Shiloh Walker has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more…ah…serious vampire stories. She loves reading and writing anything paranormal, anything fantasy, and nearly every kind of romance. Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the midwest.
Museless
By Shiloh Walker
I’ll be honest-I don’t quite get the idea of a writer’s muse.
I don’t have a muse…I am museless and I finally figured out why, or at least, I understand why a little better.
My writing is mine. I am greedy. Mine, mine, mine…now granted, when I think my work sucks, I can only blame myself, not a muse. If the story takes a strange turn and readers don’t like it, I can’t go with… Well, the muse made me do it. It’s on me. Only me.
But when it’s good? I don’t have to share the credit with a muse, and I like that. It seems like a lot of writers who do have muses treat them as a separate entity, so to speak…even if it’s their creativity driving the muse. So they have to share the credit.
Does that make sense?
I’m actually pretty glad I don’t have a muse. Because I think it leaves me in a little bit more control. Yes, the story is going to often try to dictate how it should go, but I don’t feel like I’m a slave to a muse.
Once, I heard a reader ask a writer a question about a book. The reader asks, ‘Well, why did you have to do that?’ (The reader wasn’t pleased with how a certain book had ended). The writer responded with, ‘It was the muse.’
I’ve heard similar questions asked before, and have heard similar responses.
Another thing about muses-I’ve read/heard discussions where a writer is frustrated about changes an editor requests that go against what they feel their muse is telling them to do. Fighting these because of a muse? I don’t know, but it seems counter-productive.
Sometimes, author muses seem to come in the form of the characters-so the muses change for the writer from book to book. I can say that when I’m writing, my characters, and the story itself, tends to take on a life of its own and I am just putting it down on paper. But I still don’t feel that a muse is driving it. It’s the story…or it’s my overactive imagination.
A while back, I decided to do a little mini-poll on muses at my blog… a)yes, I have a muse b)nope, no muse, just an imagination…etc, etc, etc.
One of the commenters(mutltideofm) made this comment (in regard to whether or not she had a muse):
“I used to think so. Now I don’t. I think it’s given me an objectivity that I wouldn’t have in my writing otherwise. The no-muse model appeals to me because your fiction is your construct.”
And while I hadn’t thought about that aspect before, it’s a very valid one, and it kind of goes hand in hand with the ‘mine, mine, mine’ concept I concocted.
Since the story is my fictional construct, if there’s something that is holding the story up, or something that’s bogging the story down unnecessarily, once an editor/proofer/beta reader helps me to see what and (most importantly) why, I’m likely to be very open to change…and I can change it, because it’s is my construct…not a muse’s construct. I guess it’s my inner control freak-I want be in control (or at least delude myself into thinking it) and I can’t do that when I’m sharing the writing seat with a muse.
Shiloh’s latest release is part of her popular Hunters series. HUNTERS NEED, is out now! You can read an excerpt HERE.
Related posts:
Comment
The muse is like an invisible friend when you’re a kid. Sometimes you need one around, sometimes you don’t. I think seriously blaming some amorphous entity for something you screwed up or don’t want to do is taking a dip in that river in Egypt, though.
Personally, I have fairy godmothers. Two of them.
Comment
Fairy godmothers, huh? I’ll take one of those. If they grants wishes.
Comment
Great post!
Comment
Thanks for letting me guestblog here, Candace~
Comment
You just keep being that control freak and shoving that muse out the door. Your stories are awesome just the way you write them. You don’ t need help.
I write like you do though. It’s my characters and imagination that drive my stories. I don’t think I really even understand the concept of a muse. Is this ’someone’ who whispers in your ear and tells you to make your story go in this direction or your characters to do that? Nope, not for me. My characters are adamant about what they want. Sometimes it won’t work, but like you, I know it’s not written in stone. I have no one to laud or blame but myself for stuff that does or doesn’t work.
Comment
You have an inner control freak, too.
Comment
Hi Shiloh
Thoughtful post. The muses are from Greek myths. What does that say? As just a reader I always thought that a muse was a personification for what makes a writer write & that is inspiration which comes from the writer anyway.
Comment
Mary, I’ve talked to some writers who seem to have ‘personalized’ their muses. I guess that’s why I don’t buy into muses, for me-I’m not going to ‘personalize’ inspriration.
Comment
I don’t believe in muses either. Although I do have a couple of very…inspirational posters t, and I call one them my muse. But really, he’s a just a hot hot dude that revs up my imagination if I stare at him to long.
Comment
Pervert.
Comment
Hey Shiloh,
I love this blog entry. I wrote six novels very quickly with my manic muse at the helm, and then she left me high and dry. Since then, I have been learning how to live without her. It’s hard work, but I’m determined. Damn it, SOME of those stories had to come from me and me alone! LOL Screw her!
Seriously, I’m impressed with your sense of your own strength as a writer–taking control of your talent and your destiny. ‘Atta girl! You always inspire me.
Comment
Eh, I don’t know how much it has to do with strength. I like being in control…don’t want to rely on whims or anything.
Comment
Hi Shiloh
Thank you for sharing here today.
I always thought of my “muse” as another name for inspiration.
I love your explanation of the (non)muse.
All the best,
RKCharron
Comment
The ‘non’muse. I like that.