It takes three people to make music properly, one man to write it, another to play it, and a third to criticize it. Anything else is just a rehearsal.
“What I usually have is a strong sense of at least one of the central characters and a strong sense of the beginning, and a vague sense of where the narrative is going, and more than anything else a psychic head of steam, a compulsion to tell the story. If I don’t feel so compelled, I’m better off waiting. Beginning too soon only prolongs the writing more than anything.”
Steve Erickson