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Is Happiness a Muse Killer?



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Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:06 am
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Emerson says...



I've talked to a few people about this one on one but thought I'd start something about it here!

Has anyone run into the issue of happiness killing their writing muse?

I wrote all the time as a teenager. As I look back on it, I wrote about things that I couldn't do in my own life. I wrote stories I wanted to read. But I also wrote to escape my life, my emotions, and my problems. Every teen/kid does that right? Even adults do that!

The problem is... I am really happy now. My life is great, and anything that isn't great, I'm working on making it better. So as I'm trying to get back into writing I'm realizing I have nothing I want to write about. I just can't think of what to write, and anything that I do think of end up sounding fairly boring. I'm starting to think it might be because I am no long trying to escape reality.

What do others think? And more importantly - how can I get my writer's itch back without having to ruin my life!?
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
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Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:27 am
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Griffinkeeper says...



I think the only option is to change your writing fuel source. When you grew up, you used your frustrations for escapism. Now that you're older, you will have to switch to something else.

Fortunately, there are plenty of different thing that inspire. Many people meditate on beauty, love, and even faith. You might also consider writing for others, writing stories to make people laugh can be a lot of fun. Or you can take delight in writing suspense, which keeps your readers hanging on every syllable.

Now is a time to try new things and see what you like.

As for what to write, I suggest starting with an explosion. When in doubt: explosion. For example.

"Honey, I can't find my socks. Where are they?" he asked his wife.

"I put them in the laundry," she said. The husband went toward the washing machine and five seconds later there was an explosion. She rushed down to find her husband covered in soapy water and wet socks.
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Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:23 am
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beckiw says...



This is an interesting topic!

I was worried about this when I moved away from London because I wasn't very happy in London and I was lonely and London was where I got my inspiration for my novel. I worried that as soon as I moved away and back with my boyfriend I would lose it because I would be happier. In the end though it didn't happen.

And weirdly...my characters seem to stop talking to me when I get reaaaaally low. For example, recently I had all the paranoia about sickness stuff that was going on with me and I got really down and all I could think about were the symptoms and my characters just stopped talking to me. I couldn't write because I couldn't get into the headspace to write. It's weird because I thought that the more down I got, the more I would want to write but I think the thing is that when you get that down...you just can't find the motivation to write. You can't find the motivation to do anything.

I find that my will to write comes in waves and mostly doesn't depend on my mood. I'll write constantly for a few weeks just churning stuff out and then suddenly I just stop for a few weeks and write nothing and then I start again.

Maybe just get people to give you prompts and give you a deadline to write something. That way you'll start getting into the headspace of writing again until your mind catches up and starts coming up with ideas again.
'The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.' - Hayao Miyazaki
  





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Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:24 am
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reason says...



My writing is fueled by making impossible situations. There's conflict galore going on in the story. It's a puzzle, really -of how to make all the fragments create a single image without distortion or any pieces distracting from the big picture. That's what helps me writing -fixing the story.

I'll start with two words: an adjective and an noun such as unconventional boy (or pretty ladies, hurrr hurr.) And it grows into a character whose wants and dreams are in direct contrast with another. Then it's just a domino effect of conflict. World building is one of the last steps for me. The world has to suit the characters, their wants/needs, and fuel their conflict.

I forgot to respond to the question! I don't believe happiness kills creativity. I do believe that happiness may create different priorities and writing may not be on the top of that list.
  





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Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:47 pm
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StellaThomas says...



What an interesting topic!

I definitely agree that I write less than I did when I was in school, and I am much happier now. But I don't think it's a direct correlation. I think it has to do with the fact that social interaction is really important to humans (even introverts), and as teenagers we often all feel isolated and that's what makes us sad. Being isolated means we had a lot of time to ourselves, and time to ourselves means time to write. Now that I'm in college, much happier with life, I find that I'm also busier. Therefore less time to write.

But I do think it is partly connected to feelings of sadness, angst etc. I do think that they really are conducive to writing. But one doesn't equal the other. Like, last term I was really miserable, because I was stressed out, and that completely sapped all my energy and I stopped writing almost entirely.

