Friday, September 6, 2013

Summoning the Muse

Posted by: Steve Vera
I love talking to other writers. I learn so much from them while at the same time, get to impart a little of me to them as well. One of my favorite topics, as is many readers, is inspiration. Where do writers get their inspiration? Do they ever get to a point where their well runs dry and they are faced with the dreaded Writer's Block monster? *crazed lunatic pounds on an organ*

It seems as if muses come in as many shapes and sizes as there are writers. Some play guitar, go for a run, visit a museum, jump up and down on one leg while barking like a dog (a big dog), but me...I like my muse best.

She rocks. Literally.

 I knew exactly what the opening scene was going to be to my first novel DRYNN the first time I ever heard Forty Six & 2 by Tool.



Since I live in two states--NY and CT--I do some serious driving, back and forth, twice a week. Some people look at me with pity at all the driving I have to do, but I loooove it; I actually get to escape from the chaos of life and do a little decompressing. It's like going on vacation every week. The best part is that I get to listen to all the music I've been missing and within that music...novels are waiting to be born.

I actually conjured an entire book by a single song, it hit me like a Howitzer round--boom in the brain! Got it, and thank God for voice memo on the iPhone--I have hours and hours, which in of itself is a treasure because I get to actually hear epiphanies happening real time and get to keep them forever. Downloadable and all. ;)

I've written two books and have a third one on the way, and each one of them has a soundtrack, pieces of music that have moved me. Donald Maass calls the core of a scene the "uranium isotope", and it is such an apt description. I hear a song, I see a scene and I just start fleshing that sucker out. What's going on? Who're the main players? How'd they get there? What's the uranium isotope of the scene--rage, anguish, elation, vengeance? We as a civilization are so blessed with the plethora of gifted musicians out there and here's the cool part. As long as there's music...I get to write. :D

And that rocks.

What's your muse?

And thanks for the glance.

-Steve Vera

P.S. Oh yeah, maybe I should say a lil' something about my book. DRYNN, Book I of the LAST OF THE SHARDYN trilogy is an epic urban fantasy. The premise? The heroes of two worlds join forces to fight the Lord of the Underworld. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn. THROUGH THE BLACK VEIL (Book II) comes out Nov. 25th, 2013 and is also gonna be available on Audible.com as well as carinapress.com, Amazon, Google Play, and any other place in cyberspace that has ebooks.  I can't wait for the world to read it! DRYNN was just the appetizer. Okay, once again, thanks for the glance.


Steve out.

5 comments:

  1. I think our muses might be cousins because I get a lot of inspiration from music, too. I've written different worlds to completely different genres of music and really been helped by how that can set the tone.

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  2. Looks like we're kindred spirits! But now I gotta know, which music to which worlds?

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    1. For my Southern UF, I listened to a lot of RL Burnside, Howlin' Wolf, some older and alt country. For my futuristic PNR, just about anything by Depeche Mode along with the soundtrack to Blade Runner. Such different worlds desperately needed different playlists. :)

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  3. I used to use music a lot--and then I had kids and feared waking them from their naps so I got out of the habit. Now they're all in school and I could play music again--but all my 'plotting music' is on cassette tapes...

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  4. Cassettes are making a comeback! At least that's what I heard the other day on NPR. Aaaaand, that's the beauty of Spotify, you can hear so much music, old and new, and every genre you could think of. A writer's paradise... ;)

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