'Amelia with Attitude' by Donnie Ray Jones via Flickr CC (BY 2.0)If your muse is anything like mine then she is a fickle and obstinate creature. Terms such as 'deadline' or 'word goal' or 'I have a rare spare hour to make magic with my words' have no effect on her. At best she ignores them. At worst she digs in her heels - or firmly plants her Doc Martens - and glares at me with a 'you need me way more than I need you' look. It's enough to have me sucking on my kids' Ventolin.

Because she's right, dammit.

I need the prissy, self-serving and, at times, soul-destroying little vulture. Because, when she sheds her 'bite me' attitude and comes out to play, it's oh so very, very good. So it's a fortunate thing I've discovered her kryptonite: music!

I'm not the first writer to make the music / muse connection. Many a blog post has been written about this. WriterUnboxed contributor, Ann Aguirre, wrote a piece last year and back in 2009, KillZone contributor, Joe Moore, penned a great blog post here. 

Classical music and cinematic scores are a favourite among writers. The tunes that get the ink in my pen flowing - and the ones my temperamental muse responds to the best - are by an American music production duo called Two Steps From Hell. Most of their work can't be bought commercially but they have made several of their albums available to the public. Their credits include the Harry Potter films, Batman, Breaking Bad, Narnia, The Book Thief, X-Men. The list goes on and the music is truly amazing. If you haven't discovered Two Steps From Hell then you are missing out on heaven!

Here are two of my favourites: 
Shivers. That's what I get down my spine at the 1 min 55 second mark of Starvation. Scenes start playing in my head. Characters begin moving, talking and -- oh, wait, my muse just stuck her head around the corner and ... she looks ready to play. 

Here's a link to the Two Steps From Hell official YouTube channel.


... Gotta go!