My muse is back with the glitter and birdsong and all! This is for Day 21 of the Halls of Pandemonium challenge. Another conversation with my muse, who is still Cinderella. And she’s sassy as ever…
Here’s the deets on the prompt:
Cindy’s Return
The ink from my fountain pen has hardly dried on the page when the glow starts. Birds begin singing outside the window. A cloud of pixelated sparkles erupts in my room, breaking me from my WIP that I was totally just procrastinating on a moment ago.
Not her again. I’d much rather talk to my mom at this point, but she’s probably working right now.
Hence, I have to deal with the life-size animated Disney Princess who thirsts for my fictional men.
“Cindy,” I groan, slamming my notebook shut. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Just checking in,” she chirps, a twinkle glimmering in her unblinking eyes.
“Let me guess: Prince Charming is off attending to very important fairy tale monarch duties, and you’re bored.”
“If I say no, will you believe me?”
“No.”
“Fine,” she huffs, sticking out her bottom lip in a pitiful princess pout. “I’m bored. And I find talking to you quite entertaining.”
“I was kind of in the middle of something—“
“Like, writing your safe scenes and hiding the hard-hitting emotional theses behind your character’s self-deprecating humor?”
“Really?” I deadpan. “I don’t need this right now. I get enough criticism from Wanda.”
“You mean your inner critic that you made a typewriter ghost in your novel?”
Cindy folds her hands in her lap, a little puff of glitter punctuating the movement. She still doesn’t blink. It really freaks me out.
“Okay, so you know a muse is supposed to be helpful, provide inspiration, etcetera, etcetera?”
“I am here to help,” Cindy says, “by reminding you to stop avoiding the hard s&1+.”
Her last word garbles into unintelligible gibberish, reminiscent of how I sound when I try to repeat Japanese phrases back to my Duolingo app.
“So you can make innuendos, but you can’t curse. Interesting.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Making jokes instead of tackling hard conversations.”
“You know, I liked you better when you had no other purpose than to find a prince and live happily ever after,” I grumble. “I have therapy in two hours. I don’t need a warm-up from you, Cindy.”
“Listen to yourself, Halsey—“
“Hey, you stole KJ’s nickname for me?”
“It’s so adorable. I had to try it,” Cindy says, resting her cheek on her clasped hands in a signature princess move. “Anyway, Halsey, you absolutely must stop censoring yourself.”
“You’re one to talk. You can’t even say ‘shit’.”
Cindy crinkles her nose, reinstating the royal pout.
“You know what I mean. You’re toning things down with this book because you’re worried about what the industry will think.”
“What would you know about the industry?”
“I’m literally the IP of the Disney corporation. I know enough.”
“Right,” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “So, you want me to be more… what?”
“Let your characters sit with the tough subjects longer,” Cindy says, voice going soft. “Let them struggle a little bit more, not just brush everything off with a joke. That’s how you get readers invested.”
“You want me to tug on my readers’ heartstrings? I’m a rom-com writer, remember?”
“You’re not ‘just’ a rom-com writer. You’re creating narratives full of deep emotional hooks and packaging them in humor. Which is totally fine—as long as you don’t let the humor undercut the heart.”
Damn. She’s not wrong.
“You have proven over the past three weeks that you are not ‘just’ a comedian,” Cindy continues. “You’ve written chilling horror, lyrical poems, and heart-wrenching drama. You have more range than you give yourself credit for. You’re like the Ryan Gosling of writing.”
“Mmhmm, let me guess? You find him super dreamy?”
“Oh yeah,” Cindy sighs, her crazy eyes glazing over with as much lust as could be allowed for a G-rated cartoon character. “He can play so many different roles and do it so well.”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she’s actually drooling.
“Okay, okay,” I say, fiddling with my red fountain pen’s cap. “Look, I’ll… try letting more of the emotional intensity shine through. But you have to stop interrupting me while I’m writing. Deal?”
“Whatever you say, Halsey,” Cindy winks, then stands to her feet with a theatrical flourish. “Remember, follow your heart. Don’t be afraid to let the real you out more often. Your readers trust you to guide them. That’s not something to take lightly.”
“Okay, Cindy,” I say, saluting her. “Will do. Good luck with Prince Charming.”
“Ugh, if only Ryan Gosling could have played him in the live-action version.” She says before blowing me a kiss and disappearing into another cloud of pixel dust.
“Damn,” I mutter, staring at a tiny splotch of sequins where my muse just stood. “Wait until my therapist hears about this…”
Thanks for reading! I do have company coming into town to stay at my house, so I may not be keeping up with the pandemonium prompts as much over the next few days. But if you want to read my previous entries, check them out below.
<3
Halsey
"You're like the Ryan Gosling of writing...". love this.
What a great prompt -- I am obessed with what this drew out of us.