For the writers among you the concept of a muse is accepted. For the readers in the audience it may be a bit unsettling to hear writers talk about invisible people that only writers can see or hear. But after hanging around writers for awhile it becomes commonplace. A rather terse e-mail from a woman the other day regarding the ramblings on a list about my muse has prompted this blog. The woman, who I’ll call Agatha because I really can’t stand that name, is neither a writer or a reader of what I write. I know- that fact alone should have kept the e-mail from getting any further than the delete button. But being the open minded person I am I read the whole thing AND responded with a rather polite thank you. BUT it did give me something to blog about. So, Agatha, if you’re out there and reading this…..Kiss My A**. Yep. I said it and I meant it. For the rest of you, please read on.
Jaymes is my muse. I hired him from the temp service Fairy Godparents and Muses Inc. last May. He was hired to stand in for Delfyne, the muse I had since I turned 12 and she showed up in my bedroom in her Grecian outfit accompanied by her dog Ralph. Delfyne and I had a little misunderstanding about changing from writing Male/Female historical romance to strictly M/M in any subgenre. She took off for Vegas with Ralph and I found Jaymes. Again, for the writers out there this makes perfect sense. For the readers well…..not much I can say by way of explanation. This is how writer’s minds work and why we get the looks we get in the mall when we people watch. But back to Jaymes and the reason Agatha was madder then a wet hen when she e-mailed me.
Jaymes first and foremost is a construct. He has the looks of a model friend and the voice of a musician I happen to be in serious lust with. He has attitude issues, likes to think his word is law and like me is easily distracted by a good looking guy in a pair of very tight jeans. Oh yeah..Stonewashed 501’s really do the trick…….Ahem, back to Agatha. The reason Agatha was so upset, it seems, was because Jaymes, a product of MY overactive imagination and inability to keep my head out of men’s pants is portrayed as gay.
GASP! A GAY MUSE?!
No doubt. He gets all starry eyed whenever we talk about Jaime’s muse Timothy. And you can forget about getting any work done when AJ talks about John Barrowman. Jaymes just gets this glazed look in his eyes and walks out of my head for a few hours. Anyway, Agatha’s beef amounted to the rights of my muse to be straight. She said, in the span of a three page e-mail, I had no right to make him gay.
WHAT?? Are you effing kidding me?
He’s a figment of my imagination. I can make him yellow, pink or purple, from the planet Saturn, gay, straight, asexual or bi if I want to. I’ll say this again-he is a product of my imagination. Ah but there’s the problem she said. You created a being not unlike giving birth to a child and predisposing them to be of a particular sexual orientation is unjust.
HUH? WHAT?
I write about two guys having sex. Why in the world would I create a muse that is straight? And of course the follow up question would be Why are you messing around at a website that is advertised very clearly to be for a writer of GAY ROMANCE? And there in is the real reason I brought dear old misguided Agatha to this blog today. Being gay is not a choice any more than being straight is a choice. We are each hardwired at conception to be who we are. Railing at a gay man or woman about their sexual orientation is a waste of time. Telling me I have no right to envision Jaymes as gay is an even bigger waste of time. I have no clue why Jaymes sexual preference would bother someone but then again I have never understood the entire
