When creating a character, most writers, at least I suppose, most writers are under the influence of a muse. Sometimes it’s someone we know. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s muses come to mind. Zelda (Mrs. Fitzgerald), Gerald and Sara Murphy had mixed emotions about being muses for his writing. Nicole and Dick Diver of Tender Is the Night by Fitzgerald are widely recognized as having been based on the Murphys. In an interview, Sara said she didn’t like it–being written about. Years later, in another interview, she said she liked it less.
Sara’s statements are why, as a rule, I don’t tell people they are a muse for one of my characters. There is no point in being more unpopular than I may already be.
My current work in progress, THE MAGNIFICENT MAGGIE, has a very definite muse for the character of Maggie. Clara Bow. Whether Clara, the IT Girl, would enjoy being the muse, I will never know. I do know I like Clara Bow.
Ever plucky, ever resourceful, Clara was a charmer. Armed with vivaciousness, sensuousness, and a touch of cunning tossed in, Clara Bow lit up a screen like no other actress in history. She was a flapper, a regular gal, and completely real to audiences
Clara was and remains an enigma. According to Biography, “Her life was a tangled mass of quivering femininity, a depraved childhood, and Hollywood super-stardom. She seemed to dance her way through life (and into our hearts) as the carefree ‘IT’ girl and seemed surrounded in a posh future of Hollywood history and fulfilling marriage and motherhood. Yet, Clara died alone, much as she danced her way through life. Alone, with only the shadows to accompany her.”
With Clara Bow as my muse, I hope I have created a character in Maggie, as marvelous as the real “IT” girl. To paraphrase Emmylou Harris, I didn’t know Clara Bow or Zelda Fitzgerald, but we’re awful close.
