Whether you write for pleasure, for a living, for the hell of it, because you can't help it, we all know inspiration's an elusive butterfly that can be hard to harness.
It doesn't take a genius to know what Thomas Alva Edison said is true: "Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration."
But in between the sweat and buckling down to write in order to write, each of us snatches at precious personal muses that help to place us in the moment, with our words, our characters, our plotlines, our message, our soul-sharing.
When I felt a bit blocked with my second novel this week, I woke one morning from a dream encounter with my central characters. They reminded me not to be timid and self-editing while the first draft is humming along. Feel the fear and tap away regardless! Characters that are real flesh and blood to me, closer than family, will reassure or challenge me by living the next twist in the tale with me.
Yorkshire bard Ted Hughes's poem "The Thought Fox" explains the way inspiration came to him as a writer. You can hear the poet reading his poem here.
Set on the Yorkshire Coast like my novel, below is my own latest poem trying to capture how one flash of inspiration for my work in progress came to me in the waking watches of the morning.
Chatterthrow
They
sailed through me in dream last night
My
hero and my heroine,
His
eyes reflect rainbows over marsh
Her
scent of quay and salted sheets
Watched
my hovering hand over blank page
Traced
their fingers through knots of plot,
Unpicking
and beachcombing unwritten words
Lips
smiling at unmet characters
Over
us, gulls of Chatterthrow
Wheeling
and skimming the coffee cliffs,
Kittiwake
held against her breast
As
he whispers his breath under trembling wings
His
palm facing the centred earth,
Her
palm raised to the sky and spray,
My
hand cradled between their warmth
Telling
their story in woven waves
Guiding
my grasp to the tiller of tales
Under
the hush and howl of the fret
Cogs
connect and the synapse sparks
Compass
and craft over bar and block
(c) Joyce Barrass 2015
You can get my first novel, set on the peat moors and canals of South Yorkshire, "Goatsucker Harvest" here (some of the reviews may persuade you to dive in - it's FREE on Kindle Unlimited & crazy cheap on Kindle or in Paperback in UK & USA & some other parts of the planet.)
