Writers as Children: the psychological equivalent of scarlet fever

[wildcatter67]

What do you all think of this? Rick DeMarinis in "The Art and Craft of the Short Story" says this:

Something happens to people destined for a life of writing that has nothing to do with literature. It happens early in life and is probably the psychological equivalent of scarlet fever. It has to do with pain. In answer to the question, "What is the best early training for a writer?" Hemingway said, "An unhappy childhood." Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons-from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life. These are the ones who get in trouble early and then go on to achieve impressive things, either good or bad-the criminals and artists, the psychopaths and the self-made millionaires. An unhappy childhood often hones a powerful sense of injustice, and that very often is the core motivation for reformers, overachievers, criminals and artists.

[scarletpeaches]

This bit resonated with me:

...Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons-from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life...

That's me all over.

Plus, I have the added headfuck of having had scarlet fever in my early teens.

[HeronW]

This builds into the myth BS that 'artists have to suffer'.

We all suffer, some more than others, some are writers, others painters, politicians, comedians, actors, musicians, parents, teachers or whatever combination.

Picasso was a genius as a painter but a sh*t with women. His attitude toward women was separate from his painting, he was a visionary and a bastard and more.

We have all been influenced but we can also choose to change.

[Devil Ledbetter]

I had a reasonably normal childhood (security, love, limits, etc.) so I was all set to disagree with the idea that an unhappy childhood is a requirement for writing. Mine wasn't perfect, but I wouldn't call it unhappy.

But this is me: ...grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life...

I'm the youngest of four and it's been clear for as long as I can remember that my parents intended to have only three children. I've always felt like I lucked into existence through some loophole. As long as I'm here, I'm going to make it count.

[scarletpeaches]

Here's one of my favourite quotations:

The urge to write is also the fear of death - the need to leave messages saying "I was here, I saw it too." -Laurie Lee

[Bufty]

'....destined for a life of writing'? Oh, woe is me - spare me!

[shakeysix]

i always felt like i was invisible so i could sponge up what the grownups were saying--s6

[ChaosTitan]

Nothing in that paragraph describes me. The closest I can come to "unhappy childhood" is being picked on in junior high.

[KTC]

What do you all think of this? Rick DeMarinis in "The Art and Craft of the Short Story" says this:

Something happens to people destined for a life of writing that has nothing to do with literature. It happens early in life and is probably the psychological equivalent of scarlet fever. It has to do with pain. In answer to the question, "What is the best early training for a writer?" Hemingway said, "An unhappy childhood." Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons-from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life. These are the ones who get in trouble early and then go on to achieve impressive things, either good or bad-the criminals and artists, the psychopaths and the self-made millionaires. An unhappy childhood often hones a powerful sense of injustice, and that very often is the core motivation for reformers, overachievers, criminals and artists.


This could have been written about me. I mean WORD FOR WORD. Eerie.

[Serenity]

I'd say I write from the inspirations in my life, not from the down side of it. Not that there were any horrible things that happened to me or my family. Things that threw obstacles in our paths, yes. My dad was a coal miner, got laid off my senior year in high school. He went back to college and is now a computer programmer for a major company in Pennsylvania. He pulled off straight A's his first two semesters to be able to transfer out of his original major (which he flunked out of) twenty-five years prior. It was the coolest thing I ever saw.

The only 'tragic' thing about my childhood according to my mother was my mood swings. And that was more tragic for her than me.

Can adversity or tragedy or past suffering help you as a writer? Yes. Can the opposite do the same? In my opinion, that answer is also yes.

[Shadow_Ferret]

That, as someone else said, is so much mythological bullshit it made me angry reading it.

I had a very happy childhood. Or I"m blocking. But the point is, I don't believe anyone ever told me I was worthless. Quite the opposite, I was told I was smart, talented, and encouraged every step of the way.

It also makes me angry because if it were true, then I've wasted my entire life in pursuit of something I can't do, that my dreams are unattainable.

