I’ve had a bit of trouble getting a handle on my current work-in-progress. It had such a promising start, judging from the critiques the firsttwo acts have received. But I struggled with the third act, so I took some time away from it to write other things.
This story’s for a closed anthology, and it’s due in about a month. Time to get cracking again! So after doing another round of hack-and-slash copyedits, I decided the piece needed a soundtrack. So I picked some songs to mirror the sort of mood evoked from the picture above, and a couple of songs for different characters’ motivations.
My current short story in progress is headed (Elder Gods willing) to Cthulhurotica – An Anthology of Lovecraftian Lust, which will be published by Dagan Books. I worked out its soundtrack, just like I do for most of my stories, to help me figure out which emotional pulses I want to hit in different scenes.
Manic Street Preachers, “Your Love Alone Is Not Enough”
Arcade Fire, “Ocean of Noise”
Air, “The Word ‘Hurricane'”
Cassandra Wilson, “A Little Warm Death”
The Blue Nile, “Body and Soul”
Genesis, “Domino, Pt. 1 – In the Glow of the Night/Pt. 2 – The Last Domino”
The lyrics to “Domino” are about as Lovecraftian as I’ve ever heard Phil Collins sing, which should be proof that anyone who thought Genesis just plain sucked post-Peter Gabriel wasn’t paying enough attention.
Blood on the windows Millions of ordinary people are there They gaze at the scenery They act as if it is perfectly clear Take a look at the mountains Take a look at that beautiful river of blood
The liquid surrounds me I fight to rise from this river of hell I stare ’round about me Children are screaming and playing with bombs Their features are changing Their bodies dissolve And I am alone
-Genesis, “Domino, Part 2”
I suppose the lyrics to “Invisible Touch” could work, too. But then I’m sure I’d lose what little respect you might have for me. 🙂
I like song lyrics. Sometimes, they get me thinking and then I like to dissect those thoughts like the Zapruder film.
I don’t wanna wait For our lives to be over. Will it be yes, or will it be Sorry?
Let me tell you something about my Muse, the little shit.
My relationship to it is best expressed on the Tumblr I use as a notebook of the things I feed it. I call it the place…
Where I strap my muse to a chair like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, pin its eyes open, and force-feed its brain until it does what it’s fucking told.
Yes, I brainwash my Muse, typically by waterboarding it every so often. Not too much, though. Like Nice Guy Eddie says in Reservoir Dogs, “If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he’ll tell you he started the goddamn Chicago fire, now that don’t necessarily make it fucking so!”
Some might say that’s harsh. I know there are folks who feed and care for and cradle their precious Muse. They are not wrong to do so. And if it works for them, I’m very glad! But call me as delusional as the folks who think the “enhanced interrogation” techniques at Gitmo actually work–I’ll be damned if they don’t work on my Muse, at least as well as cradling it ever did!
I’ve made a lot of progress with my Muse over the past few years. It does need a bit of “encouraging” every now and again, but it seems to be spitting out ideas when I want them, and a lot of times, even when I don’t want them! The important thing though is that I do not wait for my Muse to give it up before I write. That’d be stupid.
As Octavia Butler noted, “…habit is more dependable than inspiration.” I’ve learned that ideas really are a dime a dozen and that what my Muse will not do most times is form those ideas into actual stories for me. Once in awhile, maybe. But the hard truth is, my little bastard of a Muse really doesn’t care if I finish my stories or not! No, that’s squarely up to me, and the only way that’s done is by sitting down day after day and writing, with my Muse’s waterboard right next to me, pouring and writing, whether it gives me reliable and actionable intel or not!
Because I absolutely do not want to be one of those writers who bitches and moans about being uninspired and who get no writing done because of it.
I like song lyrics. Sometimes, they get me thinking and then I like to dissect them like the Zapruder film. Just something I’m going to try in 2010 to give me something to talk about here. Should’ve thought of this years ago :). Call this a field test.
