Let Your Writing Lead You Where You Need to Go

You aren’t in charge of the muse and that’s okay

Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash

I’ve been trying to write humor lately. It starts out well. I’ve got a funny premise and I’m cracking myself up as I write, always a good sign. Then somehow halfway through the story, it takes a serious turn.

I try to wrestle the piece back into submission. No, no, I say. Yesterday I did “grief”. Today is for “funny”.

Ha! says my brain. It’s so cute when you think you are in charge.

There are days I roll out of bed with a plan. I grab my cup of tea, sit down at the keyboard, and write the story I intended to in those moments of lying in bed anticipating my day. These days exist but they aren’t the norm. Not for me anyway.

Some days I start writing the planned story only to leave it abandoned, yet another one-minute story cluttering up my drafts folder, in favor of a new idea that springs into my head and insists on being attended to RIGHT NOW!

Most of my best stories started exactly this way with an overwhelming mental call for action which could not be denied. Unfortunately, most of my worst-performing stories started this way as well.

Shall we just say most of my stories — good, bad, profitable, profitless — start in a flurry of…