What Will They Do Next?

The comments from the writers group last week have really propelled me forward in my thinking about my book’s plot. I am currently working on a scene where I am putting several characters, who have previously been shown interacting separately, all into one room. It is actually exciting to watch the dynamics between them, the underlying jealousy and resentment, the sexual tension, the flaunting of familiarity and the brute force of class distinctions.

We as writers live amazing lives, working with characters from acorn to oak, some of whom start as supple seedlings, others who seem to emerge fully grown with an unbending will and a trajectory through life that can not be changed. I find that when I can't write a scene it is because the characters within it don't want my interference. They seem to move before I see them, speak before I hear them. "We're living our lives here! Stop telling us what to do!"

I'm beginning to think the "muse" is the state of mind when the brain does not try to think, does not try to analyze, but simply spills out images directly to the hands. The censor and the critic are left a split second behind, too late to stop the raw emotion good writing requires. Like living in dreams, writing fiction means going for a ride in a world where the brain gets to play however it wants to and that's why it is so darn fun.

Amy