So I think it's a bit of everything.
"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010
  





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Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:45 pm
sargsauce says...



"All happy families resemble one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Leo Tolstoy

I, unfortunately, am a cynic.

While happiness may not be a muse killer, it doesn't exactly help in making quality writing. Happy writing might not be as interesting or controversial if you're drawing from real-life experiences. The heart of the story is conflict. And if your heart's not in it, then...ho hum.

Often, innovation comes about through adversity. Sometimes the process of making things better is because of necessity. Politics won't change much without turmoil. Wars make fantastic reasons to come up with better technology. There's the story of the man's wife who died in some third world country because it was 75 km to go around a mountain for medical help--so after her death, he spent the next several years digging a tunnel through the mountain and cut it down to 1 km. If she lived a long healthy life, he never would've done it and made life better for generations to come.

When you're happy, you're inclined to feel like if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  





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Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:30 pm
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Tenyo says...



"I'm trying hard t get back into writing" I think is the hot issue here.

Remember one of the most important rules of writing: Write every day.

It wasn't the angst that got you to write more as a teenager, it was just because one of the key blessings of youth is time, and as a teenager we tend to have all the time in the world.

Whether you're overworked and stressed or happy and full of life, it's not the emotion that's killing your writing, it's the time you've spent away from it.

In honesty, I don't blame your muse. I would be reluctant to talk to you too if you didn't let me out to play often enough ;]

Just ease back into the habit a few words extra per day and you'll be smashing keys in no time.
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Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:17 pm
Amily says...



I believe that anything can be a source for inspiration. For me, it's not some particular emotion. It's any strong feeling which can wholly cover me.
  





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Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:49 pm
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wordsandwishes says...



My Muse is very inconsistent; I get random inspiration. So for me, trying to write is a muse killer.
Anyway, to answer your question, nope, I don't think happiness is a Muse Killer; It's a Muse Changer. When you're happy you're bound to write about different things than when you're sad. Just don't fight against your Muse and try to write about those things.

So, yeah, hope that made sense^u^

-w&w
  





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Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:24 am
AmourDevorant says...



Graham Greene has a wonderful quote in The End of the Affair:
The sense of unhappiness is so much easier to convey than that of happiness. In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism: this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belongs to me and to no other. But happiness annihilates us: we lose our identity.


I think it's important to consider what one's muse is. Not everyone's muse is despair, but as Greene says, we tend to feel our misery as extremely personal and unique. And I think that from this feeling of uniqueness, the desire to express it acutely and accurately is born. When we write happiness, it can be more vague because we are trying to evoke in the reader a resonance with their own idea of happiness; but with negative emotions, we want the reader to see and feel precisely what is there: no more, no less. Happiness brings people together-- via a certain telepathic sympathy, and misery isolates us either by our own doing, or by the aversion of others. Happiness doesn't need to be understood, but sorrow begs justification.

As for happiness being a muse killer, I think relaxation and contentment in general is a muse killer. Why would we need to create something when we feel full and satisfied?
忍ぶれど色にいでにけりわが恋はものや思ふと人の問ふまで
― 平兼盛

“If I seem to wander, if I seem to stray,
remember that true stories seldom take the straightest way.”
― Kvothe, in The Name of the Wind

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Tue Jul 09, 2013 9:54 am
dreamwalkeramrita says...



Even I am mostly inspired by personal angst and conflict...so I face the same problem! What I do is that sometimes, when I feel introspective, I remember significant moments in my life...and they're often a good inspiration for me.

And mostly, even happy memories are always tinged with regret or loss or even the desire to go back. So even if you are happy, and you feel like you've lost your muse, some reminiscing can help you find some fresh fodder.
  





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Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:01 pm
kwameagyapong says...



I do agree with what dreamwalkeramrita says. i write best when i look around and introspect. it gives me ideas beyond measure. i think you should try and redirect your inspirations
  








I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
— Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights