I'm one of those who flourishes with a Muse. I need the emotional validation. I need the pat on the back when things don't go well. I need the hugs when things do. I need these things because my own Ego is my enemy. It curses me when I'm down, and it whispers superlative lies in my ear when I'm up. It treats me as the fool, and laughs at me when reality arrives and bitch slaps me for being insolent.
No, my Muse keeps me level. She keeps me focused and she keeps me believing in myself in a healthy way, without letting my ego run off like a used car salesman running for mayor. I'm jealous of those who have the confidence to know, deep down that the creative spark is in there own mind. I know this too, I just don't believe it half the time.
I'm a writer who suffers from bouts of incapability - quite prolonged and terrible periods of incapability.
Perhaps, though, incapability is the wrong word for it. People say that they can't write without their muse and I too have periods where I feel I cannot write. I am, of course, wrong.
I create and build things for a living. I have to craft, every day, whether I want to or not. If I get it wrong, I take it down and I do it again, through gritted teeth, until I do it properly. When I do it properly, I learn from it and think about how to make it better next time. Practice makes perfect - and that's the same with pushing yourself through things you tell yourself you can't do. I have found many things in life that I said I couldn't do. I've done them all. I make it my aim to.
A muse is not the prerogative of writers and artists, necessarily, we all have them - or not - to a certain degree. A muse is not what I consider to be intrinsic and necessary for creativity - it is merely a boost; an inspiration. Your muse is the steroid injection in your inner artist. It is the thing that speaks to you and brings you out, firing on all cylinders. It is not the life blood, it is merely the glucose boost that makes you feel invincible. It is not the petrol in your engine, it's the NoS boost that makes your hair stand on end.
Every day I create. I don't always want to, but every day I create. It's what I must do. I take a similar stance with writing, lately.
I told myself for years that I had no inspiration, that I had no ideas or even a 'muse'. I've discovered it isn't necessary - it's just nice to have. If you put your mind to it, the ability and drive within you is always there, you just have to bring it out. I refused to sit about moping about my lack of inspiration and I set about dragging out that creativity. I told myself to get on with it and push through it. Yes, it was hard. You have to take a different approach when you write with your brain and not with the inspired heart. Words don't come easily, necessarily, and yet the words that come can be better than ever.
Your heart gets in the way, at times. The old idiom of 'killing your darlings' (removing, cutting, editing or killing those ideas, lines, phrases and words you hold most dear in your work, from a very sentimental standpoint) rings true. The heart lies. The muse lies. It cheats you out of your potential and tells you that it knows better than anyone else that what you just wrote is fantastic.
Take a step back. Look at your work with a different perspective and you might just find that the muse's offering isn't quite what you had in mind. Sometimes relying on your muse makes you too reliant on her. Don't be afraid to cut away from the sacred inspiration and take a tougher stance with your work. Look at your writing through the critical eyes of someone else. Distance yourself from your work and use the cold, intelligent reasoning of your brain to decide what best serves your needs - not the lustful, incessant promise of your heart.
If you sit yourself down, think properly about what you want to achieve and allow yourself the time and space to work through it and build up your own piece, you will find that you don't need your muse. You might even be better off without her. Consider your story a craft, something to be worked on and perfected. Build it up in stages, tweak it to your desire and make sure that every single word is perfect - not just to you, now, but to everyone. Leave your work alone and come back to it in a week's time and see if you still love that ridiculously ostentatious line you've been so unwilling to tamper with.
The muse is a nice thought, but it doesn't hold the keys to your talent. You do. Take control of your talent, bring out that inner spark and let your muse torment some other poor soul. She's not necessary and she's not always helpful. You don't need the adrenaline shot to the heart - it's already there, within you. Your muse will help you to write far more easily , for all things are easier when fueled by passion - but she will not create your best pieces. Only you can create your masterpieces. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it takes a lot of determination and yes, you will hate every single piece of your writing when you're done with it. Personally, I do not submit a story that I have not come to hate. If I don't hate the sight of my work, I haven't worked on it nearly enough. Past all of this, though, you'll find you're far more capable than you give yourself credit for - and perhaps even better than you ever thought you could be. You need only to believe in yourself.
