Do you write better when sad?

[Munachi]

interesting... so it seems to be quite different for different people, some need to be more calm, others need strong emotions...

what i find interesting is about writing things that you wouldn't want to post because it's too much of yourself. that never happened to me, really. i wrote things no one read - but that is more because i never finished it. when i write, i always imagine that someone will read it. i guess i am the type of person that needs feedback, and needs to feel important, so i need to think people will read what i write... i guess its also that most things i write are, at least on first view, pretty far from my real me (except maybe the story i had written for valentine's day - but that on the other hand had elements of my life, but i pretty much presented "myself" more like i would like to be seen than like i am...)

 

[impressive]

youre so normal sometimes.

Damn. You didn't have to insult me!

 

[Guest]

Damn. You didn't have to insult me!

did i ever mention how very much i enjoy the taste of a normal woman?
hrm.
dont think i did.

 

[artisticbiguy]

I think I have seen similar threads before, but can't find them now...

Anyway, I have felt pretty crap this week. Mainly because I've been dumped (if you can call it that, I've only started seeing this guy a few weeks ago, so I guess it wasn't actual dumping, but rather just stopping to see each other), and somehow this affected me more than I thought it would.

But what I noticed - a few story ideas I had while ago, and which then had either been buried deep in my brain, or in my computer, for those I had already started writing an outline for, suddenly fought their way back into my mind. And I could sit at the computor for hours working on them, something I was before not able to do. The only thing is that I couldn't control the direction of this energy and work on my university papers - that was easier when I felt better...

So is this the case for most people? Do you usually write more when you don't feel good? Just wondering... Or is it just specific stories you write when you don't feel good, or others when you feel good? Or can you only write when you are happy with how things are?

I do not necessarily write better when I'm sad, but my most emotive writing occurs when I am having to "process" something. One of the most emotionally exhaustive story I wrote was written when I feared losing my wife due to medical complications with one of our pregnancies... I still weep when I reread the story, even though I wrote it two years ago. Other people have sent me letters and letters on it, so I know the emotions I tried to purge from myself, the fear of loss, the anguish, the guilt, made it into the writing.

I think that if you can truly put yourself into the work, no matter what emotion is the fuel, it makes for better writing

 

[3113]

One of the most emotionally exhaustive story I wrote was written when I feared losing my wife due to medical complications with one of our pregnancies... I still weep when I reread the story

Hug

 

[3113]

You never promised me a rose garden, huh...

I don't know about you, but I was promised a rose garden, damn it. And I'm still waiting. The writer's life was supposed to include a lovely room of my own with billowing curtains and ocean view...some servant or other to provide me with afternoon tea on the veranda as I took a break to contemplate my next chapter. Writing in this setting would, of course, flow naturally and easily and brilliantly. I'd have a secretary to handle all my correspondence, including fan mail, and phone calls from editors begging me to attend signings at several bookstores across the country--the publisher to provide me with a first class seat on my flights there, four-star hotel rooms and a limo.

That's what more than a few movies and books promised me my life as a writer would be like...and I'm holding them to that rose garden!

 

[yui]

I have tried to post some of my more deviant types of poetry here, but the themes are so intense..that they have been rejected. (Suicidal depressions, murder..etc. etc..) I have found other places to post em but since this is where I like to share my writing, I just keep those kinds of things to myself.

I'm sorry that you haven't found a voice here for you more intense pieces; often, it is difficult to understand that everyone doesn't share the same emotions. Kudos to you for your understanding … though, I think in the end, it is possible that we are all shortchanged by missing out on the genius of your passion.

Peace,

Yui

 

[yui]

I don't know about you, but I was promised a rose garden, damn it. And I'm still waiting. The writer's life was suppose to include a lovely room of my own with billowing curtains and ocean view...some servant or other to provide me with afternoon tea on the veranda as I took a break to contemplate my next chapter. Writing in this setting would, of course, flow naturally and easily and brilliantly. I'd have a secretary to handle all my correspondence, including fan mail, and phone calls from editors begging me to attend signings at several bookstores across the country--the publisher to provide me with a first class seat on my flights there, four-star hotel rooms and a limo.

That's what more than a few movies and books promised me my life as a writer would be like...and I'm holding them to that rose garden!

Umm ...

Could you let me know how that works out for you?

 

[artisticbiguy]

I don't know about you, but I was promised a rose garden, damn it. And I'm still waiting. The writer's life was supposed to include a lovely room of my own with billowing curtains and ocean view...some servant or other to provide me with afternoon tea on the veranda as I took a break to contemplate my next chapter. Writing in this setting would, of course, flow naturally and easily and brilliantly. I'd have a secretary to handle all my correspondence, including fan mail, and phone calls from editors begging me to attend signings at several bookstores across the country--the publisher to provide me with a first class seat on my flights there, four-star hotel rooms and a limo.

