I'm a nuts and bolts writer. For me, the muse comes from digging down into what makes a good style and what doesn't. Is this sentence structure interesting? Are these words conveying everything I intended in the sentence? Is the rhythm of this sentence pleasing? Does the rhythm of this sentence have an emotional connection with what this particular paragraph/page/chapter is trying to convey? And of course obvious things like grammar and punctuation, although these are something I often consider in the proofing rather than when I'm writing. The muse eventually comes but it's not until I've nailed (or hopefully nailed) the nuts and bolts.
I often write sentences down that pop into my head just because I like the structure and context behind them. Here's one I wrote down yesterday. I may never use it but it's me playing with the nuts and bolts of an idea.
He never rang her. She was no hook, his cock was no worm, and he certainly wasn’t some hapless carp, waiting to be netted.
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