Muse -- a fantasy and writing exercise.

This writing came to me in the middle of a fantasy (I've heard women are prone to those). The problem with my fantasies is that I will pick them apart, in the middle of the fantasy, so that they're not so much a fantasy as a revised-revised fantasy where I act responsible and protect myself from potentially dangerous consequences. Or I put it into a novel where it's not me it's happening to.  My imagination is not as unabashed as I would like.

I'm going to play with it here, because 1) the topic is about Muses; 2) it will be fun to see what I learn and can pass along. Imagine that I've had a mysterious muse who reads my writing and anonymously gives me compelling writing prompts -- no, this is not currently happening. In reality, an anonymous muse would be compelling -- and frustrating, because I would spend a lot of time trying to figure out who they were.

Imagine a writing prompt then: Who do you think I am?


I don't know if it would be fair to you to tell you who I think you are, because I've made assumptions, based on societal notions of muses and my own imagination. First, I assume that there are romantic undertones -- not in a love and marriage sort of way, but with an assumption of spiritual or emotional attraction. The alternatives would be that you are pranking me with these prompts and a half-dozen of your friends are laughing at me, or that you are a cold, manipulative creature who wants me to hold you in highest regard until you crush me. I don't want to believe these things about someone I've interacted with in an enjoyable way, so I assume that you truly enjoy this exchange with purest motives and that it buoys your spirits.

I have other assumptions. I assume that you're male, because the current image of a muse is a figure of sublimated sexual attraction, and I prefer my figures of sublimated sexual attraction to be males. This assumption would be unpleasant to you if you were female. Another popular trait of muses is that they be aesthetically pleasing, and if I pictured you as a pale, willowy man with a poetic demeanor and wavy hair, you would feel slighted if you were a tall, raucous, hefty man with buzzed hair. I assume that you are creative, because you would not recognize my creativity if you weren't. Whoever you are.

To be truthful, this is all about who I want you to be, isn't it? Who I want you to be is you, and I want you to be clear with me as to who you are. 

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What I have learned:

1. I hate societal norms of attractiveness. Notice my muse is not built like most of what passes for male in Hollywood. But my standards are equally random, and tell me nothing about who the person really is.
2. I would be honestly afraid in this situation that I was being used/set up for someone else's amusement and malicious satisfaction. Look up the movie Carrie for an example.
3. "Who I want you to be is you." That's probably the most important sentence in this whole exercise. 
4. I love fantasy.  But I love reality more. The people in reality are more interesting.
5. I don't know why I wrote this as if I was from Victorian England.

Happy New Year! And may you be visited by the Muse of your Choice.