I believe that everyone has an inner muse. When you’re writing out narration, you hear a distinctive voice in your head. You see and hear the words before they appear on the page. Maybe you can even hear how your character’s voices sound, their intonation, and you try and capture it best you can.
And for me, for my very first novel, that voice belonged to Julie Andrews. ‘Sound of Music’ Julie Andrews to be exact. – Not to be confused with ‘Mary Poppins’ Julie Andrews.
Yes, those very first lines of the very first pages, I felt lost. I knew the story I wanted to tell but it had been so long since I’d sat down to write, that I didn’t know where to begin.
“Right then!” A distinctive English voice popped into my head.
“They say the day Gretchen Grey was born, strange things began happening around the Grey household.”
“They did?”
“Absolutely.”
“Right then.” And with a confirming nod, I started to type. Julie led me through the first three chapters of my book and when I really got rolling, and the words were coming fast and my fingers tappedity tapped a mile a minute, Julie twirled and whirled around my bedchambers (cause she refused to call it a ‘bedroom’) in creative bliss.
When she had given me the entire backstory for my book, she started to fade and dwindle as I took over the action and progression of the characters she helped me create.
And some time later, yes, I was obligated to remove the backstory altogether to be sure the reader was thrown right into the action. But I keep it very close to heart and at least I know one other person is aware of all that took place before the ‘real’ story came into its own.
So thank you Julie Andrews!
Did anyone else have a distinctive ‘muse’ ?
