Muse and Mazes

I’m on my 4th read-through of Noonday in the North (book 3 of my Absolution of the Morning Star series). Well, actually, it’s more like three and a half. A dozen chapters into the third read-through, it started to feel like a slog, and it was hard to keep going. Each chapter seemed to be missing something. The story was there, but not the magic, and it just wasn’t popping. Luckily, while in this rut, I stumbled upon a good piece of advice. It said not to confuse passion with motivation. Passion is fickle and not always under your control. Like with all things, you will not always be passionate about your writing, but as long as you stay motivated, you’ll get there. After reading this, I stopped what I was doing and returned to the beginning with a new motivation. It was finally time to cut.

To reach my daily word count goals, I put a lot on the page that doesn’t need to be there. Sometimes I know while writing it that it’s crap, but most of the time, it is just an idea that never comes to life, and I don’t know how useless it is until I finish. Writing a bunch that ends up in the trash seems counterproductive, but it’s the opposite. The daily word count goals push me forward, the drivel will get cut during editing, and movement for the sake of movement keeps me from falling into the pit of writer’s block. Plus, if you get rid of all the stuff that doesn’t work, it is easier to find the things that do. The muse is a strange creature. Sometimes your characters have to wander in the maze of bad ideas before the ethereal gifter of good tales reaches out and shows them the way.

Often, it’s hard to realize that it is time to slash. During that first read-through, everything is fresh and seems like gold. But during the second or third, the cracks appear. I get bored, the chapters grow long, and the dialogue tedious. This stress test illuminates the areas that need work and, sometimes, the places that need to die. It isn’t easy to see all that death with each press of the delete button, but it has to be done. A hundred years ago, readers could suffer tedium because they had nothing else to do or, at the very least, had less competition for their attention. Picture a raging snowstorm, a quiet house, and a crackling fire—the options before you are a thick book and staring at the wall. But today, the contenders for attention are fierce. Every reader that joins me on my journey is a victory. One soliloquy too many, or worse, a lull in the action that stretches too far, and this shy angel could place down my book and binge-watch Netflix, never to return.

I want to write books that a reader can pick up repeatedly and never grow tired of its world. I may not be there yet, only my readers know, but that is my aspiration and motivation when times get tough. Reading through a 500-page novel with no surprises a half-a-dozen times tends to kill the passion, but not this motivation. If I must suffer, so be it. Any goal of merit is worth some pain. I’ve found a promising path, but have I found my way out of the maze yet? No, but a bit of the passion returns, and I’m one step closer to the prize.

Cheers!