Muse and the Missing Halloween Movie, Fiction

Writer: Hello Muse.

Muse: Hello.

Writer: Guess what, it’s movie time again. That seems to be my niche these days. What can I say, it keeps my cat in kibble.

Muse: How’s it going so far?

Writer: Usually I don’t have enough. Now I have too much. Costumes. Costumes coming to life. Candy. Trick or Treat. Movies. So many Halloween movies.

Muse: Yes, there are a lot of the Halloween movies and also a lot of movies about Halloween.

Writer: Cute. That’s part of the problem. I don’t do horror. If they want horror, gonna have to find another writer.

Muse: Friendly?

Writer: (breaks into song) “Casper the friendly ghost, The friendliest ghost you know …” (stops). Been done.

Muse: Thanks for the earworm. Other countries?

Writer: They are less trick or treat, more All Saints/Day of the Dead. Which is fascinating but won’t sell toothpaste in the US.

Muse: So has to be US tropes?

Writer: Yup. trick or treat and pumpkins, one way or another. It can’t lean on the religious aspect either, it’s just not on the radar in the US.

Muse: Inversion?

Writer: What’s the inverse of trick or treat, running around giving candy away? The Halloween Bunny? I could do something with costumes, but costumes mean masks, and the whole subject of masks is so fraught these days.

Muse: Masks and masking have the potential for some really interesting narratives, especially given the feelings on the subject these days.

Writer: Absolutely, but not for a happy holiday movie.

Muse: Many of your other movies involve people gathering around a meal.

Writer: The Parable of the Pumpkin Pie? Meh. Maybe it’s just not going to work this time.

Muse: NO! This is my thing. I show up. I inspire you.

Writer: Muses have egos? Who knew.

Muse: You better believe it. We are quite proud of what our people come up with. One author was completely stuck on a book under contract. Bailed on it. Turned around and wrote a book in a month. That book went on to be a bestseller and win awards. His muse hasn’t stopped talking about it.*

Writer: Now I’m imagining you sitting around a green room over coffee.

Muse: Everyone imagines us within their own idiom. The Greeks saw us as embodied women. Jungians consider us to be emanations of the collective unconscious.

Writer: Which is true?

Muse: Both.

Writer: Both?! That’s not possible.

Muse: Both. Neither. It’s all an attempt to explicate the ineffable.

Writer: But the ineffable can brag?

Muse: Oy.

~~~ curtain ~~~

*For the full story, see the Author’s Note at the end of KPS, “Then the entire plot and concept of The Kaiju Preservation Society dropped into my head, all at once.” Or Tor Forge Blog: On Giant Monsters and Having Fun, A Letter from John Scalzi

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