The Creative Process (Can it be forced?)

While out of work, a friend of mine and I began thinking about doing some collaborative writing. In many ways, we complement each other extremely well -- I'm more linear and plot/character-driven; and he's an incredible wordsmith (who can be prone to spending too much time indulging himself in his words). So, those two personalities would work well together.

We've done some brief talking about plot and characters -- not too much, though; and we've even talked about some ways to market the work, should it ever get finished.

Here's the problem. We're really having a hard time getting started. In no uncertain terms, that's the issue facing us. And, when we really *really* thought about it last week, I think I uncovered it.

We don't have a driving need to tell a story.

Many/most successful writers, from what I've read, have said that, when they wrote their book, they "simply had to tell their story." They couldn't *not* tell it. It had to be written.

I'd always dismissed that as semi-pompous drivel. After all, I've spent my career as a writer (in one form or another). I was trained to turn out copy in quick fashion, regardless of my interest in the subject (and, trust me, when I started my career, as an editor of magazines on shallow draft commercial maritime, woodworking and janitorial product distribution, there wasn't a whole lot of interest in the subject). So, why would it be so difficult to write something equally compelling/entertaining as a work of fiction.

But, yet, when we sit down to start writing, it's way too difficult to really get a foothold. We make a little headway and then we get bogged down in details. It's definitely not fun.

I can't decide if writing fiction really does require a muse, per se; or, does it require a clear head (something I admittedly don't have now). Has anyone actually churned out "creative" work, even when you didn't feel like it?