Arguing with the Muse - Companion piece to War and the Ring

[MickLifeCrisis]

This is an actual email I sent to Moonlighter when I was struggling with the direction of my story, The War and the Ring. You really DO need to read that first. It made her laugh, so I hope you enjoy it, too.


Arguing with the Muse


Muse: MLA has a new challenge: explain where Mick’s ring and/or pendant came from. Let’s just focus on the ring. I like Moonlighter’s idea that he got it in the war. How about this: Mick’s unit is on a patrol through a little village. A young couple with a daughter around 8 years old asks to walk with them back to their farm. On the way they are ambushed. Mick throws the girl down and covers her with his body. In the process she sprains her ankle. Mick bandages her up, carries her on his back to their farm. He tells his unit he will catch up with them the next day. It turns out the wife’s maiden name is ‘St. John’ and when she discovers that is Mick’s name, she gives him the family heirloom ring to thank him and to remind him of them.


Me: A gold ring for just a sprained ankle?


Muse: Hmm. Okay, let’s say they find an enemy intruder in the house when they return from the village and Mick saves them. Now they are REALLY grateful. He puts the ring in his knapsack/backpack/kit bag/whatever and it eventually ends up in his footlocker. After he is turned by Coraline, he goes back to wherever he was living (not his parents' – what 30 year old man in the 1950’s lives with his parents?) and collects the few items from his human life he wants to keep (Army footlocker and pictures of Lilah for starters). He discovers the ring in his footlocker and decides to wear it from then on to remind him of his human life and helping others.


Me: So where is this village?


Muse: Italy. You know, ‘We’re in a forest. In Italy.’


Me: Well, if the couple is Italian, then the wife’s maiden name can’t be St. John.


Muse: Okay, so we’ll make her English. Or the ring is her great-grandmother’s, who came from England.


Me (to husband): In WWII were the Italians friendly to the Americans like the French were?


Husband: Well, Italy was the enemy.


Me: Oh, right. Mussolini. He sided with Hitler.


Husband: Right. But I think people in little towns were thankful to the Americans like in the little French towns.


Muse: Okay, okay, so then we can make them French if you want.


Me: *Calls up Fever on YouTube. ‘Winter. Battle of the Bulge. Ardennes.' Googles ‘Battle of the Bulge.’* Oh great. Most of it was in Belgium! I hate history. *Looks at maps.* Well, this little part of Italy is near the part of France that’s at the edge of the ‘Bulge’ line. Mick clearly said they were in Italy in WLB. Let’s keep them in Italy.


Muse: Fine. Italian couple, but the wife is English.


Me: Why is the husband with them?


Muse: What?


Me: The husband and father of the little girl. Why isn’t he off fighting in the war?


Muse: Sigh. Okay, no husband.


Me: Would a young wife be willing go off with a bunch of scruffy looking soldiers with her young daughter in tow?


Muse: You’re driving me crazy! Okay, how about a father or father-in-law?


Me: Okay, but why would he let a strange soldier carry his granddaughter? He’s running a farm! He’s a strong guy!


Muse: So make him injured. Or injured and he’s back at the farmhouse. Or even a great-grandfather.


Me: Okay, I guess I can work that part out later.


Muse: Yes! So we’re good?


Me: Not quite.


Muse: What now?


Me: Why would Mick’s unit leave him alone to detour off to the farm and travel alone the next day to catch up with them when they just got ambushed on that same road? And btw, do Medics carry guns? *Googles Medics carrying weapons, which leads to Geneva Convention, which leads to which Geneva Convention treaty was in effect in WWII* Did I mention that I hate history?


Muse: So what’s the answer?


Me: Medical personnel carried side arms only and were only allowed to use them for self-defense or the defense of wounded. They are not considered combatants and cannot go on the offensive. This is still true today it seems.


Muse: Okay, then we can say Mick and the family were shot at while approaching their farmhouse. Happy?


Me: It will do. One more thing.


Muse: Still?


Me: Who carries Mick’s pack if he’s carrying the little girl? Oh wait. *Views more war flashbacks from WLB* Never mind, they didn’t show him or the others carrying packs. So can we just gloss over that and not mention it?


Muse: Works for me.


Me: Now, would Mick’s unit leave him alone to catch up with them the next day?


Muse: You might have a point there. That seems unlikely to me. Guess we still have to work that part out.


