Do your characters / writings influence your moods..?

SlaveMasterUK

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OK, kinda wierd/difficult question to phrase I think...

I was working late last night until the early hours working on my novel. I was writing a simple summarising scene in which my main character is reflecting on the past year: much of her reflection is on her love for her partner, and how this has grown and developed, and how it helps her get by, day by day.

I really enjoy writing this kind of scene. I love going deep inside my character's mind, and pulling out all those little things that she loves about her companion. As I write about her imagining herself gazing at her lover's body, or caressing her as they fall asleep together, I can feel those little pangs of excitement, the warming of the heart, the unquenchable glow of love in myself. And damn, it feels good.

It's the first scene of that nature that I've written for some time, and I really enjoyed it. But I woke up feeling lonely, and that feeling hasn't gone away all day. I don't normally stress or moan about the single life, and I don't let it get to me that I've been without a partner for a little while now. I keep getting those little self-depreciating questions popping up, like - why haven't I got a partner? Why aren't girls attracted to me? Worse still, I'm getting the envious questions too - what does that girl see in her boyfriend, why does he deserve her and not me..?

I have to keep kicking myself and saying "STOP BEING SO FUCKING STUPID, YOU MORON!" I keep reminding myself that it's just a wierd mood shift, and that I'll feel alright soon enough.

But I keep thinking to myself - last night I fell asleep still dwelling on that warm glow I got from writing a tender scene, and this morning, when I awoke, it was gone. Gone, probably, because it wasn't a true feeling at all, only the recollection of one.

Does anyone else find that writing certain scenes or types of scene can affect your moods over the following day? Any kind of scene - perhaps you get grouchy the day after you write a scene set on a golden beach in glorious sunshine, when you realise you've got to go to work in the rain and wind? Perhaps you find yourself feeling sexually frustrated after writing a sex scene between two perfect romantic characters?*

Gimme thoughts and examples. And please, don't give me advice re: my loneliness - it's just a passing phase. I'll be fine tomorrow ;) :D

*A reader once told me she stopped reading my novel because she was jealous of the characters, because they were getting what she wanted and couldn't have :D :D
 
I think sometimes they do you know? In the obvious example if my character is horny I feel horny.

A couple of stories I've written have had sad endings and when I've written them I've felt sad, one time it even brought tears to my eyes.

Writing my NaNo novel i found my character feeling alot of different emotions and whatever she was experiencing when I finished writing would often carry on with me, at leastfor a little while.

I guess it's because we are in our characters heads so much, we pick up on their emotions alot :)
 
I get that. The feeling of relief and warmth as everything came together for my character in my novel.

I made a friend cry with one of my twists :D. I think it shows that your characters are emotionally engaging.

The Earl
 
English Lady said:
I think sometimes they do you know? In the obvious example if my character is horny I feel horny.

I'm just the opposite. If I'm horny, then my characters are horny (and I write the sex scenes). If I'm angry, then my characters are angry. If I'm introspective, then my characters are as well. I write what I feel.

:rose:
 
Yeah. I think I'm like Imp. My scenes are more likely to reflect my mood rather than vice versa.

And yes, you can write a sex scene when you're angry or depressed. And you can write a sad scene when you're happy too.

I wonder if something like that might not have happened with you, SM. Maybe you were already feeling wistful when you started writing that scene, and it just focused and crystalized those feelings.
 
My writing reflects how I feel. Rarely does my writing change my mood, although it can in a cathartic way.

Reading others' writing, movies, and music can affect my mood, which is why I stay away from romances when I'm feeling lonely and delve into comedy or mystery or something that can engage me without making me feel worse.
 
For me, I give my characters a life,
I create their world, their look, I employ them, I can make them tragic or happy and I can put them in any situation but they dictate to me how they feel after I set the stage.

When I'm writing a scene I imagine the emotions they go through at that time, but when all is said and done, I feel sated. Almost like a parent sending their child into the world with a mix a apprehension and pride.

My recent, and only story, is bittersweet. It took a lot of thought and emotion to write. Afterwards I felt a mix of sadness and joy. Oddly enough I looked at things in a whole different way, through new eyes.

I'm not sure if any of this makes sense, I confuse myself at times.

Sam.
 
They piss me off.

Especially when they won't shut up about what I'm doing 'wrong'.

Sincerely,
ElSol
 
The whole point of storytelling is to evoke an emotional response. So it seems to me perfectly natural that the writer, right there in the thick of it, is going to feel it even more intensely than the reader. Because the reader just reads it ... to create it, the writer has to think about it, try various approaches, LIVE it in his or her mind, before ever trying to put it into words. Then, finding the right words to evoke that feeling ...

Heck, yeah. What my characters are going through affects my mood. Given that I write a lot of horror and really vile stuff, this can be problematic at times.

And I've been in a state ever since I wrote Maidenstar ... talk about emotional responses ... I know it means diddlyshit to many people, just a standard fantasy love story ... but the characters are quite personal to me, and it affects my life pretty strongly just lately.

Of course, I do have a history of falling in love with fictional people ...

-- Sabledrake
 
I think it depends on the scene I'm working on. Sometimes my mood will influence my writing. Usually when I'm feeling a strong emotion, something like anger or lust.

Sometimes my mood will be influenced by the scene I'm working on, especially if I'm really having to work the scene.

Cat
 
I think I'm a method writer. If there is such a thing… I very much get into my character and I try to see what they are seeing and feel what they are feeling. I imagine the things that are happening to my characters are happening to me, and how would I feel, what would I see, what would I smell, etc. So, yes, in that way, what I'm writing influences my mood and my emotions. ;)

Luck,

Yui
 
I once wrote a story where one of the three main characters died. he died in the first scene, and the rest of the story was a flashback, explaining how things got to the point where he died. By the time I wrote the backstory, I liked the character so much I didn't want him to die; but he had to, or the story would have been for nothing. I got really sad over this character's death, almost like someone really had died. So yeah.... I would say my writing influences my mood.
 
Not really. The characters are my puppets, and I'm the actor. I guess I can feel general empathy for a particular situation, but whenever I get emotional about the stuff I'm writing, my muse will give me the finger and sod off until I have calmed down. This resulting in that because said influence means stronger moods, I can't write shit anyway.

#L
 
I have a couple of characters that I've written about several times that I just plain love writing. Writing stories with them in it just puts me in the best mood - they're like old friends that I don't see often enough, I suppose.

So, yeah, it affects me. :)
 
emotions

I find that if I'm angry at something, I can't sit and write anything. It just makes me angrier. But If I'm writing about a pissed off character, I think back about being angry and it works well.

The same when I'm bumed about something.

Believe it or not, most of my better stuff comes out when I'm tired. Around 3 in the morning my mind goes into a stuper and when I recheck what I was writing the night before, I find whole paragraphs that I don't remember typing and they're better than the stuff from earlier in the evening.

the subconscience at work.
 
cloudy said:
I have a couple of characters that I've written about several times that I just plain love writing.

Yeah. Me, too. One, in particular, comes VERY easily to me. :D
 
Characters and Me

I just finished writing a story where I hated the character. I wanted so much for him to get out of my mind that I spent as much time possible just finishing the story so I was done with him. His foul mood influenced mine for days. I'm glad he's done and I can put the story behind me.

I think next time I will invent a much sunnier character.
 
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