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by Janice Van Cleve
A writer was once asked what compelled her to write. Was it a paycheck? Or fame? Or personal amusement? She replied simply that she just had to write. An inner drive forced her to write, a drive that is hard to explain to non-writers.
Until now. Gentle readers, I shall explain this strange urge that we writers feel for our work. It is the Muses who inspire our efforts. The Muses are Deadlina, Audiencia, Fascinata and Outtamywaya.
Deadlina is a most unforgiving Muse. She waits on neither creativity nor ideas. She brooks no excuses. She is impatient, demanding and irresistible. Neither accuracy nor art can sate her appetite, for her highest command is to be fed on time. Sometimes she takes the form of an editor and sometimes that of a publisher. She is most cruel when she takes form within the writer's psyche itself, driving, always driving, to meet her schedule. Deadlina can force a writer to produce some of her sloppiest work, and also some of her best work, because Deadlina occasionally opens doors the writer cannot find under lighter pressure. She can shatter writer's block. She can force energy. She can call forth passion that the writer could not ignite on her own. All praise to Deadlina! Save for her, much of our work would never see print.
Audiencia is a much more beguiling Muse. She works through flattery, appreciation and our thirst to be loved. She plays upon our desire to please. She feeds our egos. She can spur us forward with a few honeyed words or a touch of eagerness in the question of an admirer asking when our next story will be appearing. She takes form often as a friend and sometimes as a voice from our audience. Her allure is sweet. She mesmerizes us like the Siren's song to forge ahead, to sacrifice time and tummy to follow her enchantment and to produce for love. All praise to Audiencia! She smoothes over the difficulties of our work and gives us a vision beyond our current efforts.
Fascinata is the Muse of imagination. She seizes our mind and captures our interest. She is the catalyst who fuses our will with our subject. She binds us into a symbiotic duality where writer and written word wrestle for control of the story. Like the snake that consumes its own tail, we feel growth and direction only in consuming uncontrollably the topic to which she has us chained.
Fascinata takes many forms. She is the neverending shelves of books in the library that continue to draw us to other aspects of the story. She is the branching of an Internet search only a click away to more and fascinating worlds beyond that which we originally sought. She is the secondary article in a journalistic reference, the interesting-sounding notation in a bibliography, and the footnote that opens to a new path. It is Fascinata who leads us to ferret out details, to round out characters and to complete all the hues and shadings that make our stories come to life. All praise to Fascinata! She breathes life into our work.
Outtamywaya is a most powerful Muse. She depends neither on time nor praise nor topic. She asks no reward. She waits for no writer. She is independent, with purpose and meaning and destiny that are hers alone. She visits ofttimes in dreams, in the shower, in a particular tableau we chance upon along the street, hardly ever when we are at our workstation. She knocks upon the door of our internal control room. If she is insistent, she may knock twice; however, if she is not answered promptly, she just as often will leave to find another outlet. For the writer who lets her in,
Ottamywaya is a tingling experience. She is the gatekeeper for messages seeking birth. She seizes the subconscious as well as all the motor functions. She relegates the conscious mind to the role of witness and commands the body to push. The writer becomes little more than a birth canal. The story flows through us and onto the page like a solar wind that has finally found a funnel. The rush is exhilarating, intoxicating and exhausting. All praise to Outtamywaya! She is the ecstasy, the sublime orgasm of writer's delight.
There you have the four Muses of the writer's pantheon: Deadlina, Audiencia, Fascinata and Outtamywaya. Like a kayaker on the open sea, the writer may paddle using only her mind and muscle and never reach the furthest shore. Powered by the Muses, though, she may be pushed or pulled, beguiled or blasted to her destined shore and beyond.
A frequent contributor to Widdershins, the very much a-mused Janice will present a workshop on creating ritual at the Women of Wisdom conference, which runs February 16-24. For more on the conference, see the Raven's Call on page 14.
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