Er. Well. Since someone already mentioned my case here...
I believe that I work at the behest of a muse. Not only is she there, but she has the whip and cattle prod and gives very, shall we say, persuasive arguments for me to write whatever she likes.
I wouldn't call it the result of cultural forces, and if that's the case then it's just more of my muse's irony. My understanding of muses stems mostly from what popular culture has to say, and mine certainly isn't an incredibly beautiful woman lounging in red silks on my bed. My girlfriend says she has a pair of muses, has had them for a while and seems convinced of their existence, but the fact that she, and in fact, a lot of girls in our mutual circles, seemed to have them prompted me to the conviction that a muse was the last thing I ever wanted. If they were real, I thought, then muses were rare, and everyone and their sister toting one was a step away from selling the things in jars at Hot Topic.
And then came Cassandra.
Now, I've had it described to me that Cassandra was 1) a result of brain damage (I have unexplainable amnesia, so the notion doesn't seem too far left field), 2) a split personality in the form of auditory hallucinations, or 3) a split personality with imagined auditory hallucinations that I thought up to help corroborate my own story.
Since it's the trend of today's culture to declare ourselves mentally unstable, I tend to the view that I'm satisfactorily sane, but I also acknowledge that this isn't a professional diagnosis, so if Cassandra's just something in my own head, it would make fair enough sense. One friend even reasoned that even if she was a split personality, she seemed to be doing me more good than harm, so there was little danger in encouraging her.
There's the thing. Cassandra doesn't feel like an extension of my own mind, because she offers up ideas far beyond my own ability to design. The K.A. without Cassandra is a very scarily bad, FFN-styled thing. It's ever so fortunate most of those old stories aren't available online these days.
Although, it could be argued that's self-depreciation, like some you mentioned above, motivated by a culture that finds it irrational/conceited to suggest inspiration comes from oneself. We could go on about my personal insecurities only making that all more likely. Even still, as I've said, I was never prone to believe in muses until I started getting this one's voice in my head. Totally sober, level, and far too much of an atheist to acknowledge a god or demon. Anyway, she's yet to tell me to make sinners repent or burn down the churches. Just wants me to write a Broadway musical someday. Which may be just as bad.
In the end: for me, the object of what my muse is is immaterial. I prefer to treat her as an outside entity (insofar as a voice by your ear/in your head is an outside entity), but even if she is just the product of my own brain, I think she's good for me. I don't feel I'd be the writer I am otherwise, if for no other reason than self motivation-- After all, caught between listening to myself and listening to someone else, I'm more prone for the latter, so it's my belief in Cassandra that's resulted in a lot of work getting written.
^^; For what any of that is worth. Sorry for rambling.
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I believe that I work at the behest of a muse. Not only is she there, but she has the whip and cattle prod and gives very, shall we say, persuasive arguments for me to write whatever she likes.
I wouldn't call it the result of cultural forces, and if that's the case then it's just more of my muse's irony. My understanding of muses stems mostly from what popular culture has to say, and mine certainly isn't an incredibly beautiful woman lounging in red silks on my bed. My girlfriend says she has a pair of muses, has had them for a while and seems convinced of their existence, but the fact that she, and in fact, a lot of girls in our mutual circles, seemed to have them prompted me to the conviction that a muse was the last thing I ever wanted. If they were real, I thought, then muses were rare, and everyone and their sister toting one was a step away from selling the things in jars at Hot Topic.
And then came Cassandra.
Now, I've had it described to me that Cassandra was 1) a result of brain damage (I have unexplainable amnesia, so the notion doesn't seem too far left field), 2) a split personality in the form of auditory hallucinations, or 3) a split personality with imagined auditory hallucinations that I thought up to help corroborate my own story.
Since it's the trend of today's culture to declare ourselves mentally unstable, I tend to the view that I'm satisfactorily sane, but I also acknowledge that this isn't a professional diagnosis, so if Cassandra's just something in my own head, it would make fair enough sense. One friend even reasoned that even if she was a split personality, she seemed to be doing me more good than harm, so there was little danger in encouraging her.
There's the thing. Cassandra doesn't feel like an extension of my own mind, because she offers up ideas far beyond my own ability to design. The K.A. without Cassandra is a very scarily bad, FFN-styled thing. It's ever so fortunate most of those old stories aren't available online these days.
Although, it could be argued that's self-depreciation, like some you mentioned above, motivated by a culture that finds it irrational/conceited to suggest inspiration comes from oneself. We could go on about my personal insecurities only making that all more likely. Even still, as I've said, I was never prone to believe in muses until I started getting this one's voice in my head. Totally sober, level, and far too much of an atheist to acknowledge a god or demon. Anyway, she's yet to tell me to make sinners repent or burn down the churches. Just wants me to write a Broadway musical someday. Which may be just as bad.
In the end: for me, the object of what my muse is is immaterial. I prefer to treat her as an outside entity (insofar as a voice by your ear/in your head is an outside entity), but even if she is just the product of my own brain, I think she's good for me. I don't feel I'd be the writer I am otherwise, if for no other reason than self motivation-- After all, caught between listening to myself and listening to someone else, I'm more prone for the latter, so it's my belief in Cassandra that's resulted in a lot of work getting written.
^^; For what any of that is worth. Sorry for rambling.