Muse Food – Providing A Home
The Dear Wonderful Hubby crafted a bee hotel this summer.
We value bees (and other insects). We want them to feel welcome in our yard.
So we created another possible home for them.
If a society values a being, they provide a home for that being.
Who does the society in your book world value?
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Muse Food – Bringing Two Characters Together
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I planted these two magic carpet thymes (SUCH a great name) a little bit apart, thinking they would grow together fairly quickly and created one big patch.
Instead, they are trying their best to grow in the other directions.
And this is often how romance plots flow in a romance novels.
Two (or more) characters are placed in close proximity to each other. They have things in common and you would think they would become one fairly quickly.
But instead, there’s conflict and they look like they are growing apart, perhaps forever.
But we know, as with the magic carpet thyme, they will eventually become one solid unit.
(grins)
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Muse Food – The Rear View
There are few things more adorable than a busy little bee bum deep within a flower.
(smiles)
What is happening BEHIND your main characters? What does the scene look like from the back view?
Sometimes looking at the scene from a different angle sparks magic within us.
Try this if you’re stuck on a scene.
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Muse Food – Dragonflies And Camouflage
I spotted this dragonfly on the lovage plant. They believe I can’t see them because they are so perfectly camouflaged.
Does your hero or heroine (or villain or any other character) also not want to be seen?
What do they do to become ‘invisible’? Do they blend in so completely they are challenging to spot? Do they act like everyone else? Do they take on the locals’ accent? Do they wear black and stay in the shadows?
How do they use camouflage?
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Muse Food – Judging Intelligence
We often talk about discovering intelligent life.
But what is intelligence?
Is someone who can memorize 1,000 facts more intelligent than someone who can take apart an engine and figure out how it works? Is a species that creates art while destroying their home more intelligent than a species that focuses on obtaining food while remaining in balance with the world around them? Is someone who can do complex math more intelligent than someone who easily learns languages?
What do YOUR characters believe intelligence is? And, by their own definition, are THEY intelligent?
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Muse Food – Life Will Find A Way
If life is at all possible in a place, there will be a creature or plant or microbe or other being living there.
Moss grows on rocks in the middle of the rapids. A house spider lives in an otherwise sterile office. Microbes live their tiny lives on space stations. Heck, there are microbes on our faces right now (in our skin microbiome).
Our characters are never truly alone. And there’s always activity happening around them.
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Muse Food – The Path Itself
Often, when we hear about characters taking a path, we are most interested in where that path leads. We might also be interested in the beings they meet and the dangers they encounter along the way.
But sometimes the path itself can be fascinating.
The yellow brick road in The Wizard Of Oz, for example, is a key part of the setting. It is almost a character itself.
Perhaps the path your characters take is sentient. Maybe it twists and turns depending on its mood. Maybe the destination is whatever the path feels the characters deserve or need.
How can you make the path itself more interesting?
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Muse Food – Clownfish And Fluid Identities
All clownfish are born male. When existing females die, however, they can change gender and become female.
Changing gender is a NATURAL thing. It happens in many species, including human.
And it could happen permanently or temporarily with your main or secondary characters, whether they are human or alien or other.
And if gender doesn’t have to be static, well, just about anything else regarding your characters can be fluid.
As long as it makes sense for their character arc and the story.
We have creative flexibility, my friends. Exercise it if the story needs it.
(smiles)
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Muse Food – Following The Line Of Sight
What is your point of view character looking at right now? What do they see?
Follow their line of sight, what they are focused on.
Are there beings in their view? Are they keeping, for example, their love interest in their line of sight at all times? Is there a color they notice? Does something in their field of vision remind them of something else? Does an object stir up emotion?
This might give you an insight into what they are thinking or feeling. And it might inspire future actions.
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Muse Food – Woolly Bear Caterpillars And Creating Alien Creatures
When we talk about caterpillars, we tend to think of the smooth, hairless, often green kind.
But, in Canada, there is a caterpillar called the Woolly Bear. These caterpillars look like they’re wearing a fur coat and are ideally suited for cold climates.
If you don’t come from a cold climate, you might view the Woolly Bear as an alien-like creature.
And this is an easy ‘trick’ for creating alien creatures.
Writers take an existing creature here on Earth and ask “What if?”
What if the snake lived on an ice planet? What if the pufferfish lived in a lava sea? What if the giraffe lived on a planet with floating trees?
How might they adapt to that environment?
Take an already fantastical Earth creature and make it more fantastical!
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