Demon Muse Post: Getting to Know Your Creative Demon, Part 1

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by matt cardin

Who are you talking to when you interview an author, or when you have a conversation with your spouse, child, parent, or neighbor?

I think there is a difference between interviewing an author (or artist) about his or her work and talking to anyone else in daily life ... because of the very reasons you give earlier, Matt, about the creative process.

The work is ostensibly where the 'thing or things' that created the work reside(s). So one should 'interview' or 'inter-review' (or 'real-time review', in my sense) the work itself not its supposed author in his or her fleshy form??
Just brainstorming on behalf of the Nemo...
des

[Nemonymous]

Talking about 'interviews', Brian Keene did one on me ten years ago, where I discuss, inter alia, the creative process:

http://weirdmonger.livejournal.com/2010/03/18/

including this 'pretentious' statement from me:

Hoping not to sound pretentious, I’ve always felt I was teetering on the brink of a "unique voice", as you put it, when in the writing mode. At times, I’ve thought it externally, almost religiously, driven. At others, internally, essentially "me". I physically have an enormous head and I feel it contains two brains, which often talk to each other and collaborate, but then, at different times, they are mutually counter productive!


EDITED to change above link.

[Nemonymous]

Some very interesting thoughts have been generated here:
http://www.knibbworld.com/campbelldi...tml?1268963569
especially from Tony, Chris and Craig (so far).

[hopfrog]

[QUOTE=matt cardin;41529]Thanks, Jon and Des.

Very provocative thoughts, Des. Who's the real author of any work? My personal response is that it's a collaborative effort through-and-through between the unconscious (the daimon/daemon, muse, genius, duende) and the ego./QUOTE]

We are artists, but I think we must remember the INDUSTRY that creates literary art -- the work, the skill, which one cultivates with time and effort. To me, this is intricately a part of the art, but it is something, for me at least, that needed to be learned, from study of the writing of others, thinking about our work, &c. I don't know that I believe in something that may be termed "an accident of genius." There are moments when the writing flows and feels like magic, but mostly it is tough work and struggle and fills me with doubt and fear.

[matt cardin]

I hope it won't sound paradoxical, in light of my championing of the daimon-muse model, for me to agree wholeheartedly with you, Wilum.

The preparation you talk about is the necessary work of the conscious self, whose task is both 1) to learn to sense and step aside for the gift of the muse, and 2) to cultivate itself through training etc. into a vessel or vehicle capable of shaping that gift into a shareable form.

See my recent article "Perspiration Meets Inspiration or, The Return of the Muse" for a longer treatment of exactly this point.

To reiterate, I agree with your point completely.

[Nemonymous]

I note that Matt has just published a new article on this subject:
http://www.demonmuse.com/stoking-you...s-work-habits/

Fascinating.

It does seem to be becoming a form of new-born religion, however...?

[dr. locrian]

Quote Originally Posted by Nemonymous

I note that Matt has just published a new article on this subject: http://www.demonmuse.com/stoking-you...s-work-habits/ Fascinating. It does seem to be becoming a form of new-born religion, however...?

Excellent. I was just about to post a new thread linking to the new article, but you beat me to it, Des! I may create a new thread anyway just to get it extra attention.

Now I've just got to find the time this week to read and reread this one carefully. I'm absolutely loving the content of these articles, and I'm digging the tone as well. In fact, I keep expecting the narrative voice to peel away into a meta-fictional story a la "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story"!

[Nemonymous]

Another article in Matt Cardin's fascinating series here:
http://www.demonmuse.com/ignorance-f...n-muse-part-1/
My previous blog comments on this series:
http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/mat...demon_muse.htm
I responded elsewhere to the new article with this comment: "Automatic Writing is an interesting exercise for any Nemonymist."
As a responding comment, Matt Cardin has coined this beautiful word: "daemonymous"
Thanks, Matt

[matt cardin]

You're welcome, Des. The hybridizing of the two concepts just struck me as perfect. Thanks for posting the link.

[Nemonymous]

Matt has issued another episode in his fascinating series:

http://www.demonmuse.com/ignorance-f...n-muse-part-2/

This is a detailed series with many points.

Generally speaking, however, the two questions I keep finding myself asking about this treatment of the concept 'demon muse':
(1) Where is the borderline between this demon muse being part of yourself or a possession by something else altogether?
(2) Where is the borderline between this being a genuine literary observation (an internal process that is natural in the creative process) or the engendering of a born-again religion?

I ask those questions in a genuine spirit of not knowing the answers. And not steering in any direction.

Regarding (2), Matt's blog *looks* like a religious one.