I almost feel like I should post the photo I normally use for Wednsday Words since I fell asleep at the keyboard yesterday and posted my usual Universe pic for Wednesday Words. I corrected it after I was up, moving, and was semi-fully caffeinated. Ah well. Nothing like a little *headdesk* moment to start the day. But now it’s Thursday. And time for musing about what the Universe dropped into my inbox. As y’all know, I often correlate those messages with the craft of writing–or at least something to do with writing. Because that’s what I do. Write. Sometimes. This week, it’s been often so I can say that it is, indeed, what I do. Anyway. As many of you also know, I call my Muse Iffy. How her name came about is a long story. We’ll leave at her real name is Greek, her favorite game is “What if?” and she’s somewhat iffy when it comes to actually providing inspiration. Also, she lives on chocolate, coffee, and pictures of hot guys with bare chests. What can I say? So, this week, the Big U had this to say:

It’s not the “unseen” that’s fiction, Silver, but the seen.

And you know how fiction goes?

You get to make stuff up.

Tallyho,
The Universe
©www.tut.com

Which, incidentally, Silver, you do rather well…

What’s left to say after that? Fiction writers make stuff up. We take what is “seen” and translate it into words, using the unseen hiding in our heads to glue the story together. We see news stories or people, hear a song, overhear a conversation, and an idea forms. We’ve “seen” and like all good fiction writers, we make stuff up. That’s the best part. The “what if…” and the tale spinning itself out, characters taking on substance and depth, whispering hints of their backstories and how they came to be where they are. The “where are we..” for settings. That whole who, what, when, where, why, and how that nonfiction writers deal with are just as important to us. But luckily, we listen to the Univers so we just make it up as we go along.

Happy Thursday. Have good thoughts.