What role does personal distress play in your writing?

1. 61

   sweet nolaposted 14 years ago

   What role does personal distress play in your writing?
   
   Lots of poets say they write most when they are distressed or depressed or otherwise unhappy. Even if they don't, emotion plays a strong role... either in subject matter or inspiration... or some other role. Knowing you write more fiction and scholarly papers, how much does personal emotion, particularly in the negative, play in your writing? Maybe not in subject... more in how much you write or how far deep you dive in or the quality of your writing. Is it harder or easier to get started... and then to keep going... if your personal distress is great?

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2. 49

   DaExprtposted 14 years ago

   It depends on your how strong your emotion Is. If you are very happy, sad, or depressed than you will be able to write more than what is expected of you. If your emotions aren't so strong your writing will be somewhat short and/or the topic of what you are writing about will change somewhere in your writing. Emotion is what help inspiration grow and especially in writing.

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3. 61

   duffsmomposted 14 years ago

   Personal distress fuels most of my poetry. It is an outlet for me to take what I am feeling and put it on paper to lessen the impact.  It is easy for to write when i am upset.

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4. 61

   sweet nolaposted 14 years ago

   Being new, I didn't realize everyone gets to answer a question asked of one person... I'm glad to know now... I like reading others' responses in addition.
   
   Guess my question wasn't worded well... it sounded like I meant emotional writing. I don't mean writing ABOUT the emotions or life events... was aiming at the result of life events/hardships on how much a person writes or the quality of the work or how absorbed they get in the writing process... harder to pick it the writing up? harder to put the writing aside? more enjoyable to sink into a fictional world of your own? writing ends up being more unrelated parts or more together? absorbed by writing or distracted from it? Bottom line, how do emotions/personal distress play into NON-emotional writing... things that are NOT poetry or personal essay. Work that is NOT emotional in nature... to what lengths is it influenced by the emotions/personal distress of the writer? And the detachment of academic papers and subject matter... is that easier when you want to disconnect from reality? or is it easier when there aren't heavy emotions weighing on your life? Guess I kinda screwed it up not explaining it better.

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5. 60

   NiaLeeposted 13 years ago

   It often triggers anger and reaction that writing allows to lay and forget about. I often come upset to write and leave laughing, happy or inspired in a positive way. I often come also when I have experienced something great and want to share it with others: personal experience, movies, meditation, relationships, parenting, etc..
   Love and peace to you all

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6. 80

   LauraVerderberposted 12 years ago

   Writing is my happy place. I absolutely produce more work when I'm miserable, go figure. I guess I use it as a retreat from everyday life. I guess when I'm happier I'm out busy socializing instead of writing. My emotions don't strongly affect my my choice of subject matter, except for a few poems. I wrote A LOT when I was deployed in Iraq. Helps the stress.

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