Besides, I'm a firm believer that its never too late to have a happy childhood.

[KTC]

Besides, I'm a firm believer that its never too late to have a happy childhood.


I usually find myself agreeing with you, FerretFace, but not today. I feel that is spoken like someone who truly did have a happy childhood. That statement isn't even possible metaphorically. The ruin of my childhood could never be given a pretty spin. Never. It is definitely too late for me to have a happy childhood. I'm having a happy adulthood and providing my children with a happy childhood...but it's too late for me.

[scarletpeaches]

That, as someone else said, is so much mythological bullshit it made me angry reading it.

Maybe in your opinion.

I had a very happy childhood.

Good for you. Not everyone was so fortunate.

...I don't believe anyone ever told me I was worthless.

Maybe they didn't. Good. But the article isn't saying those who had a happy childhood would never be writers; just that those who had an unhappy one are likely to be driven to the creative arts, which I firmly believe.

...Besides, I'm a firm believer that its never too late to have a happy childhood.

Easy for you to say. You had one.

[Shadow_Ferret]

You're not dead yet are you? I don't mean deluding yourself that you once had a happy childhood, I mean having a happy childhood NOW.

Or you can just dwell in your self-pity and loathing. (The royal you, not you specifically KTC.)

And as you said, you're having a happy adulthood and providing your kids with a happy childhood. It's never too late.

ETA: Drat. Scarlet got in the way again. And YAY! We're disagreeing. The world has righted itself.

[scarletpeaches]

Facing up to the reality of an unhappy childhood does not mean wallowing in self-pity and self-loathing. It means looking at it and seeing it for what it really was.

Acknowledging one's past does not stop us from having a future.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Acknowledging one's past does not stop us from having a future.And that is what I meant it never being too late to have a happy childhood.

I guess I'm speaking metaphorically. But it's pissing you off and that's making me happy. :)

But the article isn't saying those who had a happy childhood would never be writers; just that those who had an unhappy one are likely to be driven to the creative arts, which I firmly believe.


Actually, he did. He said, "Something happens to people destined for a life of writing..." He didn't say, something happens to SOME people or a FEW people. He said PEOPLE, as in everyone who is destined to be a writer.

[KTC]

I don't dwell on my childhood. I do not believe in self-pity. But it is there. It is a part of me. I don't deny my childhood...but it doesn't drag me down, either. To get to where I am now only makes me feel like I was victorious despite my childhood. But no...you can never go back. You can be childlike as an adult, but it is too late to have a happy childhood if you didn't have a happy childhood.

[Shadow_Ferret]

And just so you know, the person who originally said, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood," was Carrie Fisher.

I was just repeating it because I like it.

[KTC]

Well, consider the source. Barbiturate Princess could slip into any make believe world she wants to. She cannot go back. It's pretty to make these statements...but pretty isn't truthtown.

[nerds]

I concluded around age five that I'd been left in a basket on the doorstep; I wasn't like anyone else in the family. Plus I had untreated scarlet fever which became rheumatic fever which wrecked a heart valve or two. Very interesting little piece there, that o.p.

[jenngreenleaf]

It sounds like my childhood. I don't know if that's why I started writing, though . . . I'm sure if I gave this some heavier thought I would agree.

[IceCreamEmpress]

I think a lot of writers come from a childhood experience where they escaped into books, either because of illness or because of family stress or both.

A lot, but not all.

[DarkKnightJRK]

Eh...while I'm sure that a bad childhood inspired some people into the creative arts, it's definately not the only thing.

I wouldn't say I had a bad childhood. I mean, I got picked on a lot, didn't have reliable friends until two years ago, can't stand most of my family and had anger issues as a kid, but I wouldn't call it bad.

Really, I think the basic, essential tools you need to be a writer is a grasp on the language you're writing in, an active imagination, and some utensils and paper to write on. The rest can help, but it's not really necessary.

[DarkKnightJRK]

I think a lot of writers come from a childhood experience where they escaped into books, either because of illness or because of family stress or both.

