A muse is that God-given inspiration in your subconscious where you draw your ideas from and which fuels you with every creative thought. It also has the privilege of driving you crazy and there’s not a thing you can do about it because if you try to drive your muse crazy in return, it will pack up its stuff and unceremoniously depart your subconscious.Every writer needs a muse. You might have an excellent idea brewing somewhere in you but it’s your muse that will convert those thoughts into the fabulous written word for you. My muse, for instance, is a total girl and has been dressed in the same outfit for over 15 years - a light blue tunic with silver embroidery on the edges over a pair of dark blue jeans. She sports black platform heels on her feet. She’s roughly 6ft tall and almost always has a big box of Godiva chocolates in her hand. She usually comes in, takes a seat and chomps away at the chocolates. Sometimes she tells me to bugger off and sometimes she gives me everything she’s got and a little extra. I have no choice but to pander to all her demands because she’s got my flow in her possession. There are times I don’t feel like writing but she comes in the room anyway and after ignoring her for a while, she rudely tells me I’d better write or she’s going to go away for a very long time. I inform her she’s a bully and then start writing.
In case this all sounds spiritual and slightly devilish a la possession :), rest assured, a muse can be in the form of an actual human being as well. Picasso drew a lot of his inspiration from the many many women he had relationships with and subsequently discarded after he’d milked the inspiration dry. Of course it’s not necessary to be needlessly vicious like Picasso but you get the idea. There is someone or something somewhere who can inspire you, be it in your subconscious or in reality.
If you don’t have a muse, I recommend sourcing for one because, believe it or not, a muse is the ultimate source of your creativity.
