ODE TO THE MUSE

*This post was written on Wednesday, August 29th, as Hurricane Isaac passed over southern Louisiana where I live.

A storm rolling into our town.
Listening to hurricane winds whistle and howl through the trees outside my home, I find myself sitting here, pondering the muse. For those who are familiar with my novel Rising , you know that a fierce storm, specifically a hurricane, plays a huge part in the unfolding plot of the story. Having been born and raised in southern Louisiana, the impending storm has seeped into my subconscious. When I started to write my novel, I tried to think of ways to implement the natural with the supernatural. The hurricane became the harbinger and carrier of the evil creatures in my mind long before the words made their way to the page. My muse was all that storms encompass—fear, power, destruction, and even hope of their passing.


My husband caught this storm in his rearview.             This had me wondering about the muses of other authors. So I spoke to a few friends of mine. David Estes shared his muse for his dystopian novel The Moon Dwellers.  His original inspiration came from societies “which supported the creation of a class system, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Thus, the underground world of the Tri-Realms was born in his novel series.  That’s actually perfect since corrupt governments from our past have inspired some of the greatest dystopian novels ever written. Consider George Orwell’s novel 1984 which reflects the dangers of the totalitarian state.
Beyond history, where else does the author find his/her muse? Another friend of mine, Colette Saucier, found hers in classic literature. After multiple readings of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , she had come to see Mr. Darcy “as a Byronic hero—intelligent, arrogant, introspective, and cynical.” She had also read John Pollidori’s novella The Vampyre , written with Lord Byron in mind as the “gentleman” vampire.  This swirled in her mind to produce the forlorn, blood-starved Mr. Darcy in her novel Pulse and Prejudice .  Rainstorm over the sugarcane. Even social issues can play the part of the muse. Author Julie Reece often became disheartened by the plight of the homeless teenagers in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives. While working in a soup kitchen, she encountered a sad, beautiful teenage girl. “The girl rambles incoherently, but I hardly hear her, because as she picks at her cornbread and nibbles at her chili, I’m thinking: Who are you? How did you get here? I wonder about her parents, and how her mind became so broken.” This experience later inspired her heroine Birdie Orin in her paranormal novel Crux , who discovers she has an otherworldly power beyond her seemingly helpless state in society.
 

The muse is an ambiguous entity. Does it come from without, or does it come from within? I’d venture to say both. Whether from literature, history, society, or Mother Nature, she weaves into the conscious and subconscious of all writers, sparking some new idea to life. Inspiration is complex and multi-dimensional, but if I had to pinpoint an origin, I’d bet the true muse lies within the heart of the writer. So blow, winds, blow, and howl through the trees. Perhaps you’ll awaken a new story for someone to tell.
  A ray of hope as Isaac leaves us.*Note: In the midst of writing this piece, the wind blew a tree down in my backyard. I heard it tear out of the ground, roots and all. Perhaps, my muse replied to my saucy remarks the only way she knew how. Hurricane Isaac's present to us. My son Jacob standing triumphant on our fallen tree.