A lot, but not all.

I can agree with that, too. Personally, I just liked books.

[willfs]

On one hand, I definitely think humans have a way of turning suffering into something very positive.

On the other hand, does that necessarily mean suffering produces great artists? Could someone become a great teacher because of how much they struggled to learn as a child? Could someone become a great attorney because of the injustice they suffered? And of course, does that mean that those who don't suffer, don't develop any talents?

[Storm Dream]

I always thought my childhood was pretty good. I had a godawful time in middle school, but I was writing long before that. I don't consider myself a suffering artist at all.

Does that mean I'm not a real writer? :(

I could ask my mother if I had cholera or something when I was younger...

[dempsey]

What I feel we can take from this thread: Some people had bad childhoods and it affected them. Some people didn't have bad childhoods, so there was nothing to affect them. Both camps went on to do similar things for different reasons.

[Jersey Chick]

I don't know - for me, parts of my childhood were unhappy - my parents split up when I was young, I don't have much of a relationship with my father, there were a lot of money troubles back then. I remember feeling a little weird because my parents were the only divorced parents I knew. But overall, I recall being a very happy kid. My mom always encouraged me in everything I did and she still does. In fact, I can't recall anyone ever telling me not to try something because I'd fail, or telling me I was worthless or any of that.

Although, I do know I always felt a little out of place because I loved to read and to write and create my own little worlds, and I've always preferred being alone to being in a group of people. I'm much more comfortable by myself and always have been - which most people don't seem to understand. Hmmm... it's nothing anyone ever said or did, but something that's always just been with me. Even now, I don't really feel as though I fit in any one place, but that's okay because it gives me the chance to sit back and observe.

Maybe there is something to that - that writers and artists feel differently than those who aren't - not necessarily because they had lousy childhoods, but just because we see the world different from day one?

[JeanneTGC]

Chiming in on the awful childhood side of the house.

I don't think those of us who had horrible childhoods have ownership of writing ability, and I don't think the article was saying that, either. Just that we may have a higher propensity to write, which I do agree with.

Happy for those who had happy childhoods -- but not everyone did. We don't deny your happiness, don't deny the unhappiness those of us who didn't luck into better family situations went through.

Everyone comes to their art for their own reasons and in their own ways.

[wildcatter67]

More:

"People who grow up feeling justified and at home in their worlds can settle for less, having never felt the urge to pull things apart or to put them together again in gratifying ways. On the other hand, I know that people who have had wonderful childhoods have become first-rate writers in spite of this handicap (Eudora Welty comes to mind). Writers who had loving and protective parents, who never knew grinding poverty or emotional deprivation cannot be dismissed as "not having suffered enough" to qualify for the trade. Something happened to them. Maybe birth was traumatic enough. Someone responsive to his or her surroundings, responsive in the sense of always being intensely aware, of noticing the the details, of having no protective layers of dullness and disinterest, someone who is continuously being affected by the force of these impressions-that is, a person destined to be an artist or a psychiatric patient-will find a wrenching experience waiting around every corner. A childhood doesn't have to be lousy to be traumatizing."

[scarletpeaches]

Just be grateful none of us turned into navel-gazing twunts, eh?

[Nyna]

More:

"People who grow up feeling justified and at home in their worlds can settle for less, having never felt the urge to pull things apart or to put them together again in gratifying ways. On the other hand, I know that people who have had wonderful childhoods have become first-rate writers in spite of this handicap (Eudora Welty comes to mind). Writers who had loving and protective parents, who never knew grinding poverty or emotional deprivation cannot be dismissed as "not having suffered enough" to qualify for the trade. Something happened to them. Maybe birth was traumatic enough. Someone responsive to his or her surroundings, responsive in the sense of always being intensely aware, of noticing the the details, of having no protective layers of dullness and disinterest, someone who is continuously being affected by the force of these impressions-that is, a person destined to be an artist or a psychiatric patient-will find a wrenching experience waiting around every corner. A childhood doesn't have to be lousy to be traumatizing."

