I recently finished reading J. M. Coetzee's Foe, which has left me contemplating heavily over the concept of the muse. The story presents itself as the narrative of a woman who spends a year shipwrecked with Robinson Crusoe after setting off to find her missing daughter. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes evident that Foe is many layers deeper than it first appears.
I do not want to bore readers with an exhaustive critical analysis, but I do need to share that Foe is a novel all writers--or all who heed the muses--should read. The ending is haunting, yet so relevent.
I consider the stories that have haunted me over the years ... the characters that have begged, sometimes demanded, to have their stories told. I consider every one of them gifts, as maddening as they can be at times. I have a constant desire to write. I answer the call to numerous muses; the thought of adhering to just one genre would be like having to choose one food on which to sustain myself for the rest of my life. Writing sustains my soul, so I listen whenever the muses call, no matter what stories they have for me.
I've been asked before where my ideas come from and why I write the genres I write, and my answer is always the same: "I believe in muses." Sounds silly, I know, but I must give credit where credit is due. Most of the stories I write would not fall under mainstream or popular fiction, but they do have an audience--and writing them is always thoroughly enriching and fulfilling, no matter how hellish some points of the process might be. Most readers who do not write have never experienced the blissful, beautiful hell that comes with being a writer, the hours upon hours of typing, revising, editing, the writer's block, the eye strain.... Writers truly write because we must. The muses can be demanding, however, and the stories if left ignored eventually build like steam in a boiling kettle. They don't always come easily, but they demand to be written just the same.
Sometimes the muses play tricks, throw in twists in the last minute, or change parts of the storyline without advance warning. For example, I found out Andy's pivotal role in the second The Darkness and the Night book only when the the muses disclosed it in the story: I had a moment of silent awe as the scene revealing him played out, and then I went back and read his scenes in the first book, Blood and Coffee, delighted with the twist. I know I'm alone in this phenomonon, and I would love to hear from others on t.
Other writers, what are your experiences with the muses? Readers, what is your take?
RSS Feed
