The Genesis Of A Muse

As long as I have been writing, something has inspired me to put the words down one way or the other. My very first time I tried a hand in writing something creative, I scribed a poem for a pretty girl in my class. 

Her name was Carmen and I thought I would marry her, something that usually doesn't cross the mind of a ten year old boy. She moved away soon after, but I wrote a few stories on how she was a princess and I was the knight that rescued her.

So that was my first muse. 

A muse, for those of you that are not familiar with the term, is an artistic or guiding force of inspiration to the artist. It is the reason he creates, and his work usually depicts that muse in some form. And that muse may or may not change in that artist's lifetime.  

In Greek Mythology, the Muses were the nine daughters of the gods Zeus and Mnemosyne.  They were of one being in heart, soul, and mind. Each of the Muses had a different field of influence in the art and sciences. Legend would have that a man's worries would disappear is he was loved by the Muses.

My muse was ever-changing.  I had inspiration by my pets, Mother Nature, God, life, death, heartbreak, love, friends, and my children, to name a few. Most of the time, a particular muse would last a few weeks, occasionally months, then a new muse would encompass my work.

There is one, however, that  just won't go away.

She is a woman I once knew.  I haven't seen her in quite awhile now, but her essence, somehow, lingers in my soul.  I have written a short story, several poems, a serial, a manuscript for a novel, and a screenplay that was inspired by her.  Every time I write anything, I have to resist the urge not to include a character, a physical trait, or some part of her personality in that piece. I fail miserably every single time.

There are times it just comes from within. We all have different personae that make up our being, and we create from the emotion of them.  Some of these works are misinterpreted as representing an actual subject or object, but in was meant to be abstract, as emotion tends to be.

I noticed lately that I more inspired by my kids than ever. My daughter, who is nearly four, is always asking me to tell her a story. It almost always has a rebellious princess, a mythical creature, and a prince that tries to rescue her, but he ends up being rescued by her.  Then she tell him to go home while she pretends to be a boy and joins her father's army.

Those storytelling sessions helped us bond and I have come up with several stories inspired by them. I may let you read them at a later time. 

So I guess that makes my daughter my muse as well. 

I see so much in my eight year old boy that reminds me of myself at his age.  Strong, intense, with a burning anger that dissipates when he does things that he is passionate about. He is very good at story, and has come up with some ideas that we both work on in the near future.

I have written a few stories about him. Some of themes involve about the isolation he has often felt the few early years that I was sparingly in his life and the guilt that overcomes me because of it.

So, I guess my son is also my muse.

What inspires you,  my fellow knights of the pen?  Do you have a muse that makes the creative juices flow?