I was curious. Like many here, I'm often unable to sleep when new story threads begin percolating and I'm driven to rise to commit a few to the page, so I won't forget them all, but it drove me to consider who it is that actually drives us so relentless.
If we're lucky, it might be a specific loved one, who inspires our creativity. But baring that, how to you perceive and personify your creativity? Is you muse male, female, or ambisexual, or does that vary between your full-on stroke and non-sexual stories? Is it one person, or many? Is it a specific character who pummels you to write, day after day? If so, do the other characters get a vote? Is it the protagonist, the love interest, or does someone else sneak in and present alternatives ideas. Say, for example, why wouldn't the antagonist suggest alternatives endings: 'Do I really need to die?', 'How about you let me win this one battle?', or even 'You know, I'd make the perfect anti-hero in my own yarn. What'll it take for you to finally take me seriously?'.
So, who's your muse? Do they always present the same way? Do they change their appeal? Is their siren's call different at the beginning of the book than the middle or end? And the eternal question, what happens when they fall silent? Does that wake you up in the middle of the night? Do your other muses take up the call, filling in for their missing kindred, or do you simply ignore the story, waiting for her eventual call, rousing you from your creative slumbers?