Me: Guess so.

[allegrita]

OMG -- you have arguments with the Muse, too?? I can't tell you how happy that makes me! I thought I was the only one!!

(And btw, that is a HILARIOUS email... thank you so much for sharing it with us!)

[librarian_7]

I thinik we ALL have arguments with the muse from time to time. Not sure I've ever WON one.

Lucky

[Moonlighter]

OMG -- reading this again made me remember how much I laughed the first time around. And trying to be a helpful beta, I stuck my two cents in, mostly just to remind the Muse and MLC that they were on the same side. And that I hate history too. Since I could be of no help with details, I had to defer to Husband on a couple of points. But despite (or because of) the mashup with the Muse, I'd say The War and The Ring came out perfectly, dontcha think?

[Marigold]

Very entertaining, MLC!

Your "discussion" with the Muse most definitely paid off - "The War and the Ring" was amazing!

[francis]

This is as entertaining as the story itself. I can relate to the muse having crazy ideas and my brain trying to fit it into some semblance of realistic.

I could help with the belgium/italy thing. Mick's troup was deployed to Italy in the summer, then ambushed and destroyed. The survivors (Mick was wounded but recovered in some undisclosed location, in reality they were transported to France or England or Czech) were later deployed to a new unit in Belgium where they got into the battle of the bulge. I looked it up a couple years back but can't find it now to confirm the details like unit numbers.

[MoonMarg]

Oh My God - I have so much more appreciation for our wonderful writers after reading that!! Fighting with the muse and all that research.....

When I first read the challenge about how Mick got his jewellery, the first thing that popped into my head was - maybe he just walked into a jewellery shop and liked them....so he bought them!! Which is why I'm a reader not a writer.

[MickLifeCrisis]

Thank you everyone! So happy you enjoyed it!

I'd come up with these ideas and for each one I'd have a reason why it wouldn't work. (And this doesn't even cover the earlier rejected ideas of where the ring came from initially - the war idea was Moonlighter's!) The funny thing is that after I wrote this email and sent it, the story just flowed out of me.

Lucky, I've found my Muse can be placated with M&M's, so sometimes she lets me win.

Francis, I didn't know it was you, but I remember someone working out how Mick could have been at the Battle of the Bulge and in Italy, since both were mentioned in the show. When I wrote about Mick bandaging up the enemy soldier's gunshot wound in his arm, I was going to say he sutured it. Then (of course) I had to look up to see if Medics carried the necessary equipment to suture up a wound. Boy was that confusing! The kind of medic kit they carried depended on their military rank and any medical training they had. Some could suture and some couldn't. I went back to the show's flashbacks and I couldn't even figure out what rank Mick was; I didn't see stripes on his uniform. So I didn't address it and just had Mick bandage up the wound. I'm so impressed that you could figure out the units and movements that allowed Mick to be in both places. Apparently you like history more than me.

Thank you all!

ETA: Oh, yeah. I even had to go back and change where I had written "miles" to "kilometers". I realized that Anne wouldn't have said that the farm was a "few miles" down the road!

[jen]

MLC

This is a great look at the creative process! You work harder at the details than I do and it really shows. I need to do more Google searches, for sure.

M&M's. huh?

Chocolate does have positive effects.

Thanks for the companion piece!!!!

Jenna

[librarian_7]

I've tried offering the Josefmuse chocolate. Let's just say it didn't end well.

[MickLifeCrisis]

I've tried offering the Josefmuse chocolate. Let's just say it didn't end well.

[francis]

Let me guess. He made you eat the chocolate and took your wrist instead. And no story was forthcoming anyway.

[darkstarrising]

MLC - your muse and my muse are obviously related (except yours is far more polite)

Thanks for sharing that e-mail - I guess there are many of us that have these conversations!!

[Moonlighter]

I've tried offering the Josefmuse chocolate. Let's just say it didn't end well.

. LOL!!

MLC - your muse and my muse are obviously related (except yours is far more polite)

Thanks for sharing that e-mail - I guess there are many of us that have these conversations!!

Just revisiting and laughing at how some of you are treated by your Muses. Honestly, if any of you have a Muse with a foul mouth, I personally would love to know how they express themselves! LOL!!

[librarian_7]

Not so much a foul mouth, as a devastatingly snarky one...ouch! But what else would you expect from a Josefmuse?

Lucky