You know, I had a happy childhood but was not a happy child. As I was reading this thread I was trying to figure out how to explain it, and this, I think, was exactly what I wanted to say. I was always destined to be an artist or a psychiatric patient, and while I come closer by the day to touching down triumphantly on artist, that wasn't always true.

[Danger Jane]

Chiming in on the awful childhood side of the house.

I don't think those of us who had horrible childhoods have ownership of writing ability, and I don't think the article was saying that, either. Just that we may have a higher propensity to write, which I do agree with.

Happy for those who had happy childhoods -- but not everyone did. We don't deny your happiness, don't deny the unhappiness those of us who didn't luck into better family situations went through.

Everyone comes to their art for their own reasons and in their own ways.

I have to agree. I didn't have a happy childhood, didn't have any friends, blah blah, and I don't dwell on it, but it's still true. I plan on having a perfectly happy adulthood...but I wasn't a very happy kid. And this has influenced my writing heavily, yes.

[BlueLucario]

What do you all think of this? Rick DeMarinis in "The Art and Craft of the Short Story" says this:

Hemingway said, "An unhappy childhood." Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons-from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life. These are the ones who get in trouble early and then go on to achieve impressive things, either good or bad-the criminals and artists, the psychopaths and the self-made millionaires.

I believe I am one of those children. The only friends I have are friends on the internet.(Feel free to point and laugh and call me a loser.) I'm sorry just thinking about it makes me cry.:cry:Maybe I am destined to be a great writer.

Because of my unhappy childhood, I learned that "Life Sucks" and That's my motto.

[WendyNYC]

I think a lot of writers come from a childhood experience where they escaped into books, either because of illness or because of family stress or both.

A lot, but not all.


I had a happy childhood, but this resonated with me. I escaped into books because I a) read at a very early age and b) was an only child.

[The Lady]

All of us (me and my brothers and sister) had unhappy childhoods. However my three siblings have not taken up their free pass into the writing life. Therefore, I am willing to sell on, three unhappy childhood writing opportunities, to any of you happy childhood folk who are feeling undeserving.
You can then write, guilt free, knowing that you have bought speedboats and other trifling luxuries for grown up unhappy kids. :)

[IceCreamEmpress]

I'm a bit sorry John Robison hasn't chimed in here, considering he and his brother are both successful memoirists. Though they seem to have had very different childhoods, partly because of their difference in age, and partly because of their difference in personalities.

I wish Warren Beatty would write a memoir, because it would be interesting to contrast it with his sister Shirley MacLaine's memoirs.

My brother is also a writer, as is my dad, as are at least two of my first cousins. I'm the only one who's ever published any memoirs or even remotely autobiographical writing, though.

[blacbird]

On one hand, I definitely think humans have a way of turning suffering into something very positive.

(Some) humans have a way of turning suffering into something very positive.

Some become serial murderers.

caw

[BenPanced]

I had a rotten childhood, but I choose to dwell on the fact my adulthood ain't a day at the races, neither, and makes for better novel fodder.

[wildcatter67]

more:

"Then something else happens. We find that words can be an escape from the pain of social impotence. Words for me became a bright mantle of power...And as that pencil moved, a world was created...Creating fictional worlds is a natural refuge for the powerless, since it confers power."

[DonnaDuck]

Why does being an artist, any artist, always have to equate to suffering and pain, be it bad or good (the end-result of the art)? I don't write because I was a sufferer or boredom or loneliness in childhood. I write because one day, when I was 9, I picked up a pencil and said, 'I have an idea.' There was never an influence of pain or suffering from any level into my writing, and even now, I don't write from pain. I write from the ideas in my head. Is it escapist? Sure but I don't think anyone is without some kind of escapist fantasy. My want to write was there long before I even knew the meaning of the word suffering, before I knew what I pencil was. I was never without want in my childhood and while it wasn't all good, it was as great a childhood as I could ask for. Did the suffering of my broken arm cause me to write? No.

