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

[karose.livejournal.com]

Very much so! That was precisely my ordeal this weekend so far. I had an installment in a story I was working on, that demanded to be finished first. And now here we are, with one day before school resumes, and all my homework is untouched.

The muse even got me to agree that this story was more important than grades. Which is scary for me, because I've been a goody-two-shoes with school all my life. Consistently straight-As since kindergarten, style of thing. And now I'm welcoming a few Bs and Cs if it'll get Cassandra to lighten up for a while. (And all for a story that can't be published and is losing online readership as we speak! *beats head on desk*)

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

Consistently straight-As since kindergarten, style of thing. And now I'm welcoming a few Bs and Cs if it'll get Cassandra to lighten up for a while.

OMFG. Me too. Gabriel and Reed are OBNOXIOUS that way. And Gabe's a fuckin' sociopath. Not even kidding you.

God I have so much to say but it's so personalized. IM me? kujakupharoah (and I'm hidden right now so ping away anyways and I'll answer)

Also, still appropriate for this public zone: Can you write Cassandra into a story? Karot tells me the difference between muse and character for her is that her muses can't be put into a story. But I met Gabe and Reed as characters, and then they revealed themselves to me as muses. What about Cassandra?

[nike-victory.livejournal.com]

My main muse, Nibs, definitely started as a character before he became a muse. Then again, he's an original fiction character so I don't know if he counts because it's easier for him to be both a muse and a character.