Our Philosophy
Why Three Muses?
The Ancient Greeks spoke of muses: goddesses that inspire literature, sciences and the arts. While scholars more commonly recognise nine, the oldest myths of the muses name only three:
Aoede
the muse of song and voice
Mneme
the muse of memory
Melete
the muse of practice and contemplation
These exemplify our approach to teaching creative writing.
Like Aoede, we nurture your creative spirit, awaken the joy of creating, and help you discover your voice. Aoede unlocks our passions, inspires our curiosity, and invites us to delight in making.
Like Melete, we guide your craft, helping you hone your skills, and deepen your technical knowledge of writing. Always encouraging us to try again, Melete reveals that, through self-reflection and practice, any student can master the power of words.
And like Mneme, we help you make creation a habit, turning regular writing from a conscious effort to a process as automatic as breath.
At Three Muses, we aim to honour the tenets of the goddesses, and to embody their wisdoms in the classroom and beyond.
Why writing?
To unleash the mind
To think is human. To feel is human.
Writing hones essential cognitive and emotional skills for the modern world: focus and self-motivation; critical thinking and creative problem-solving; empathy and communication; resilience and adaptability.
Amidst Large Language Models and the attention economy, these skills have never been more crucial, empowering us to lead richer human lives, and enabling us to confront the urgent questions of our time with wisdom.
To nourish the soul
To create is human. To connect is human.
Our innate drives to make and to share our experiences lie at the core of who we are.
Through literary practice — in reading and in writing — we express our inner worlds, and see them reflected in others. Creativity sustains us — our surest path to mental wellbeing and spiritual fulfilment, saying for all to hear: My experience matters. I have a place in the world.
Just as our ancestors dipped their hands in pigment, pressing them against stone to leave their prints, writers of today interweave our stories with those of others across the globe and throughout history, a transformative process which joins our lives to the grander human tapestry: I am here too. I am here with you.
To build a better world
To strive is human. To lead is human.
No democracy survives without a vibrant literary culture.
Those brave enough to welcome open discourse become skilled in the art of collective governance — to persuade, and be persuaded.
Literature helps us think patiently, articulate ourselves with care, and to touch the hearts of our fellows.
How we teach
Your voice, your journey
As teachers, we’re here for you.
We don’t use grades, scores or tests — because every writer’s path is different. You can’t ‘fail’ our courses; everyone has a right to artistic creation, no matter their level of experience or perceived ‘competency’.
We don’t tell you what to write, or how. We give you opportunities to explore your own voice, and equip you with tools to make authentic creative decisions. Our personalised feedback guides and encourages you with actionable advice. (We’re nice, we promise.)
Your passions are precious. We celebrate your style, nurture your unique strengths, and support you as you find your own creative process and writing routine.
Lessons provide information, inspiration, and most importantly, safe spaces for unique individuals to build upon one another’s insights.
Process over product
Showing up is half the battle.
We focus on input, not output; the hours spent at the draft, not abstract targets — because all creative success lies downstream of staying in the flow.
For hobbyists, the more we show up to the page, the more we immerse ourselves in the bliss of making. Productivity is no measure of joy.
For professionals, this means more finished pieces, more publishable works, and more writing-generated income, enabling us to spend more time writing — creating a virtuous cycle.
We don’t mind how fast you write. We only care about helping you figure out what conditions best enable your creativity: mornings or evenings, in bustling cafés or quiet libraries, planning ahead or discovering as you go, and so on.
Just as an athlete can’t train without rest, an artist can’t create without recovery. At Three Muses, we teach you how to care for your artistic spirit, so you can create regularly.
Loving progress, not perfection
To really enjoy our lives — let alone make art — we must be willing to let go of a particular naughty word, one that starts with the letter ‘p’. (No, not that word.)
Perfectionism, that terrible curse upon the artistic mind, is rooted in shame — the fear of social rejection. We dread that our work will come across as ugly, foolish or cringeworthy; that we will be ridiculed by editors, or insulted by readers.
And while there’s nothing wrong with making a conscious effort to realise a work’s full aesthetic potential (go for it!), we at Three Muses prefer a humble approach, one not concerned with our egos or the ill-considered opinions of strangers.
Creativity is iterative, a perpetual process of refinement. Perfection never comes, but beauty is there at every step. That’s why we believe that every finished work, and every creative session along the way, is a triumph for the universe — no matter the quantity of the words, nor what others think of their quality.
Is that grandiose? Maybe. But consider that no other species in the entire cosmos has evolved in such a peculiar way as to be able to make something not for its survival, but purely to reflect, to savour and to delight in its own experience. Is that not worth celebrating?
If you wrote today, you improved. Hopefully, you even enjoyed yourself — at least enough to do it again tomorrow. That is, after all, the point.