And shoosh about cliched. I’m convinced that secretly, we all love cliched. HOLY CRUD…6 days!!!
    Lauren Garafalo recently posted..Where Am I?My Profile

    • YES. That is EXACTLY what has happened to our muses. I am adopting this as my canon and running with it (incidentally, I think it could be the basis for another story. Just sayin’…).

      I am ALL about cliched plots these days. I think I’m over trying to be original, lol.

  9. This type of thing usually happens when I’m nearly done a novel. Sounds like self-sabotage type thing maybe.
    asraidevin recently posted..Finally on Barnes and NobleMy Profile

    • Hah, self-sabotage is definitely something I’ve considered! It used to only happen to me towards the end of a novel (I am notoriously terrible when it comes to finishing things), but now beginnings are equally suspect as well. The creative process–it is such an odd, strange thing.

  10. Yay for the influx of creativity. Your steampunk story and paranormal with Pierce sound awesome. Lets hope your Muse is happy to do the NaNo story after you’ve let her to indulge.
    Reetta Raitanen recently posted..Darkness, My New FriendMy Profile

    • Thanks so much, Reeta! I’m trying to be patient over here, which is hard when I want to write ALL the things. But one project at a time, right? 😛

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