LIT CRIT, ESSAYS, FILM
Writing with Your Muse: A Guide to Creative Inspiration W.L. Hawkin | Blue Haven Press 254p, e-book, $9.99, ASIN B0CJNKCPSY
Digging deeply into the concept of the muse, including its spiritual aspects, and exploring techniques to help writers ignite their own spark, Hawkin, author of the Hollystone Mysteries urban fantasy series and a former part time lighthouse keeper, lays out a path for embracing creativity, finding inspiration, and not over-thinking one’s writing. “Remember,” she writes, in a passage about meditative techniques, “the goal is to stop thinking and start connecting.” To that end, Hawkin invites readers on a journey through art, literature, and encounters with the spiritual world, plus a history of the “muse” as developed by the ancient Greeks and celebrated for its ability to inspire us to reach our creative peak.
Describing writers as “luminaries” who “envision” words that get “taken into our reader’s or listener’s brain and stimulate a private pyrotechnic show,” Hawkin builds on the muse tradition, citing several of her own out-of-body experiences as well as contact with other teachers and artists and the impact such “spirit guides” have had on her personal creative output. Writing with Your Muse blends exploratory spiritualism, including movement meditation and connecting with the “divine source”—or getting into “the zone, a place of intuition”—with pragmatic writing tips and techniques tackling such issues as conquering fear, getting started, developing plots, characters, and imagery. Along the way she explores the “Celtic-Shamanic Journey,” writing to heal, and dispelling fear.
While the mix of personal anecdotes, practical advice, and spiritual musings at times can feel circuitous, Hawkin serves hearty doses of inspiration and imagination while frequently drawing on giants of literature and philosophy. She writes a rousing explanation of the motivation behind characters in Jaws before segueing into a brief chapter on writing sex scenes with one’s muse, where she urges writers to “Shed your moral cap and stop worrying about your mother”—vital advice for the tale spinner in each of us.
Cover: B+ | Design & typography: A | Illustrations: – Editing: A- | Marketing copy: A