That's what more than a few movies and books promised me my life as a writer would be like...and I'm holding them to that rose garden!

I am SO THERE. Well, in everything but physically that is... I suppose I'll just have to be satisfied with writing my rose garden.

 

[Guest]

I think I have seen similar threads before, but can't find them now...

each other), and somehow this affected me more than I thought it would.

But what I noticed - a few story ideas I had while ago, and which then had either been buried deep in my brain, or in my computer, for those I had already started writing an outline for, suddenly fought their way back into my mind. And I could sit at the computor for hours working on them, something I was before not able to do. The only thing is that I couldn't control the direction of this energy and work on my university papers - that was easier when I felt better...

So is this the case for most people? Do you usually write more when you don't feel good? Just wondering... Or is it just specific stories you write when you don't feel good, or others when you feel good? Or can you only write when you are happy with how things are?

Once upon a time, sadness was a huge source of creative power for me. This was mostly in my teens and early twenties. A broken heart would churn out pages of poetry, songs, short stories, and hours spent at the piano or with my notebook. The usual tragedies and the unusual ones, all were generators for creative energy. This lasted until I was probably 28 or so.

Then, a serious bout of real, honest, medically identifiable depression hit me. It wasn't situational, it was a chance in how my brain worked. I found everything hard to do. There was little creativity, and what I did have had to be channeled into creating with my hands, not my head. Otherwise, I was mostly unmoving, unspeaking, and not much good to anyone. I struggled to write during this time, and while I did manage to write, I found some of the extra pressures of writing were beyond me. I could write the story but couldn't survive the feedback. I was to fragile for most of the bumps and bruises that go with writing for public consumption.

Gradually, as I recovered from the depression, I began to write again, but I didn't have that automatic power generation from sadness. I don't get it from happiness, either, or anger, jealousy, or much else. Now, I write when I feel all else in the world is going well and I can concentrate on listening to the stories unreeling in my head.

It's a strange alteration. It's taken getting used to. I miss the kind of high intensity writing I could do then, the fire and passion of it, the magic of being swept away on my own words. On the other hand, I produce a lot less material that I stuff away in a notebook from embarrassment.

Everything has a price and a compensation, I suppose. I don't think I'd be 19 again if someone paid me.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

I'm sorry that you haven't found a voice here for you more intense pieces; often, it is difficult to understand that everyone doesn't share the same emotions. Kudos to you for your understanding … though, I think in the end, it is possible that we are all shortchanged by missing out on the genius of your passion.

Peace,


Yui

Thank you for this...I don't know why...but this brightened my mood considerably. You are a genuinely nice person...and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Yes. I do better when emotionally distraught...but I do good with silly too.

 

[ChilledVodkaIV]

I write when I can be arsed, but you're not seeing it.

 

[Aurora Black]

My first thought was to answer "no" to your question, but then I thought the better of it because I have written some powerful stuff while in a down period. My Valentine's piece, for example, was written under great emotional duress (I dislike Valentine's, and I'm generally depressed during that time of year anyway).

I don't necessarily write better when I'm sad, per se. It's more like I'm able to write my best whenever I feel moved and motivated enough to create a story. When I get an idea in my head that's so thought provoking that I lose sleep over it, when I dream about it, visualizing the details in my head and I know that I have to run with it, the creative flow takes over and shakes me about until the story's completed.

 

[elsol]

I'm one of those socio-pathic people that is never sad.

No teen-angst.
No depression.

I figure it's like the movie 'Unbreakable'... I'm the oppossite of clinically depressed people.

I'm clinically stable.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[BlackShanglan]

No, then I'd be friggin' Shakespeare.

*grumble*

 

[Guest]

No, then I'd be friggin' Shakespeare.

*grumble*

I'm glad you aren't frigging Shakespeare, because if you were, you'd be dead by now and I'd only have plays and poems.

 

[Munachi]

hm... maybe i should at some point try to write whenever i am really very happy, and see if completely different stories come out of that... but i guess i am also a slightly melancholic person at times, so happiness and sadness tend to mix...

 

[WhiteTigerNipples]

I don't do anything better when I'm sad. I'm not even a good moper. I write best when I'm feeling ornery.

You must always be feeling ornery then.

 

[yui]

Thank you for this...I don't know why...but this brightened my mood considerably. You are a genuinely nice person...and I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I'm glad, Luna. You bring good things, so you should feel them. I don't know so much about me being nice, but I do hope you can feel comfortable enough here to speak and be heard; you've a powerful voice that deserves to be listened to.

 

[Norajane]

I need the strong emotions to write at my best, but joy and happiness work as well and better than sadness.

 

[Belegon]

I need the strong emotions to write at my best, but joy and happiness work as well and better than sadness.

That's my poetry...prose is different...

 

[MasterPhoenix]

When I am down, I write more poetry.

When I am stable, I write more fiction.