Many reasons that hold you back That tell you no Make you fall short of what you want to say Too many voices in my head Where’s the boy who used to take chances Used to say when I grow up to be a man someday True to my heart in every way Seems so simple Why’s it so hard I’ll never know
This isn’t going to be a story of how I suddenly found myself or an epiphany about my purpose on earth which I’m dedicating myself to living out in 2010. It’s not a manifesto or a mission statement. This is about struggle–I guess you could say The Struggle. And I mean that in a positive way.
Inspiration is all well and good. I certainly couldn’t get by without it. And for the longest time, this song did inspire me. But it didn’t really do anything for me until I pondered what Robert Lamm was talking about when he asked, Why is it so hard?
I dunno. Lamm asked that question for his own reasons. Me, all I need to know is that it is hard, and that’s just the way it is. I look back at every success I’ve had in 2009, in the two main areas of my life–Writing and Everything else–and I’ve come to accept that inspiration and luck only ever got me so far.
The rest of it really was work. Nose-to-the-grindstone, ass-in-the-chair, bite-the-bullet fucking work!
I’m jealous of the folks who find joy in the process of writing, I really do. I read their thoughts on their blogs and I’m very happy for them. But their words never resonated with me. No, I’m definitely one of those writers who finds joy in having written. When a piece is done and submitted, I’m happy. (I say this knowing I have no control over whether it’s published–if it is, it’s gravy.) But I’ll be damned if it’s not like pulling teeth.
I’ve noticed that the writers I like the most, the ones whose stuff I like to read, make no bones about how hard the writing life is. They don’t complain how The Evil Publishing Illuminati are keeping them from getting their work out. They don’t blog excessively about the source of their writer’s block–they bitch for two seconds, pull up their big boy/big girl pants and attack the writing life like Chow Yun-Fat in a John Woo Hong Kong action film. They just get to it!
The only way to success, I’ve found, really is through the struggle–The Struggle–and to be sure, that’s hard to face. I have to re-teach myself that lesson over and over, and I don’t expect it to be different in 2010. I can only resolve to make the lesson stick for longer and longer periods of time.
The alternative is too horrible to contemplate, namely a life of sitting around pondering Lamm’s song lyric up there and never coming to a satisfactory answer.
So, what Struggle are you going to walk into, with glocks in both hands, in order to get to where you want to be in 2010?
I can see the mystery in your eyes Your voodoo just may fool the other guys You can write your destiny But between the lines I read It’s all in what your victims will believe
-Bill Champlin, “Tuggin’ On Your Sleeve”
All the energy we spend on motion All the circuitry and time Is there any way to feel a body Through fiber optic lines
…will return in two weeks. Because it’s been hellish at the dayjob and I think I deserve to enjoy the holiday weekend, such as it is–I don’t get a third day off.
So instead of busting my ass to get something done to get vivisected, I’m chilling out, watching US Open tennis, and a little later, I’m gonna drive out to a cookout with some friends to have, what Laura Nyro calls, a “Stoned Soul Picnic.”
Speaking of, Nyro’s a singer/songwriter I’m discovering again for the first time. Apparently, I’ve been listening to her songs for years, as covered by Blood, Sweat & Tears and other bands on rotation in my playlists. I kept seeing the name “Laura Nyro” come up as the composer–it’s a kind of name that jumps out at you. So I looked her up and now I’m binging on her music!
But I digress. You’ll have to excuse me. I got very little sleep last night and I’m finding myself struggling to gather the energy to get to the cookout that I’m blowing off crit group to go to.
[Edited to add] The day after I wrote this, I found out that I’ve been living in the same town as Nyro’s brother and have seen the group he conducts, Vitamin L, perform several times!
I’ve had a bit of trouble getting a handle on my current work-in-progress. It had such a promising start, judging from the critiques the first two acts have received. But I struggled with the third act, so I took some time away from it to write other things.