Your Muse Is Dead. Get Over It.

Your Muse Is Dead. Get Over It.

He or she is not coming back. They never liked you anyway. But don’t be upset. Your Muse never existed anyway.

So, what happened? Well, first off, the idea of a Muse was farse. The Muse became a symbol for what inspires a writer.  It was their responsibility to provide direct and immediate divine inspiration for all artists. Ancient writers, such as Homer and Virgil, as well as ones closer to our times, like Milton and Joyce, appealed to the Muse to help them compose. Maybe this is just the first step in my eventual descent into becoming a full-blown curmudgeon, but I’ve always held the stance that writer’s block and Muses are just an artists’ way of romanticizing being lazy.

Muses are just a writer's way of romanticizing being lazy
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The idea of sitting and staring at a block of stone isn’t the best way to get inspired (in a way, it’s more a form of procrastination). Instead, take inspiration from the world around you. Chat to others in your field. If you’re not writing, then try reading. Watch a movie with a good story. Play a story-driven computer game. OR just put your feet up and admit you’re procrastinating, but don’t try to romanticize it. You’re only fooling yourself.

 

Muses – You Elusive Minx, You!

We are all familiar with the Classical Muses. It was their responsibility to provide direct and immediate divine inspiration for all artists. Many writers, even to this day, accredit a ‘mysterious being which guided their fingers to write their novel’ or how they were ‘merely a vessel for the Muse whispering her stories into their ears’.

Sound the BS buzzer!

The idea of a Muse can be whatever inspires a writer. This could be something as broad as observing some interaction between folks that gives the writer an idea for a story. Or it could be a conversation overheard that the author feels may be reworked and put into the next novel.

Your Muse is not a mystical being. It's the real world all around you.
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There is another use for the figure of the Muse and that is to have her stand for motivation, and that is just sad. Many writers, including yours truly, have used a lack of inspiration as an excuse not to write. “I can’t write today. I’m just not inspired.”

Does that sound familiar?

This excuse does not work in any other professional field. Think about it. The President or a police offer can’t say, “I can’t work today. I’m just not inspired.”

Writers should not be so especially privileged to avail of this mystical on and off switch to our writing. Never has a lawyer failed to appear in court because he did not feel like practicing law that day. You’ll never hear of construction workers sitting about waiting to be inspired. And there has never been a teacher who missed class because of ‘teacher’s block’.

Writer’s block is another example of people blaming the absence of a Muse for their lack of productivity. When you get down to it, writer’s block is nothing more than attempting to write a perfect first draft. There’s no such thing as a perfect draft no matter how many times you rewrite it. So a perfect first draft is simply impossible no matter how talented you are.

It’s this drive for a perfect first draft that kills the creative process – and in turn, has probably killed your Muse.

We need to give ourselves permission to write badly, as long as we commit ourselves to editing enormously. Instead of saying, “I’m waiting for my Muse,” say, “I’ll fix it next draft.”

Dedication Over Inspiration

Instead of waiting for the words to mystically come to you from above the bright blue, just sit down and write the damn thing. You are not going to feel Inspired to write every day and it’s okay to feel that way, but stop sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. Just write and then fix it in post.

You need to create your own definition of success, and know there must be effort put into platform building, online social media networking, and marketing designs. All that boring stuff is important. But all of this is wasted time and effort if you’re not committed to writing every day.

So, yeah, your Muse is dead. Big deal, it was a lot of bull anyway. Or maybe, if you want a less curmudgeonly way of putting it: your Muse is not dead, but alive; your Muse exists because she is a living part of you; you are your own Muse and if you’re still reading this, then clearly you’re still alive.

Where do you get your inspiration to write? What do you do when you need to write but you don’t feel Inspired? Is your Muse six feet under or burning the ear off you? Let me know in the comments below.

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