RE: muses

[permetaform]

th_nightengale mentioned muse-independant v. muse-dependant creation of artwork, and wondered about the possible demographics of creators who might or might not work with a muse.

[Poll #480760]
Personally, I work independant of a muse but keep on hearing about them occasionally in that other people use them. musesfool helped me clarify the idea of a muse in that the way I'm addressing them here is specifically as a separate individual entity.

If you do work with a muse, what form do they take and/or look like? Do you know what they look like? Do they change depending on your project?

Also, could this be at all culturally motivated? ie. more of an emphasis from western cultures who have a tradition (from the Greeks) of muses? OR could it be more prominent from cultures who do not like to accept the idea that inspiration/creativitiy/intelligence comes from oneself? (versus a higher being? or an alternate being?)

[edit] This also brings up interesting issues around sources of inspiration, and faith; can/should/could inspiration be attributed to outside sources? Common western psychological thought is that outside voices are simply hallucinations. But other lines of argument argue that creativity is simply a perception of more levels of possibility than those that occur in our current realm of existence...

[interesting threads]
- here (started by karose)
- here (started by sorchafyre)
- here (started by karotsamused)
- here (started by ranalore)
- here (started by aliaswestgate)
- here (started by billradish)
- here (started by th_nightengale)

[interesting followup post]
Muses and Friends - a poll and some discussion about a possible link between muses and the use of imaginary friends

[NOTE] The purpose of this post is to present a friendly forum for discussion. Please keep the discussion friendly and open? Concern is valid, so is criticism; but please keep an open mind. ::hugs flist:: Cool beans?

Comments

[elvaron.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I get random flashes of inspiration -- images, themes, phrases -- that I eventually wrestle down and turn into a larger work. There are times where I can sit down and write 10,000 words over two days, and there are times when it's a chore just to get out 500. I have no idea if this is Musery at work, since there is no proof whatsoever that there's another being poking around in my head. I was under the impression that that's what people say when they talk about muses (although KA's Cassandra does seem to be something else altogether)... so could it simply be individual interpretation?

[permetaform]

so could it simply be individual interpretation?

I was thinking that too; and then again, I've known people who can't write without one. Sometimes, the words just flow and the characters interact just perfectly, but is that just me in the Zone?

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I'd say that's just a case of being in the zone. I've had stories that insisted on being written, but that doesn't seem to be a muse as definred here.

Gina