- Photo by bulinna
Do you know your Muse? Who is your she? Do you have one? He, She? Mine gets kind of vocal…she’s a fighter. 
A little history about the Muses. Traditionally, Muses were female, their history coming to us from Greek Mythology. According to Wikipedia:
The Muses (Ancient Greek ?? ??????, hai mo?sai [1]: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- “think”[2]) in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths. Originally said to be three in number, by the Classical times of the 400s BC, their number had grown and become set at nine goddesses who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music, and dance.
The Muses have been depicted as the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory; the daughters of Uranus and Gaia; or even the daughters of Harmonia and Cadmus. As you can see, they have a confused birth story, but then, when isn’t history long and confusing? All the better for us as writers to have various histories with which to play.
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Muse
Domain
Emblem
Calliope
Epic Poetry
Writing Tablet
Clio
History
Scrolls
Erato
Lyric Poetry
Cithara
Euterpe
Music
Aulos
Melpomene
Tragedy
Tragic Mask
Polyhymnia
Choral Poetry
Veil
Terpsichore
Dance
Lyre
Thalia
Comedy
Comic Mask
Urania
Astronomy
Globe & Compass
Table 1. Historical Greek Muses
As a modern writer, I have a harder time picturing my muse as an ancient Greek Goddess. Oh, some days, I think she likes to think she’s a goddess, but she’s usually a tough-as-nails fighter who will turn on me in a second if I try to let the heroine of the book get away with being wishy-washy. We’re so past that. However, it might be time to find a masculine muse who can take her on. She can be quite demanding.
Then again, at this rate, they’ll end up as a story of their own. But isn’t that how stories are born?
My Muse sometimes changes with each story I’m writing. I try to let my heroine lead me. I let her really get her footing and her voice. Maybe one day, they’ll all get together and have a chat to share! When did you find your Muse? Or do you even have one?
