Writing

A muse has traditionally, and generally, been seen as female. She may come from any walk of life and need not be a 'beauty' in the classical sense, for it that elusive, almost undefined quality that inspires the creative male mind – but what of the male muse inspiring female creativity? For the Mexican painter, Frida Khalo (1907-1954), her husband was her muse, despite their often turbulent relationship. More recently the American photographer, Sally Mann has spent over forty years photographing her husband going about his daily life. The Dutch artist, Rineka Dijkstra finds inspiration in photographing her son as he grows into a young man, whilst the British filmmaker, Sam Taylor-Johnson describes her husband, Aaron as both her muse and soulmate.

Familial, romantic and/or sexual relationships aside – do creative women regard their male muses any differently from how creative males regard female muses? By extension – what does a creative woman look for in her male muse? By citing examples from history (both ancient and modern) examine how creative women have found and been inspired by their male muses.

Maureen Murdock created the Heroine's Journey as an alternative to Joseph Campbell's famous the Hero's Journey. She believed that the Heroine's Journey would align better with the female experience.

Analyze the possible applications of the Heroine's Journey in writing. Compare the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey. What do the differences between them imply about society and our perceptions of masculinity and femininity? Are there any examples of the Heroine's Journey prevalent in literature and pop culture?

Analyzing how fan-fiction has evolved as something sort of niche and obscure on the internet, written by a usually younger audience to explore the different ideas they wanted to see from shows and movies they loved. Now it has become a wildly viral thing where some people explore those same ideas but with real people including YouTubers, band members and Hollywood celebrities. An interesting approach might be how the ones based on true people might affect those celebrities or internet personalities.

Analysis of how using a blogging platform can free the mind and creativity, as well as potentially even releasing writer's block. Open to any other thoughts on where to take this.

Lord of the Flies is a classic book which I am sure most of us were forced to read in school at some point in our lives. Rather then discuss the possible meanings of the book, I want us to discuss why it is such a common book to be a mandatory read in classrooms, even today. My thought is that the government wants kids to take away from the book the message that society=good and necessary and that if we were to live without a government, without laws and structure, we would all revert back to animals and begin killing each other essentially. Let me know what your thoughts are!

Despite a successful release in 2016, Milk and Honey garnered its fair share of negative attention from poetry fans who claimed that while Kaur's work was evidently intended as free verse, that it lacked the finesse and proper execution needed in order to differentiate itself from text posts found on teen Tumblr blogs. Similar criticisms have been made of Lang Leav, another Tumblr-based poet. Have these authors paved the way for this style of poetry, and can they be compared to the likes of E.E. Cummings? Discuss.

A cursory glance at the names of contributors to The Artifice shows that many of us choose nom de plumes (pen names). My own pen name is a variant spelling of a character's name from an Agatha Christie novel, whilst other contributors have chosen pen names that either reflect their interests, their sense of humour or they serve as a personal statement. There are many reasons to use pen names. Some may be for political or cultural reasons. George Eliot (1819-1880), for example, was writing at a time when it was difficult for a female writer to be accepted simply as a writer and not be judged by her sex. Conversely, I recently met a male writer who writes romantic fiction under a female nom de plume; and very successfully too. Discuss how the invention of a 'literary double' might empower the writer and, just as importantly, have our nom de plumes become characters in their own right?

If one does not read extensively before starting to write, one runs the risk of doing what has already been done. What one might think is original might not be original at all (although there is nothing wrong with a new treatment of an old topic, as long as one is aware of this). Many of our basic story lines go back hundreds or even thousands of years (to the Greeks). One can also learn much about writing fiction by reading a lot of it. However, it is difficult to read all of the important fiction of one country, not to mention the literature of all the world's nations. How much fiction, then, should one read before embarking on doing it oneself?