While I have no doubt that suffering can cause one to delve into creative endeavors, I don't believe it's the only reason why people do so.

[Saanen]

The older I get, the less my childhood influences me. Apparently some people refuse to let go of the notion that misery inspired their brilliance, which I guess means that it's never too late to have an unhappy childhood.

My brother and I are only a year and a half apart in age and had pretty similar childhoods. I'm the writer. He's the computer programmer. No one claims that computer programmers must have had unhappy childhoods that drove them to code, but from talks with my brother I understand that his creative process is very similar to mine. I refuse to believe that being miserable during parts of our childhood made us into what we are today. More likely it was genetics combined with quiet encouragement from various adult role models.

[Bubastes]

While I have no doubt that suffering can cause one to delve into creative endeavors, I don't believe it's the only reason why people do so.

I agree. I'm a bit tired of the "tortured artiste" myth because it only focuses on one possible reason why people create. Some of us create because it's *gasp!* enjoyable. I had a pretty normal, if a bit isolated (I was a shy kid), childhood.

"Then something else happens. We find that words can be an escape from the pain of social impotence. Words for me became a bright mantle of power...And as that pencil moved, a world was created...Creating fictional worlds is a natural refuge for the powerless, since it confers power."

Um, not always. As I said in another post, I write because I'm extremely nosy and want to know the details of other people's business, including the business of imaginary people. Fiction gives me the opportunity to know someone more intimately than a real person because I can ask a character all sorts of rude questions and she won't slap me. :D Writing really has nothing to do with me. It does keep me out of trouble, though.

[RedScylla]

i always felt like i was invisible so i could sponge up what the grownups were saying--s6

LOL. That was me all over. I can't claim a truly unhappy childhood, although I had an odd one. I was just that kid who never said or did or thought the right thing, so the observational habit started out with me trying to figure out what I was supposed to be saying, doing, or thinking.

[Lauri B]

More:

"People who grow up feeling justified and at home in their worlds can settle for less, having never felt the urge to pull things apart or to put them together again in gratifying ways. On the other hand, I know that people who have had wonderful childhoods have become first-rate writers in spite of this handicap (Eudora Welty comes to mind). Writers who had loving and protective parents, who never knew grinding poverty or emotional deprivation cannot be dismissed as "not having suffered enough" to qualify for the trade. Something happened to them. Maybe birth was traumatic enough. Someone responsive to his or her surroundings, responsive in the sense of always being intensely aware, of noticing the the details, of having no protective layers of dullness and disinterest, someone who is continuously being affected by the force of these impressions-that is, a person destined to be an artist or a psychiatric patient-will find a wrenching experience waiting around every corner. A childhood doesn't have to be lousy to be traumatizing."


But isn't this completely circular logic? That all writers had a traumatic childhood; those who say they had happy childhoods just don't remember the trauma. I don't buy it.

[ishtar'sgate]

Something happens to people destined for a life of writing that has nothing to do with literature. An unhappy childhood often hones a powerful sense of injustice, and that very often is the core motivation for reformers, overachievers, criminals and artists.
I was darned unhappy but not for any of those reasons. I was severely asthmatic and frequently confined to bed. All I could do was read and turned to writing as a means of entertaining myself while all my friends were out having fun. I felt very hard done by, would try and sneak onto basketball teams and other sports teams but was invariably found out when I ended up panting in a corner. Argh.
Linnea

[JoNightshade]

I wouldn't say I had an unhappy childhood, overall. In fact I had a very happy early childhood. However, I was surrounded by others who had suffered misfortune and hardship, so I was constantly confronted with the fact that we're all lucky to have anything, and nobody has a "right" to good things. When I was small my parents were poor and my dad had come from an extremely abusive upbringing. My mother intentionally exposed me to sick and dying people at rest homes so I would not be afraid of them. I also had a very isolated early childhood, since we lived on a boat until I was 5.

