Lately I’ve been reading archives of Confessions of an English Gentleman. And it got me thinking.
I came to a conclusion that all writers are in the end in a bit toxic, D/s relationship with their muse. Please, bear with me as I explain.
Every writer works with some kind of a muse. I hope nobody can disagree on this one.
Sometimes it’s a person, sometimes an object and sometimes it’s simply an abstract ‘it’ which is there for us to blame everything on. Whatever it is for each writer, it inspires to create, helps to get through the difficult paragraphs, in some cases it mediates between the writer and the characters.
Now, there are two ways the relationship between the writer and the muse can work.
1. Muse says ‘jump’, Writer asks ‘how high’
I’m friends with quite a few writers and I’m a writer myself. And I noticed that this kind of relationship between Writer and Muse is the most common. Writer waits around until the Muse ‘hits him’ (with an idea that is sometimes called a ‘plot bunny’) and after that Writers sits down and starts writing like mad until S/He can’t think straight anymore.
It’s clearly a submissive kind of a writer.
If we were to paint a scene Muse would be this tall redhead with lips painted red. In a black leather corset, stockings and black high heel boot. Maybe even with a whip in her hand. And there in front of her, on his knees, would be a small skinny man almost naked, only in black boxerbriefs and a big collar. Looking up at his Mistress, worship clear in his eyes. Waiting for a one word. Only one word that would give him a sense of existance. “Write.”
This relationship, however common it is, poses quite a few difficulties. For one, it is very difficult to meet any kind of a deadline. One never knows when the need to write strikes and it might be days before an idea comes to you. Another drawback is that if you leave your story (be it an article, a novel or an essay) because your muse is not kind at the moment, said moment might turn into days, weeks and with time you’re no longer interested in completing the work. In those case it’s rare to come back to the story you’ve set aside. Because you and you muse moved on to something more interesting.
Sometime a submissive writers attempts to write with him muse around. Wanting to write short pieces or small paragraphs in the wait for his Muse to show up and let him commit a Great Piece everybody will praise.
The question is: assuming each good piece needs a blessing from the muse, is writing bunch of not-so-good stories worth it? Is a great author still ‘great’ if his track record looks like a bumpy road?
I suppose in this case it’s like with every D/s relationship. It all depends whether the Dom, in this case our Muse, is a good and generous one or not.
2. Muse says ‘please’, Writer says ‘now’
This relationship is difficult one but in a completely different sense than the previous one. It’s achieved by a long training, lots of willpower and spanking. Not everybody is suitable for this. To have the willpower, the determination and the most important – the patience. You see it takes time. Lots of it. Writers sits around, but doesn’t wait for muse to come to him. Instead he writes down ideas he gets from the muse. He writes regularly. For example once a day, on a regular basis. And with time, his Muse bends to his will. Giving him better and better ideas, helping with the plot twists.
Pleasing his Master.
To, again paint a scene from a D/s world. Writers sits in an armchair, comfortable, relaxed. Then he decided it’s time. He waves his hand at his Muse, standing in the corner in a cute little schoolgirl outfit. She was waiting for it. Now all she wants is to please her Writer. She has all those ideas she hopes he uses. Uses her.
The tables are turned. The deadlines are met. The writing is nothing but improving. It only gets better. One might think that if someone has this particular relationship with their Muse they hit the jackpot. But come to think of it. How many great ideas were lost because the writer didn’t want to submit to the muse. How much did the writer limit himself by training himself in the art or writing. Is there any spontaneity left?
I can’t answer those questions as I, myself, am my Muse’s bitch. Not very proud of it, but still. The fact remains.
And the question you should ask yourself is… Which category does your relationship with your Muse fall into?
[...] already wrote about a relationship between the writer and his or hers muse. And deep inside you already know who’s in charge in this relationship. But what if your Muse [...]
I would like to see a continuation of the topic