Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Meet My Muse


Yup.

Spiders.

Love 'em.

Go ahead and be creeped out. :)

I have noticed lately that people tend to hate spiders. And I can sympathize--while I allow spiders in my house, they have to stick to the ceiling and out of my stuff, and woe betide them if they start crawling on me. But while I like to keep a bit of distance between myself and spiders, I have to admit that I love the little things.

There are lots of little things that led me to like spiders. I've always been a fan of the famous Robert the Bruce story, where he saw a spider weaving a web during a storm. The spider's web was dismantled several times, but it didn't give up--so Robert didn't give up in his own war with the English.

But there are other reasons why I love spiders. They've come to mean a sort of serendipitous sign to me, a "have faith" sign. While I'm not really superstitious, I do (to steal from Rowling) follow the spiders. I've made big decisions based on spiders: renting one house over another because one had a spider; taking a chance when I was afraid because I noticed a web; things like that.

But people who know me are always very surprised when I don't let them stomp a spider, and would be even more surprised to learn that I made important decisions because I saw one.

And I was thinking about how, if I were in a story, this tiny detail of my life would probably never make it onto the pages. It's minor--I just happen to like spiders the way pre-teens like dolphins or unicorns. Still, it's a part of me. It's part of what separates me from everyone else, especially all you arachnaphobes.

And it's the little things like that that always remind me that it's important to include the little details of a character's quirks into the story.

Maybe I should make my own MC like spiders...

23 comments:

Angela Ackerman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angela Ackerman said...

I love spiders. I even had a turantula once. :)

I don't mind if spiders (the normal varieties, not turantuals, lol) hang out in my house and only move them along if they get into my stuff or if the dog notices and starts heading over to partake in an afternoon leggy snack.

Great muse!

Heather Zundel said...

Can I just call you Howl right now? :)

Katharina Gerlach said...

I like spiders, too. I used to play with them until the 3rd class of school when we read a horror story about a huge black poisonous spider that killed a whole village. It took me years to shake the feeling.
Now, I'm comfortable again with the little helpers. Only if their nets get too big or too dirty, I get rid of them (but I don't kill them).
I even have a giant spider and her son featuring in my free serialized online novel "The Witches of Greenwitch"

Bethany Elizabeth said...

I don't hate spiders, I just don't particularly like them - but I have a friend who absolutely adores them, and so I'm more spider-friendly then I used to be. :)
I think it's awesome that you make decisions based on spiders. You also make a really interesting point about quirks in characters - sometimes those little details really matter, don't they? :) Great post!

Lindsay said...

I don't mind spiders, my friend hates them though. Maybe I should tell her spiders are good muses. :)

Matthew MacNish said...

I'll admit they creep me out, but I think it's cool you take them as a positive sign. Now if only Shelob or Ungoliant were real ...

TerryLynnJohnson said...

I posted a picture of a spider that I took in our backyard a few posts ago, you may enjoy. Beautiful colours.
I also don't like it when people stomp them! We had a party of spiders on our sailboat.

Scott said...

Okay, could you not have put a warning about a picture of a ginormous spider being on your blog? That . . . creeped me out. I despise spiders. The only good spider, is a dead spider.

Okay, I'm not that bad. As long as the spiders stay outside and leave me alone, I'm fine. A spider in the house is a dead spider, especially after having one bite me a few years back. Yuck!

S

S.A. Larsenッ said...

OMGosh, I couldn't even finish your post. That picture freaked me out. I'm sorry to tell you but, I hate spiders. They're the only creepy, crawly thing that makes me shiver.

I'm happy that you relate to them, though. *sheepishly grins, forehead dripping in sweat*

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Oh, yay! I'm not the only one! I love spiders! Always have. I love reptiles and most other bugs, too. I think this is very awesome, indeed. :)

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I love looking at webs, especially sparkling with dew. And there's hardly anything as awesome as a wolf spider. But I don't like any of them crawling on me when I sleep and, ack, sometimes biting me. No, that behavior just won't do. And black widows? Sorry, major willies.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to echo Heather! :D

I have to admit, I'm rather terrified of spiders, but I think they're very, very resilient -- which is a great quality to aspire to.

Carolyn V. said...

How cool that spiders are your muse! Me, personally? I'm a little terrified of them (just because they always seem to bite me!)

Katie Anderson said...

Ack! Spiders??

But I love this post. I do that a tiny bit with deer. Perhaps a spider would be your patronus :)

Miriam Forster said...

My husband is fascinated by spiders, though he'll stomp them for me if I ask. (I'm totally good with spiders outside, but spiders inside are a different story. Especially in the bathroom.)

You should make your MC like spiders. What kind of spiders would be aboard a spaceship anyway?

Vicki Rocho said...

intellectually they are cool...and they eat other creepy crawlies (and I'm all for that) BUT if I see them in my house, they're goners. Sorry. I'm a murderer like that

Katharina Gerlach said...

did you know that if you intertwined spider-silk to a thread with the diameter of a finger, you could hang a tank on it?

KA said...

Spiders are OK as long as they stay in the corners and mind their own business. Snakes, though, are another story.

C.R. Evers said...

I just did some research on spiders. Some of it included spider folklore and superstitions. I was surprised to read that spiders have been considered good luck and in many countries and cultures there are welcomed and revered. I ended up not being quite so creeped out about them. :0)

cool post

Anonymous said...

I don't mind spiders. I even enjoy watching them weave webs.

Kelly H-Y said...

Still shivering ... I feel the opposite about spiders! :-)

Texanne said...

Spiders, so long as they're not poisonous (or if they are poisonous, so long as they stay UNDER the house where they belong) are welcome in my territory. Can't convince the kids of that, though. They prefer dinosaurs and unicorns.

Cool post.