Comments on: The external genius

By: kjbishop

kjbishop — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:56:46 +0000

I think that if the muses were present all the time or even frequently at full intensity, most human beings wouldn’t get very much work done.

I agree that there’s no reason to assume there’s only one other realm — and as far as communication goes, I can see the importance of a figure like Legba who can translate communications between worlds.

By: ~W

~W — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:15:27 +0000

I believe in Muses – that they can touch us and guide us from time to time and as quickly leave us if we ignore them or they become bored with our company, but I also believe in human skill and responsibility … so the meshing of the two is a reasonable and attractive idea.

As to how spirits view us … no doubt their perception of “reality” is different from out own, but it may be that for most of them WE are the ghosts and spectres of their world and as in our own only those with the sight can truly commune across that expanse.

Though I think it limiting to assume there is only one other realm and all spirits come from it/view us from that perch. More likely there are multiple realms and the things which interact with us do so on varied levels depending from whence they come and the ease/nature of communication they value.

Some walk among us all the time, perhaps, some struggle to see us/speak with us, while to some perhaps we are no more real than they are to us … myths and legends and the nitch belief of a statistical few.

By: kjbishop

kjbishop — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:33:48 +0000

It isn’t me, it’s the people in the walls!

By: Penny

Penny — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:40:07 +0000

You write about such interesting things!

By: kjbishop

kjbishop — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:34:59 +0000

Yes! I get that sense of responsibility to put at least certain things across without altering them. Other times there’s more room for negotiation. I’ve read Mononoke fics of yours that seem to tap into a strong current — as if you did find the “original” and nail it; or the combination of the original and you is great. When you think of fairies, they traditionally admire human creativity; I could speculate that they *want* the material to become something hybrid and new.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:14:53 +0000

Oh boy, does it bring its own anxieties. “Getting it right” takes on a whole new meaning when there’s a concept that somehow some sort of “original” exists. (Actually, I’ve about come to the conclusion that that aspect of the concept is more harmful than helpful to me, but I can’t seem to shake it off.)

By: kjbishop

kjbishop — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:32:13 +0000

“Think (from any functional standpoint)” might be a better term for me than “believe”, too. I hadn’t thought about the abrogation of responsibility for bigotry etc. I think that’s where the idea of collaboration — which Gilbert mentions — is useful. If you do subscribe to the external genius idea, the muses may be on board, but the buck stops with you. To deny that is to deny that you’re a reasoning creature, I reckon.

I don’t mind sharing the idea with Gilbert; what I’m dubious about, I guess, is using the idea of supernatural inspiration specifically as a cure for writer’s anxiety, when it can bring its own anxieties and long strange journeys and uncontrolled experiences.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:04:42 +0000

While I don’t “believe”, strictly speaking, that some otherworld is giving me inspiration (I can’t let go enough to believe in it, although perhaps I’d be better off if I did), that is certainly how I think about it, from any functional standpoint. It seems to work better for me, and I find such ideas very attractive. (I have to say I’m not that comfortable with sharing such ideas with the author of Eat, Pray, Love, though. I’m extremely dubious of books like that and find them to be mostly about wish fulfillment and often of a rather appropriative mind-set. It didn’t help my dubiousness any when I saw this review which only seemed to confirm all my fears.)

I also do understand where authors who hate such ideas are coming from. Many people will interpret you saying that as meaning the work isn’t really yours, or that the work must have been easy since hey, you were just being dictated to by a muse! And it can also be an excuse for people to hand-wave away any bigotry or the like showing through their work – I have seen this in action, and it ain’t pretty.

None of that stops that mode of thought from being supremely attractive to me, though.