The only real suffering was when I was cast into a different school in third grade. Suddenly my friends were gone and as the most intelligent child in class I was soon subject to bullying and psychological screwing. As a result I had to cling to my intelligence as the reason for my existence. Without that, I was nobody. Probably not coincidentally, this was when my generally creative interests began to hone in on writing as my primary form of expression.

Anyway, all that to say that I think in general the OP has it right. I was loved by my family and the torture ended around sixth grade, but I think the effects on my personality were the same.

Which is not to say that I don't think someone who didn't experience any suffering at all couldn't be a writer. I'd tend to posit that those people could do a great many things and simply choose to take up the pen. I think maybe the OP is referring to those sorts of people who are truly DRIVEN to write.

[Melanie B.]

An unhappy childhood often hones a powerful sense of injustice, and that very often is the core motivation for reformers, overachievers, criminals and artists.

I would have had a much happier childhood if I had been compliant and gone along with the status quo. A powerful sense of injustice can be as much an agent of unhappiness as a result. In children and adults. When I was in middle school, my mother told me she wished I was more susceptible to peer pressure.

I don't think I had a particularly terrible childhood. We had food and a house and clean water and a school that nobody bombed or shot up and lots of books. I didn't grow up someplace where there was raw sewage in the streets or genocide taking place or women are considered property. It's all about perspective.

[wildcatter67]

In "Writing For Life: The Craft of Writing for Everyday Living" by John D. Bessler, chapter 2 is called "Learning to See".

In the field's of observation chance favors only those minds which are prepared.-Louis Pasteur, French chemist.

People only see what they are prepared to see.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bessler quotes many artists and authors on observation, and writes about the books "Art Objects" and "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", extensively. He spends an entire chapter on trying to improve the writer's observation skills.

So far, I have refrained from doing anything other than offering quotes, and prefer to just listen. I will add this one personal opinion, though. I do believe that unhappy children see the world differently than happy children. Therefore they write and draw differently. Different is not bad or good. It's just different.

Do we all agree that unhappy children see a different world than happy children?

Do we agree that an unhappy childhood is one way that children develop advanced observation skills? Do we all agree that there are other ways children develop advanced observation skills?

Do we agree that advanced observation skills are required to write and draw well?

[Melanie B.]

Do we all agree that unhappy children see a different world than happy children?

Do we agree that an unhappy childhood is one way that children develop advanced observation skills? Do we all agree that there are other ways children develop advanced observation skills?

Do we agree that advanced observation skills are required to write and draw well?

Probably not. This is the internet.

[wildcatter67]

Probably not. This is the internet.

You are funny :-)

If someone disagrees, I'll be interested. I posted all these quotes because I'm far more curious, than opinionated.

[JoNightshade]

Well, before I read this thread, I assumed that everyone could lay claim to an "unhappy childhood" in one sense or another. It really just depends on how you look at things. Nobody's life is perfectly happy. I'm sure everyone got picked on, or their parents said something horrible, or someone died, or whatever. You can't go through life without escaping that stuff. But not everyone is as affected. Some kids may be more sensitive to some hurts than others would be, and maybe that changes them.

[Lauri B]

Do we all agree that unhappy children see a different world than happy children?

Do we agree that an unhappy childhood is one way that children develop advanced observation skills? Do we all agree that there are other ways children develop advanced observation skills?

Do we agree that advanced observation skills are required to write and draw well?

I don't know how you could ever prove that all unhappy children see a different world than happy children, so, no. I don't agree. I also don't know that many kids who spend any time at all thinking about themselves as unhappy as a general state of being--and I've been around a lot of them as a teacher and a parent. Unhappy at a particular time? Sure. But until kids are at a certain age, their brains aren't even developed enough to make the abstract leap from the concrete, "I'm angry that I lost the game" or "I'm sad about XX" to "what is my general state of mind?"

