Your Muse

Oh man, I hadn't thought about this in over a decade--when I was in college and stuck on a paper or some other project, I used to draw a lion-headed guy with speech balloons telling me exactly what I needed to do to finish what I was working on. I don't know if I'd call that a personification of a muse (I don't tend to externalize my creative process in that way), but it sure helped me get things straight in my mind.

Why was he lion-headed? Hell if I know, but he tended to snarl at me a lot.

I have no muse--all the credit belongs to ME!

I have a story telling persona rather than a muse, and it varies depending on what I'm writing.

However, now I come to think about it, there is my great unrequited love for the Middle Ages...

My muse is a werewolf.

Specifically, he's the character of Wolf from the mini-series The 10th Kingdom. After I watched the mini-series Wolf became my favorite character, so I read the novelization, was extremely disappointed, and decided I could learn to write better. So Wolf got me started writing by trying to rewrite scenes from the show from his POV. Then I looked for other shows the actor (Scott Cohen) had been in, and found inspiration for a character in my WIP who has since taken over the story.

So credit where credit is due. My muse is a werewolf, and currently he's out chasing sheep (or shepherdesses). I wish he'd come back since I'd like to get some writing done...

BTW, I think there's another thread similar to this one on the Humor Writing board.

My muse is probably hard to describe. Sometimes she looks like a woman, sometimes a dark-furred seal, but usually she's kind of a mixture of both, with very dark round rich brown eyes. I've seen her msotly on pleasant, sunlit waters, just off the shore, but also in weirder darker places. She's kind of a selkie, which is no surprise as I write about those a lot, but also not exactly as they are. I snuck her into a story when I needed a description for a female deity, but the things I look to her for aren't really the same things I look to religion for. I've never had creative fires, though (I've probably used the cliche in my time, but it never felt right). I have creative waters.

My muses are my characters for that particular novel.

They are finicky little devils who have reasons not to tell me things if they don't wish too -- makes for some fast talking on my part to have them tell their stories.

Of course, it means I have to get to know my muse anew when I start a novel -- what she wants me to say and what she prefers left unsaid. How much detail, what kind of voice...

I hate my characters (though I love them more).

Muse

I suppose the closest thing to a muse incarnate I have is the big stuffed leprechaun that inhabits my office. At least, I think he's stuffed. He usually sits on my computer tower, but some days I go into my office and find him sitting on the monitor, his legs hanging down over the screen. Other days he'll be in my recliner, and once I found him in my supply closest.

I don't have a Muse, per se. What I have is far too many other people living in my head (MY head, mind you--nervy bastards), shouting their stories at me, whispering to me at odd moments, popping up and saying, "By the way, did I ever tell you--?" and so on. It all depends on who speaks up the loudest, or whose tale captures my mind at any given moment.

Torin said:

I don't have a Muse, per se. What I have is far too many other people living in my head (MY head, mind you--nervy bastards), shouting their stories at me, whispering to me at odd moments, popping up and saying, "By the way, did I ever tell you--?" and so on. It all depends on who speaks up the loudest, or whose tale captures my mind at any given moment.

Click to expand...

Torin, are you sure you and I don't share the same head?

WVWG