Some go running when they need to cool down, others listen to music, some people go practice martial arts, some people go partying. All people got their methods to deal with hard stuff or to reign in and deal with feelings. I write. If I go trough I hard patch I tend to get even more productive than usual. You just have to glance to the not happy thread to see that people got a lot to deal with here. And I'm wondering: Where are you on this scale? Do you write as an emotional release, just like people heading out for a run?* Or are you at the other end of the spectrum, where writing is something you do when your in a good mood feeling safe and secure? *I know that some people write as therapy about what they struggle with, this is not what I'm getting at. The question is if writing in general gives you an emotional release while writing about something unrelated to what your facing.
I try to write every day, so it's not a question of inspiration or letting out immediate feelings for me anymore. It's always therapeutic, though. I'm shy. I could never get up in front of a group of people and just talk about how I feel about things. For me, indirectly sharing how I feel by crafting an imaginary world with imaginary characters who struggle with the same things that I do is akin to a religious experience. It's one of the few times I feel truly useful or talented. It's a powerful outlet for things I would not feel comfortable saying in person, and my stories tend to get their messages across far better than I ever could. I'm quite happy to let them do the talking.
I would probably fall on the side of writing when I'm in a good mood. The last thing I need is problems hanging over me causing my mind to wander, and compromising the creative process. But (like many people around here, I suspect), my writing is dictated by those fleeting opportunities when I have "alone time", since I have a partner and three young kids to contend with, so it's a late-night thing, and I can't afford the luxury of only writing when I'm in a perfect mood!
Bit of both I think. If I'm going through a hard time, I'll tend to only write about me or not be able to write at all, or I write about characters feeling the same way I am at the time but putting them in different circumstances. It rather depends on the strength of the emotion I'm feeling at the time. But when I'm in a good mood, I'll write when and what I like.
Writing is a great way for me to get away from difficult problems. Over a year ago, in my prior job, my boss tried to set me up to take the blame for something that had gone wrong after he cut my staff. Although I was ultimately cleared, it was a horrific time for me. Writing was my escape.
I think it probably is an emotional release for me. Certainly a stress reliever. When I go extended periods without writing, I tend to get depressed and moody and generally be an unpleasant little sod. I don't write just when I'm in a particular mood, the urge just comes to me and annoys me until I give in.
I write everyday, and normally it depends on what it is I'm doing. For instance, if it's for a contest or a story, I prefer to do that when I'm emotionally calm so I can sense the characters emotions in that moment. If it's something like my roleplays (which I do the most often), I use them like journal entries. I pretty much blast all my emotions into a character and see how the other person reacts to that. It's fun to do, just like playing patty cake with a child who doesn't know what's going on!
neither applies to me... i write merely because it's what i do best and like best to do... and i can write regardless of my mood or situation of the moment...
It's a bit of both for me. If I'm extremely upset then it's harder for me to write. Then other times I write more when I'm upset. It goes back and forth a lot. It really is a good way to get out feelings I'm processing though. By using those feelings in some part of the story. Ex. One of my characters is going through trying to sort their life out after nearly dying. When I have those days where I'm really trying to process a lot of what I've been through myself I find it's a lot easier to get in my character's head on this. A lot of the things I've experienced can be related to several different circumstances and it makes me feel better to write about it as if someone else were experiencing it and not me because it makes it easier to begin to really process it myself.
I'm in the "writing when you're in a good mood, feeling safe and secure" part of the spectrum. Whenever I'm a really good, I just sit down and write
I write each day, because I love writing, but when I'm having a hard time for some reason I need to write. I need to pour myself into it, spin words into something, to focus my mind on the stream of words. Put myself to the trial to the focus of really writing. For me it can be exactly like running or go training martial arts. I might do it and love it every day, but sometimes negative emotion can be this explosive fuel to just pour into it and let it burn even brighter.
If I'm mad about something, it only distracts me from writing. I'm amazed that it fuels some people. - Andy