I think some writers have remarkable observational skills, but I think they are learned. I don't think you get them as an automatic given if you have a particular childhood, or for any other reason. I think a few very famous writers who happen to be part of the literary canon had some really unhappy childhoods, and in one cycle of whatever literary theory happened to be en vogue at a particular time, it was established that to be a great writer one has to suffer--in whatever way. And I think that people latch on to that for whatever reason and think that there is a secret key to becoming a good writer, whether it's an unhappy childhood, a tragic event, or something else.

I make my living as a writer, and I don't have particularly great observation skills. I'm good because I practice it all the time. I've learned over the years what works, what doesn't, how to research, how to edit, and how to revise. So I guess I'd say that rather than needing advanced observation skills to be a good writer, you need advanced powers of concentration and a sense of drive to keep going.

What say you?

[kuwisdelu]

I think we can all agree that experience is important to writing. As we get older, we gain more life experience to draw on when we write. Is life experience the most important thing in writing? I don't think it's really possible to say what the most important thing is, but I'd say it's up there in importance. It's right next to imagination as one of our basic tools. If anyone doesn't think life experience is pretty important, I'll be surprised, but I'd like to hear any such opinion.

All that said, I think part of what helped generate the suffering writer stereotype is that an unhappy childhood often opens one up to many life experiences that happy children never get to experience. It gives writers who've had unhappy childhoods a little more to draw on than those with happy childhoods. You don't have to imagine what it's like to be abused, depressed, mentally ill, neglected, unloved, etc., because you've been there. That doesn't make it easier to write about, necessarily--sometimes it makes it harder--but it puts a little more in the tool box. Writers who's never had to go through these things must imagine it, instead, but that is, of course, just another important tool.

[dempsey]

I really think this stereotype came about because poor Hemingway grew up wearing dresses.

[Haphazard]

I really think this stereotype came about because poor Hemingway grew up wearing dresses.

Poor Hemmingway.

I wasn't necessarily a happy child, but I did have a happy childhood. What does that make me? If you said a spoiled brat, you'd be correct.

Anyway, part of it probably comes from you'd have to be screwed up to want to play God so much, but having an 'unhappy childhood' as a requirement to be a writer is Freudian bullshit. People who end up facing a lot of adversity at any time of their life end up writing biographies, so I really don't think it's limited to unhappy children.

I personally just find playing God as fun. If I do it on paper, there's really no harm in that, is there?

[gracie41]

Can you please give an example of an "advanced observation" skill.

[Finni]

I think an unhappy or abusive childhood does impact a person in many ways, especially creativity. But I also think the right combination of personality, sociability, and tenacity is important.

I had a pretty awful childhood and I honestly believe this has a lot to do with me being a writer.
But my nephew is having a hard life too, his mother commited suicide when he was 8, but he isn't creative at all. He puts all his energy into hockey and is very talented.

I am an introvert, he isn't. I let things consume me until I can make sense of it. He tends to know he can't change things and keeps going.

So I think the combination of being introverted and over-thinking things feeds the writer in me.

But pain can also have an opposite affect. When my best friend and sister-in-law (my nephew's mom) killed herself it devastated me so much that I went through a very long writer's block. It wasn't until I made sense of it in my own way that I could pick up that pen again. And I am sure there are thousands of writers out there who didn't even get a chance to know they are writers because the pain of their childhood was just too great.

And then there is a cousin of mine who had a great childhood. Well, IS having a great childhood. She is 13 and just won a writing contest.

[MidnightMuse]

I had Scarlet Fever as a child, does that mean I'm balanced out?

[wildcatter67]

What do you all think of this? Rick DeMarinis in "The Art and Craft of the Short Story" says this:
Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons-from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feelings that they have to seize the right to exist. They have been told in subtle and unsubtle ways that they have no rightful claim on life...Someone responsive to his or her surroundings, responsive in the sense of always being intensely aware, of noticing the the details, of having no protective layers of dullness and disinterest, someone who is continuously being affected by the force of these impressions-that is, a person destined to be an artist or a psychiatric patient

I am becoming more and more aware of how my childhood has affected my writing due to how I perceive the world. I have always felt like an outsider and like I was less important than everyone else.

