My muse is Lazy and doesn’t really want to do much work, so I’m bribing her with other people’s words. This is a great tool for any muse deprived writer. Basically it’s an exercise in imitation, you take another writer’s sentence, one that really stands out to you, and “borrow" its structure. You use their grammar, rhythm and flow, but add your own words and flavor. Here’s an example of what I mean. It’s from an essay I wrote called Henrietta and the Flying Car.That didn’t discourage me though I enjoyed driving my little blue convertible, but even more I enjoyed dreaming of my flying car. I enjoyed dreaming of letting my earthbound tires fall away, and of escaping another day, flying over roads, over roads and fields, effortlessly, freely away from Oklahoma, away from people, away from anyplace at all.
Obviously my Muse was on overtime when she inspired that. Actually she wasn’t, she fell in love with Annie Dillard’s muse, the one that inspired living like weasels. She read this:
I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Then even death, where you're going no matter how you live, cannot you part. Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, till your eyes burn out and drop; let your musky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles.
Imitation can be a great tool for getting your muse going, but you’ve got to have inspiring sentences to imitate. Here are five that are definitely worth imitating. I'll post tomorrow what my muse comes up with. I challeng you to give it a try and post your creations in the comments area. I'll post yours to the blog as well. It won't make you famous but you'll have fun trying.
"That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon."-- Fredrik Douglas, Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass
Here—and his hands touched grass—was a place to be in for the night, not far from the tribe, so that if the horrors of the supernatural emerged one could at least mix with humans for the time being. --William Golding, Lord of the Flies
If there was no beast—and almost certainly there was no beast—well and good; but if there was something waiting on top of the mountain, what was the use of three of them, handicapped by the darkness and carrying only sticks?-- Jack London, White Fang
We explored the streams, quietly, where the turtles slid off the sunny logs and dug their way into the soft lake bottom.
--E.B. White "Once More to the Lake"
He was clambering, heavily, among the creepers and broken trunks, when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry.
--William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Related Articles
- Further sentences to ponder, or my Arnold Kling imitation (marginalrevolution.com)
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