The best of writers, can they separate their writing — their art — from a particular mood or emotion that grips them?
Further, if they attempt to express another emotion in writing, does the product they produce suffer from their untruth?
In other words, do writers who defy an emotion that affects them at the time of their writing do their work a disservice?
As I fought with within myself and within my abilities, I questioned whether other writers ever encounter a similar issue. Is this what we writers call “writer’s block”? Furthermore, I questioned whether writers who manage to defy the issue that was hampering me would find that the quality of their work would decline, whether it was realized by the writer or not.
These thoughts were epitomized in a Tweet through my Twitter account:
[quotetweet tweetid=2200701856]
Can writers truly, honestly and at their best, convey some emotion if they are unable at that moment to feel it?
These thoughts leaped forth to me that evening. I was reviewing a piece I was working on, a short series of fictitious stories central to a variety of premises and themes. What I was rather disturbed to notice is that the mood of the protagonist in each piece within the series was similarly wrought with insecurity, sadness, or a general darkness. I realized that each piece was reflecting my state of mind over the two or so days I had been writing. I truly struggled to find my usual and preferred optimistic writing grove.
Do those particular emotions reflect on the limitations of my writing abilities? Or, as a writer, is my best work that which most honestly reflects my moods and state of mind at those moments when I put ink to paper?
(What do you think? Please leave me a comment at the bottom of this post. Registration is NOT required.)
I must now admit, I pose these questions with little intent of my answering them! But I believe they are an interesting subject and one worth pondering. For the sake of discussion, let us try to give some form of answer.
It would seem apparent to me that whatever emotion the writer truly is feeling would be best articulated through their pen at the time that the emotion is present — when the feeling is fresh, honest and forthright.
And so I first must conclude that what one writes reflects most purely their inner state. Second, for a writer to portray some emotions which, for whatever reason, they struggle to honestly feel at the time of their writing, their work must suffer in some regard. Third, the best work put forth by a writer is that which most honestly reflects their inner state, their mood, and the emotions they feel at the time they are writing. To attempt anything different is a disservice to one’s natural abilities, and to the level of quality that they hope to achieve.
I think it depends on the type of writing you are doing (ie fiction, poetry, essays, etc…). Emotions, whether they emit positivity or negativity inside you, provide an energy source which can help spur creativity during a writer’s block.
For instance, my best poetry always comes from a dark place–writing during a time when you are plagued by negative thoughts/ideas is the best way to purge them from your mind and out onto paper/a computer screen, like getting a burden off your chest so to speak. It is much more difficult to write something like poetry that is positive/optimistic because it is very easy to fall into a trap of writing sentimentality–which more times than not is boring, cheesy, cliche or all three.
On the other hand, for something like fiction, you have to deal with a constant tug of war between your feelings and the feelings of the characters. Sometimes when working on a story I will be in a good mood when I sit down, but then will feel absolutely horrible while writing because of what my character is going through. It is not necessarily from my mood at the time which dictates what the character goes through (because that tends to be premeditated) but rather how into the moment/story/character you are. If it is truth to you, even within fiction, than it will not sound false or contrived.
Each character you create, in essence, is a part of you. The more time you spend with the character individually–in realizing his or her history, wants, needs, dreams and fears–the more real he or she will become. As your characters materialize in your mind, their actions (and thus the story) will often run its course without much interference from you, the writer. If you put your story and your characters needs above your own, you find yourself putting aside your own feelings and replacing them with the character’s (temporarily at least).
Okay, I’ll stop rambling. I’m not sure if that gave you any insight, but there it is.
These are all great points.
When writing this piece, I neglected to even consider the fact that different subjects and forms of writing beckon different levels of emotion from the writer.
Well said!