Friday, April 15, 2011

The Muse Myth.

Many moons ago my muse malfunctioned. Her malicious mind made fun of my meandering musings. She mistakenly thought me mediocre in my moment of independence. No longer a mentor, she meddled with all her mischievous might. She misinformed me by mentioning I lacked merit without her.

‘Minds become mazes without Muses to mediate,’ she murmured.

My mood migrated to melancholy until I realised she’d manoeuvred me into madness. The maintenance of a miraculous Muse is not mandatory to write. We can manufacture marvellous manifestations of memory, magic, or the mundane through meticulous method.

Muses are a myth.

Note: my Muse now means for me to meet my maker

Do you rely on a Muse to give you ideas for writing? Do you have arguments with your Muse?


Note: This post was written as a bit of fun for the A-Z Challenge. To learn more about the challenge click the image on my sidebar.

35 comments:

M Pax said...

I like Muse the band for inspiration. :) And talking to fellow writers and friends who follow my journey. Soon, the observatory opens again. Then my favorite Muse will be keeping me up all night on weekends.

Bonnie said...

My muse can come from anything really...but mainly music.

The only thing I argue with are my characters..one or two that can be particularly intolerable at times. But I enjoy interaction with them so it is ok...even though non writers think I am just nutty.

Unknown said...

My creative muse is sulking at the moment. :0)

DEZMOND said...

I thought in one part of the post you would mention that muses are made of chocolate ... the white one :)

Anonymous said...

hehe I love all the m's :) and the moon pic makes it even better.

Old Kitty said...

I've always wanted a muse ever since I watched Xanadu!! :-)

Take care
x

Unknown said...

My muse often drives me insane! But, I always listen. Someday I'll learn.

Unknown said...

This is a great M post. I don't know if I have a muse. Mostly I try to write daily so maybe I do have a muse.

Luanne G. Smith said...

My muse amuses most memorably in the morning. Methinks my muse is mischievous and misleading in the mid-day. *ducks and runs*

Author Joshua Hoyt said...

Music is a great muse to me. This is good post on how it helps us.

Robyn Campbell said...

My son gives me my muse. We have six boys and one girl, but Christopher was born with a rare brain disorder and his voice, his conversation gives me my muse. Excellent post. :-)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

M Pax, the band is great. Nice to see real talent.

Brea, yeah I'm used to being considered nutty ;)

Carole, you don't need a muse anyway

Dezzy, GASP! White chocolate is not real chocolate. So that means you got my point ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Niki, thanks. Took me a while to write. I wasn't even sure I should post it because it's out of the norm for me. It was fun though.

Old Kitty, now that kind of muse is worth having

Clarissa, I think it's the writer in you that drives you insane. We are made for insanity ;)

Carrie, you use method rather than a muse. Much more reliable :)

Anonymous said...

Not really sure if I have a Muse, but I don't want to tick her off! And yes, she has to be female. Makes sense...at least to me! :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

L G Smith, hahahaha (or should I say muwhahaha) marvellous message :)

Josh, yes, music is a wonderful inspiration

Robyn, oh wow, that's something special.

Unknown said...

Le Muse is a funny creature. Yes, indeed. She gets moody, vulnerable, outspoken--and sometimes all at once. Just this morning a secondary character struck me by surprise by taking on a completely different personality. It quite literally gave me pause, fingers hovering of the keyboard, before I shrugged and kept on trucking along.

Times like that I just let her (the Muse) do her thing. As far as inspiration? Music, of course. Scenery, colors, textures. Walking out in the open gives me great ideas, too.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Anne, lol, yep it makes sense to me too ;)

Alyssia, yep sometimes characters havea way of speaking for themselves.

Trisha said...

I loved this entry - WAY to alliterate! hehe

I don't really rely on a muse, but I guess I do rely on being inspired. Then again, I CAN still write when I'm not inspired. It just won't be very good ;) But that's okay. I'm happy to write whatever now, and then fix it up later.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

The Muse is quite important in my life, but I try not to get into arguments. That would be too troubling!

Monti
NotesAlongTheWay

Bish Denham said...

My muse is always there. It's me who loses sight of her/him...whatever.

Mary Mary said...

Nice use of alliteration! I don't really call it my muse. I think of it as that little annoying voice inside my head that won't shut up when I need to think!

Susan Fields said...

I don't think I have a muse. At least, if I do, she needs to speak up a bit more. :)

Lisa Potts said...

Wonderful post and fun to read. I leave offerings of brownies covered with hot fudge for my muse. Sometimes they work.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I don't believe we've ever had an argument...

Unknown said...

Great M post! Muse is mysterious. There is something about being in the zone but Muse seems more elusive. I think it would be easy to use the Muse idea as an excuse not to work. As I posted on J- Jump over writer's block. Plumbers don't get plumbers block, Doctors don't get doctor block.

Patricia JL said...

My muse is finicky, picking and choosing when to talk to me. Never on command either. Coaxing works sometimes, I sit at my computer and start struggling and she can't resist whispering. I love my muse though and would rather not irritate her.

Unknown said...

My Muse is a cantankerous, spiteful witch who only pops out when she feels like it. most of the time I have to go in and get her.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Trisha, There's no reason why writing without inspiration can't be just as good as writing with inspiration. It just takes a little more work.

Monti, hehe

Bish, interesting take on it. Good point.

Mary Mary, lol I can relate

Susan, lol yep

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Lisa, oh, can I be your muse?

Alex, that's probably a good thing

Pam, It's true we often do use Muses as an excuse not to write. Love your point about plumbers etc.

Patricia, yep, often it's enough to just start writing to trigger inspiration.

Melissa, actively going in and getting the muse is the key I believe.

Tony Payne said...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm marvelous musings!

My muse works with me most of the time, but fails me when I have to write and the mood isn't right.

When she does go on strike, I find that the cure for not knowing what to write about is to write that I don't know what to write about, and then the words begin to flow, and often turn to poetry as my inner poet wakens and pens a cute and often witty poem for me.

Anonymous said...

Lovely alliteration.

My muse is an elusive thing, she only gets caught when I begin to write. So I just write anyway, and wait for her to come do her magic!

Linda Fischer said...

YOu a "muse" me! I dd a similar post for the letter "d". (similar in that it was an alliteration, not in that it was musing about a muse.)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Poddys, yes exactly. We can't always wait for the muse.

Damyantiwrites, yep that's the way to do it :)

Linda, lol! love the pun

Bob Sanchez said...

As the queen said, we are not a-mused. Well, actually we are. (I see Linda Fischer beat me to the pun. Oh well.)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Bob, it's still funny hehehe