When I recount the intimate details of the lives of family and friends I understand what they see, but I see something else. It's like I live the life of the narrator. I am not actually part of the story. My childhood has so affected my worldview that I cannot blend into thinking like most people. I don't see what they see. When I write about facts it often has the tone of fiction. Sometimes people find it hysterically funny, because of the contrast.

In my current speculative fiction WIP, the viewpoint is 1st person present. The 14 year old girl is completely unaware that she has emotional responses different from the typical reader. She mostly only knows her abusive corner of the world and her world view is shaped by it. I'm really digging deep to get at the heart of the mind set of abused females. How much more powerful the passive conditioning and absence of normal socialization is, than the active conditioning and overt abuse. How they do not label events as "abuse" or "wrong". How they do not know they can say "no!". They think differently.

I'm struggling mightily to find my fiction writing voice, trying all sorts of POVs. Part of me wants to cling to my old nonfiction success and tweak it to work in fiction. I think it needs major surgery though or something entirely new.

I draw like I write. I have no technical skill, but all my drawings draw attention, because I see differently, and what I see is what I draw.

Is what I do superior? I don't think so. It's just different. Different draws attention. Sometimes good attention and sometimes bad attention.

All I know is that, as I continue spewing forth my mess of writing and drawings, they are based on what I see, and that I see differently.

[kuwisdelu]

In my current speculative fiction WIP, the viewpoint is 1st person present. The 14 year old girl is completely unaware that she has emotional responses different from the typical reader. She mostly only knows her abusive corner of the world and her world view is shaped by it. I'm really digging deep to get at the heart of the mind set of abused females. How much more powerful the passive conditioning and absence of normal socialization is, than the active conditioning and overt abuse. How they do not label events as "abuse" or "wrong". How they do not know they can say "no!". They think differently.

This is very true. It perfectly describes my girlfriend. I'm still trying to teach her that it's okay to say "no," and remind her that what she went through isn't "normal."

I hope you keep up the fiction. These are the kinds of things that need to be written. It's part of why I write, because there are other people out there who need to know they're not alone. After reading one chapter of my novel, my girlfriend commented that I'd "succeeded in understanding a mind never meant to be understood."

I keep encouraging her to write more. She thinks she doesn't have much skill, either, but I love her writing. Please keep writing. I hope to be a future reader :D

[Spiny Norman]

I'd agree with that... Or at least I'd agree that it spoke to me and described why I am doing what I do.

Well, I'm trying. I'm not there yet. But I'll get there. There's no other option, you see.

I'm not doing this to make money. I'm not doing this to be loved, to be appreciated, or to be respected. I'm doing this because I'm hungry. I'm hungry for it, and no, I don't know why. I know I can't do anything else. I know this is what I wanted to do ever since I was very young. I don't know anything else about it and more to the point, I wouldn't care to know.

This is it. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. Strip away everything else from me, whittle me down and stick me out in the desert, and I will still want to write. On sand and stone, on wood and water if I can, I'll still be writing something. Still digging up stories. Still doing what I need to.

The injustice angle, though... That sticks with me. I do feel a sense of injustice in the world, a natural one, some blank indifference that inhabits every nook and cranny of this place. Some sense that not much cares if we're here, or if I'm here, or you. Maybe writing is a way to force the world to make sense. To carve off a slice of it and rework it again and again in my own little forge until it looks like something I can understand. Maybe that's what I'm doing. I can't say. I can't step outside of myself to get perspective on what I'm doing.

It's good to have a purpose. It's chilling in its way, but it's good. They say it's a dangerous thing to walk a razor's edge, but at least you know you're walking, that you're going somewhere. A lot of people don't get that. And if it winds up eating you alive as you walk, well, at least you went doing what you were supposed to be doing.