This is a time-worn question to writers along with the well-meant-but-still-insulting, "Where do you find the time to write?" (Apparently, we writers have just so much time on our hands! It's remarkable! Yet, most novelists have demanding full-time jobs, spouses, children, pets and a wide assortment of time-sucking responsibilities to attend to just like everyone else.)
The first question is not insulting at all. It's flattering. It is the innocent and fascinated question of a person who probably reads quite a lot; who read your novel and wondered, where does she come up with this stuff? Is there an ethereal being, the revered and also feared Muse, at her beck and call? How can I get this Muse to come to my house? Does she like warm cookies and milk?
The train of thought about creativity I just described is common. In fact, it's so common that a film, a late-90s comedy, was built around this premise of the necessity of a muse. It was called, appropriately, The Muse and starred Sharon Stone as the coveted creature living in the lap of luxury thanks to an army of deluded Hollywood screenwriters and directors who vie for her magical abilities.
But the writer who waits for the muse writes sporadically if at all. No, if you want that magic, you're going to have some butt-in-chair time, hands on the keyboard, sans fairy dust. The only way to get inspired is