A poetry selection!
i don't do the muse thing. what i write, comes from within me - it comes from hard work and practice and imagination and experience. it's not some force that just magically taps me on the shoulder and tells me to write. that's my take on it. i like Lupus's last paragraph - it pretty much sums it up.
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
Well "Muse" is a funny thing and most probably particular to each person. I call her "Serendipity"? Many of my stories are just planned out and written from hard work. Maybe the story idea comes from an incident in real life, maybe from something I read that triggers a thought, and then I plan the story out and begin writing. This is NOT the muse.
Take the history competition as a recent example. I had almost finished my story to enter into the competition. It was a historical piece about the Nanban period circa 1800 Japan. No "MUSE" whatsoever was involved in this story. Just hard work. I was almost done. The story was almost finished. And then, out of nowhere, a new story idea came to me about the Cold War. This was Serendipity at work. My new story "Eighteen Hours of Rain" almost wrote itself. I mean it just came to me from I have no idea where? That's what I consider my "muse".
But the muse didn't come to me because I was sitting around watching TV waiting for it. NO it came because I was hard at work on a story. My creative juices were flowing. My fingers were typing, and lines were being written. I firmly believe the muse likes hard workers. It's the same in business. The harder you work the "luckier" you get. Luck? The muse? Same thing. Work hard on your stories and the muse will find you. Don't worry, she's like Cupid, you can't fucking hide.
I'd say that as much as 50% of my stories and practically ALL of the poems were/are written to impress/impact a SPECIFIC person. (Not always THE SAME person, I'm a whore!)
I find that CHANNELING 'a Muse', (for want of a better word...) helps focus me in terms of the art. It grants a DIRECTION I don't always have. Re-reading this, I like my use of the word DIRECTION. (I guess in a way that's the obvious meaning of the term (a FOCUS) but also 'Direction' in the way a movie-director might guide an actor? (Does that make sense?)
Interesting to read that some can write regardless of their emotional state. Although I can write when SAD, I find I can't write when I'm UPSET. (I'm going through something IRL at the moment which leaves me unable to put one word after another, quite frankly.) Being SAD is an energy I can USE. Being UPSET is distracting, confusing and BLOCKS me creatively.
In closing, I don't think a 'muse' need necessarily involve a sexual or even romantic element. (Though most often it does.) I'm always flattered when LIZ, (a person I respect and quite platonically adore...) GETS my writing. Indeed, I'll often SMILE as a phrase I KNOW will resonate with her falls onto the page. (Doesn't happen often!)
Nice Thread!
xx SF
I'll tell you a CUTE true story, (Hi Jayne!)
I was once recording vocals for the producer Gareth Mannix, (who most famously produces the UK band MUSE!!!!) It wasn't working. He asked me who I currently was in love with! (As it happens I WASN'T!) But eventually he pushed me to NAME SOMEBODY and I chose the Irish chateuse LISA HANNIGAN. He instructed one of his assistants to print off PHOTOS of her which he then hung around the vocal booth where he also placed incense and candles... (This is a GENUINELY true story...) He said, "Sing it to HER..."
(I got it in about three takes!)
xx SF
I often find myself in a writer's block, often having to fall back to my poetic muse. She may be just a 'fly-over' from a forgotten thought, possibly a past hint of a fallen poem. At times my thoughts run parallel to something of the past, truth or otherwise, it makes sense to me at the time I pen the words. I have no iconic being or imaginary visual on my shoulder. I just challenge myself to be the best that I can be. Often misspelling and leaving out punctuations, until my muse hands me the dictionary.
I had never thought about a Muse until I read this thread. While I do respect those who have such a person/thing (I'm really not sure how to classify a Muse), I'm not a writer who has one or has ever thought of one. To me, writing is just something that stems from within. If I do have a Muse, then she's a fucking noisy bitch and she lives in my head. If I don't, then Lupus is right and I'm the one with the keys. Now... if when an idea takes hold I can get it to shut up when I'm trying to sleep... it would be nice.
