Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!
I was inspired by C. Lee McKenzie when she posted last week on my blog about her Crazy Monkey Muse who happens to be male.
It got me to wondering what shape my Muse takes. I've never really thought about it.
Is it male or female?
Is it animal, vegetable, or mineral?
Is it old or young? Handsome/beautiful or homely/ugly?
It finally dawned on me (I can be soooooooo sllloooooooow) that my Muse seems to take on/become the character of whatever story I'm working on.
So for Anansi and Company, Anansi was my Muse. For A Lizard's Tail, I channeled Marvin.
I realized this is true for every story I've ever written.
My Muse isn't some lounging Greek satyr.
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| "THAM Derveni crater satyr". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. |
My Muse is jumping up and down on the side-lines yelling and cheering and making lots of noise and demanding a lot of attention. (Hmmmmm, maybe not so much.)
The problem (if it is one) is that my Muse will disappear, particularly when I've finished something. I suppose my Muse must be exhausted after directing my latest block-buster hit and thinks it deserves a vacation on a beach somewhere.
I wouldn't mind being here either.
The result is, I never know what shape my Muse will take, when it will arrive, or how long it will stay.
What about you? What shape does your Muse take? Is he/she/it always available or do you have to run it down and, when you find it, chain it to your desk with the promise of freedom and chocolate if only it will inspire?
The month of January I am the Author of the Month on Carol Kilgore's web page. I'll be giving away books. Come check it out!
