Some artists surrender to the unconscious. The muses represent an entity (whether you consider it inside us, our subconscious; or slightly inside us, say like the collective unconscious; or completely outside us, say like a theistic god or nature as a life force) that breathes the creativity in a work of art.
I feel writing about this makes it sound very mystical, but I feel it quite otherwise, and observable. Straightforward rationality can get a lot of things done, but it lacks a certain life spark, and that “life spark”, that creative element, arises from factors that we don’t (yet) fully understand. So a lot of people use the term muses to refer to this force that is not fully in their control.
Not all writers are like that of course. A lot of great writers are just good at showing up, and writing and writing. So one doesn’t have to believe in the muses to be a good writer (or a good anything).
tl;dr; some people do acknowledge that there is a sense in which they were more of a conduit of the creation, than the creators themselves, of whatever art they have created, and muses are one of the terms to refer to this force that they don’t fully understand. It’s a personal preference.
Some artists surrender to the unconscious. The muses represent an entity (whether you consider it inside us, our subconscious; or slightly inside us, say like the collective unconscious; or completely outside us, say like a theistic god or nature as a life force) that breathes the creativity in a work of art.
I feel writing about this makes it sound very mystical, but I feel it quite otherwise, and observable. Straightforward rationality can get a lot of things done, but it lacks a certain life spark, and that “life spark”, that creative element, arises from factors that we don’t (yet) fully understand. So a lot of people use the term muses to refer to this force that is not fully in their control.
Not all writers are like that of course. A lot of great writers are just good at showing up, and writing and writing. So one doesn’t have to believe in the muses to be a good writer (or a good anything).
tl;dr; some people do acknowledge that there is a sense in which they were more of a conduit of the creation, than the creators themselves, of whatever art they have created, and muses are one of the terms to refer to this force that they don’t fully understand. It’s a personal preference.