I have admitted before that I've gotten story ideas from events from my own life, and this is still true. I've also gone with a "theme" like the Historical Erotica category and run with that. I'm not afraid to research when necessary to make my story even better so my readers enjoy the experience and from the feedback I've gotten... it' has more than paid off.
Everyone approaches writing differently... and the best part is that it works for us all.
I have never needed a muse. I write all the time and my ideas just hit me like a ton of bricks. Most of the time, I will have dreams and see the whole scenario in my mind.
I just go for it when I write. I don't write any outlines or anything like that. I just type and see where it gets me. I often crack up when I am editing my stories because I really have no idea what I set out to do. I never really know what will happen in the next chapter. It's always quite an adventure when I'm writing.
My cute erotic poems are more like short stories and I have fun with the rhymes. My non-erotic poetry that I write elsewhere is usually something very personal that is happening in my life. I find it comforting to get it off my heart. It helps me deal with the problem at hand.
I have never really experienced writers block. I'm fortunate as I have a very over active imagination.
I write poetry all the time and have several stories going on at a time.
Hugs,
Mysteria
xo
I've only just gotten back into writing creatively recently (I hadn't realized how much I missed it), and all of it has been directed at this site. So I guess Lush is my muse? Why not? It's cool to be (virtually) around a bunch of other writers sharing stories, not for money or grades or contracts, but just to entertain each other. That's been inspiration enough for me to produce my few stories here.
Post-avant-retro-demelodicized-electro-yodel-core is my jam.
I understand why you'd tell him to write, but I also understand why he may feel he needs a muse.
Unfortunately, some of us aren't as gifted when it comes to inspiration or imagination, and often find that motivation is lacking without a muse. I am not that person though. I, like you it seems, find that she is a fickle being; knowing this, I do my best to tap in while she's around, but I don't rely on her appearance. I try to write as often as I can and if it's lacking, I don't post it. I believe my muse is inside me, that may sound as if I'm a little schizo but it is what it is. My complaint these days is that if she pops up, I have to ignore her as my time is spread thin these days.
I've just submitted my first story in almost a year, and I'd forgotten how good it feels to be recognised, to see my name on the Top Authors list, even though I know it will be a brief stay, to please people.
I don't have a muse, per se, just write when the mood strikes--and sometimes it doesn't strike for a long time, and there's nothing to be done about it. I wish that there was some way of forcing myself (or having someone force me) to have faith in my writing, but I've not yet found it (or him, or her).
Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!
I write my best when I am inspired by someone else pushing up emotions from deep within me opening up my soul and playing in it
while letting me play in theirs without that my stuff wouldn't hold as much emotion
Sometimes a Muse can be the one who hurts you the most ( Sick as that sounds )
but even better still is the Muse who drives you to never stop and is the cheerleader by your side.
" Love the Poet said is a woman's whole existence"
I a'muse' myself....seriously, I've never needed a muse, I draw my inspiration from my imagination...or movies..I hope it's not so much the latter, because that'd be plagiarism.
I have three famous stories, 2 recommended reads and have come in the top ten in two competitions~ Come in and make yourself at home.
When I was in law enforcement an older colleague had to attend the Dale Carnegie course, and part of it was having to speak for 5 minutes on a random subject for the public speaking component. Another colleague told me that when Dave got up to the podium, he was given the topic. It was 'snakes'. His opening line was "I know more 'bout snakes than the snakes Momma do." That's how it's done- don't wait for lightning to strike, celestial bells to peal, the waters to part. Get in there and get started. The finest wooden sculpture was just a tree once. Somebody got started shaping it, refining it, polishing it, and when they were done it was a work of art and craft. Writing is the same. Your tools are your experiences, your thoughts, your knowledge, your emotions, even your vocabulary. If you never use them nothing will ever be produced.
