The Muses
August 2017 Ink2Quill editorial
https://www.ink2quill.com/

The Muses are more than just an interesting idea. Poets of old mentioned them all the time. They have been referred to as writer´s block or inspiration by people who think themselves more modern and knowledgable. We all have stories to tell, things we´d like to share with others. Some write books, poetry or blog while others do stand-up, improv or chat with friends when out at coffee shops or restaurants. Expression is a need we all have as is the partaking in the expression of others. So who are these Muses that pour the fuel for self expression we call creativity into us? Sure, we get inspiration from our daily lives and the stories of others but there is more to creativity and self expression than that. So my big question is, (as a curious writer): where do our ideas come from?

Without droning on too much let´s take a look at how we think things through and deduce or evaluate a situation. Firstly, we have the things we are taught, usually by parental or authority figures in our lives, We usually take those things for granted as true without question until a certain age. So if we are told that such and such is bad we will believe it until adulthood but might think negatively of it the rest of our lives. This might be a warning to stay away from certain things, places or people. The next thing that influences our thoughts are our experinces. So, for example, if we have fond memories of vacations at the beach then we could grow up to love the sea and have an interest in all things pertaining to water. But if we have a negative experience like getting food poisoning from a particular food and becoming violently ill then we might grow up to hate that food. A third thing that influences our thoughts is the constant barrage all around us from advertizers, the media, corporate and governmental bodies of our society, for better or for worse. This has a huge impact on our thoughts. That is to say, what we believe, like and don´t like and what we are afraid of. All of these things are variables in the very large equation that is our inspiration and creativity. Everybody´s equation is different but we all have the same variables, or so I believe. The trick to solving this equation for ourselves is to find all those variables and that is no easy task but the journey itself leads to the grand prize of self discovery.

Let me start by saying that writing a book is no easy task, especially for the first time. You have high hopes and soon learn that writing a good book, an interesting book with wide appeal is a craft that has to be learned and refined through practice. When I decided to write a science fiction book the story was already in my head. I knew what the story was and what themes I wanted to inject in the story. I found though that as I began to write chapter after chapter my story had flaws of all kinds. Not just simple mistakes but mistakes in the story line. I also had logic mistakes like when I had a character jump from a great height. I never considered how the temperature or winds speeds would affect them. So I had to go back and make changes. This pointed me to the fact that my reasoning, like everybody else´s, was flawed over a stream of thought with certain areas where I got things spot on and other areas where I was wrong.

This is an important observation we should all experience in our lives to know ourselves better. It is an important step to better self discovery. We have to consider that an idea is more a stream of thought than just a single point that is correct or incorrect. An idea is not a sound bite or cliche. It is only when we realize this can we really see the flaws in our thought patterns and know ourselves better and I am not even talking about mental illnes or cases when people are under extreme hardship. So we might not be able to learn the whole equation of our inspiration and creativity but learning and analyzing our entire stream of thought patterns as they flow is something far more valuable.

So my advice to anyone and everyone is to take that journey of self discovery. It´s rewarding and kinda fun.

So where do our thoughts and ideas come from? I just don´t know but I´m convinced they do not spring forth from our minds alone. The Ancient Greeks had that much right.

Written by John

I2Q Blogs / Opinions appius / august / editorial / ink2quill / muses / quill /