Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Writing Hurts

I'm not talking about the physical pain of too long hunched over the computer, the eye strain from staring at words that turn into a jumble of alphabet soup, or the brain fog of sleep deprivation from many sleepless nights of first drafts, word counts and revisions.

When I saw this week's quote I cringed at the truth in it. Well, other than the typewriter thing, it is so totally true.

IMO, that's what makes us all writers, though. We all feel that pain. We're pouring ourselves into these stories we tell, leaving bits of us in the words we choose and characters we create.

What do you think?

12 comments:

Stephanie McGee said...

I think writing is supposed to. When a character's dad died in one of my projects, I cried on re-reading the scene where she comes upon him dead. But that's because I put real emotion into the scene. Nothing that's cliche or trite.

If we're doing it right, it hurts. If there's no emotion, there's no connection to the reader and there's no reason for the reader to keep reading.

And, emotion is something I really need to work on in my own writing.

Kelsey (Dominique) Ridge said...

I get what you're saying. I think the writing hurts when we do it well, because we have to put real feeling into it to get real feeling from our readers. I think of some of the books I've loved where my heart twisted and ached for a character, and I pity the poor author who had to do that to herself to get it right.

Amanda Bonilla said...

Writing hurts? A gross understatement in my opinion! ;)

Carolyn V. said...

I totally agree! It does hurt and is so frustrating at times!

ali cross said...

I think: YES. :)

Sara B. Larson said...

Definitely. For me, my characters are so real and I really care about them. I feel what they feel while I'm writing it, I hurt when they hurt, I yearn when they yearn. You get the idea.

Jolene Perry said...

I actually put off writing a portion of one of my projects because I knew I'd be in a foul mood for a few days. It wasn't as bad as I thought, and because I'd thought about it for a while, it went fast. But still, the mood of whatever I'm writing sticks with me. And I want it to. It helps me write better.

Nichole Giles said...

Absolutely true.

Christine Fonseca said...

Dude...SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO True! Thank goodness I have you to share my pain with!

Lisa Miles said...

I always feel like I'm one of those tortured writers, and I hate it. I drive myself crazy with indecisions (on which novel to work on), plot and character changes, etc. I mean, I seriously drive myself nuts. I can NOT make a decision and stick with it to save my life.
I'm doomed.

Tana said...

Oh definitely! I lose myself in my work, so much so that I actually believe in the things I write!

Elana Johnson said...

I agree. Anything artistic hurts, especially if people don't like it. We think it means they don't like US. Ouch.