WPotocki asked about muses. The way it works with me is that sometimes I am bereft of ideas, and at others I am overflowing with them. Mostly depends on my energy level. Often, the books I enjoyed writing most were when I saw the whole thing in my mind before I started. Imagined the scenery, smelt the mountains, felt the rain on my face, saw the whole thing in glorious technicolour, and each day when I sat down to write it was like turning on a movie projector, taking up where I had left the story the day before, then writing until I was exhausted. And so it went. And yet... on other occasions I have painstakingly constructed books when ideas have seemed scarce, but 20 years up the road, on rereading, the latter seem better and the former seem worse. One of the great mysteries.
http://chrisscottwilson.co.uk