My final official duty of the semester (aside from attending graduation this Saturday) happened Friday morning: I had to conduct the defense of a thesis I directed. It was 200+ pages of a novel, and it was pretty damn good. A prose thesis only has to be about 60 pages, so I was proud of this student I worked with, proud that she was so ambitious, proud that what she wrote was so strong.
But it wasn't finished--it wasn't even half finished. And as any writer knows, a work often changes shape and form and direction as you write it--it rarely turns out as you originally imagine, if indeed you have a particularly clear notion of what you hope to accomplish. Sometimes for short pieces I can be all about discovery, surprise, just seeing where the writing takes me, but I think that for longer works, some projected goal is useful, even if you find yourself doing something completely different.
Anyway, I wanted the student to discuss her plans for the work, how she envisioned ending it (there was a big mystery involved), and she was reluctant to do so, saying she wasn't at all sure how she'd end up resolving some of the conflicts. So I asked, "If you could put in an order with your fairy god muse to supply you with a perfect denouement that would satisfy both you and your readers, what would you ask for?"
And that phrase, "fairy god muse," was the best thing to come out of the defense for me. I am pretty sure I have a fairy god muse and I even think she's been hovering around lately, wanting to grant some wish, but I haven't bothered to ask her for anything. So I'm going to figure out what I'd like her to give me, ask for it, and see what happens.
What a great question: "So I asked, 'If you could put in an order with your fairy god muse to supply you with a perfect denouement that would satisfy both you and your readers, what would you ask for?'"
I shall have to think of a wish for myself - :)
Congratulations on the end of the semester! The end of mine is still some undetermined distance away. But if I had the nerve, I'm afraid all I could ask my fairy god muse right now is if I could please have a few days to sit on the beach. I would just have to hope inspiration ensued!
I'm quite charmed by the notion of a fairy god muse, too... A friend that I often co-write with has joked about the Exposition Fairy, who waves her magic plot wand and sprinkles a manuscript with exposition dust, but the fairy god muse sounds a little more consistently benevolent (sometimes the Exposition Fairy needs to be stopped).