Book Cover Illustrations

I recently watched a video in which the speaker suggested that creative people could minimize some of the emotional upsets that seem to go hand-in-hand with the creative process by externalizing the source of their creativity. In other words, adopt the ancient notion that creativity came from the whisperings of a muse, not from the artist himself.

Of course this has always been a popular notion. And certainly when an idea rises from the murky depths of the subconscious through a chance combination of events, a dream, or similar surprise, there’s this feeling that the idea came from somewhere other than ourselves. Thus it isn’t surprising that the idea of the muse might seem logical to those whose world is populated with demons, spirits, and ghosts.

But I would argue that if an artist or writer externalizes the inspiration of their creativity, they give up some of their control of it. Instead of their subconscious mind working for them, they are waiting for inspiration.

Waiting for inspiration can be disastrous when it comes to creating. A firsthand example: In graduate school — I majored in music composition — we had an assignment to create a bit of music. Most of us retired to our pianos or other instrument of choice, and started plunking away, slowly organizing lose thoughts into thematic material. But one poor student went off to the woods to wait inspiration. And he waited, and waited. As far as I know, he might still be waiting.

A professional creative person quickly learns to “turn on” his creativity – or he goes into another line of work. There are tricks, endless tricks. One or another is plucked like a tool from a workbench and if all goes well, the creative process begins and eventually leads to something serviceable for the job — and occasionally may be an amazing bit to add to one’s portfolio.

But the creative work gets done.

If, on the other hand, I can blame my muse for not contributing something meaningful, then I am off the hook for being unproductive. Letting oneself off the hook basically makes it impossible to fix writer’s block or similar times when creativity is absent.

How can you control the actions of a nebulous muse? And how convenient for those who wish to be lazy.

A better solution would be to say, “Today I’m not creative – why is that?” and then devise ways to enhance creativity.

In the video the speaker told an amusing story about a guy who was struck by inspiration while driving in heavy traffic where he was unable to jot down his idea or even entertain it in any meaningful way. He looked up toward the sky to ask, “Why now? Can’t you see I’m driving?” Amusing, yes. But such an attitude removes the creative person from the solution to his predicament.

Instead the question to be asked: “Why am I creative when doing a task like this? How might I duplicate this in a more peaceful setting where I could jot down my ideas? Or how might I record the ideas while I’m driving so I could use them later?”

To harness creativity, it’s necessary to learn how to unleash the subconscious mind so ideas can bubble into place. Rather than wait for the muse, we need to learn how to promote the creativity between our ears.

For these reasons I think the notion of externalizing with a “muse” while a fun notion that might be played with, if serious adopted will cause a loss of control, and might even leave one out in the woods, waiting for the whisper of the muse.

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When not ranting about his muse, Duncan Long works as a freelance book cover illustrator for HarperCollins, PS Publishing, Pocket Books, Solomon Press, Fort Ross, and many other publishers and self-publishing authors. See his cover illustrations at: http://DuncanLong.com/art.html
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