Question

Elwolf · Nov 3, 2008

Does anyone ever get a strong feeling--like happiness, sadness, etc.--and it gets incorporated into your writing? I mean like, you get depressed and you kill off one of the main characters.

Or, when your happy, the characters are all excited or happy and ecstatic? :hooray:

Anyone do that? I mean, I think that pretty much everyone does, but I was just wondering. :idea:

scope · Nov 3, 2008

No. But I'm sure that my emotional state at any point in time influences how I write.

polleekin · Nov 3, 2008

No, I can't say I've ever done that. But then, I tend to outline scenes before I write them, so there's less chance of that, I suppose. But I don't think I'd like it if my writing was that strongly influenced by my emotional state.

Elwolf · Nov 3, 2008

Well, I suppose that sometimes I can't help it, and it rarely ever happens. I've just had this one day where I was depressed--I can't remember what about--and my main character was crying during almost everything that I wrote that day. The next day I was completely fine again. I am probably going to change that part though.

brain.bliss · Nov 3, 2008

I, sometimes, will attempt to alter my mood if I'm trying to write something specific. I have found the easiest way to do this is with ~~drugs~~ music.

Seriously, if I'm trying to write something fast paced and/or exciting - I'll listen to high-paced music. For slower/sad scenes, I have specific playlists.

I do, however, sometimes find myself adding stuff into a scene or story that is directly influenced by my mood.

Skye Jules · Nov 3, 2008

I usually can't write when I'm really depressed. I usually can't do anything. But other than being depressed, I generally don't. I did in the beginning stages of my novel when I practically used the main character has a diary of my emotions, but now she's a lot more fleshed out than the whiny whore she used to be.

Maprilynne · Nov 3, 2008

Sometimes. It's not a constant thing for me, but it certainly does happen! Mostly for me it happens when i am re-reading When I am actually writing I try to keep a clear head and work on all the elements of craft, but when i am re-reading I just let myself go, and that is more when I get all emotionally swept away.

Chasing the Horizon · Nov 3, 2008

I guess it's possible my mood effects which scenes I choose to work on, but I wouldn't allow my own feelings to have an effect on the end product. I have a careful outline I follow. But I'm not prone to extreme changes of mood or strong emotions in general, so it's probably easy for me to keep my emotions of the moment out of my work.

wandergirl · Nov 4, 2008

I agree with Maprilynne -- once the thing's already written and I'm re-reading/revising, poignant scenes affect MY emotions, not the other way around. If they're well-written scenes, at least.

And I also agree with brain.bliss re: music. Sometimes I'll latch on to a certain song, and repeat repeat repeat while I'm writing a particular scene or revising it. Then the song is forever linked to that moment in my book.

TrickyFiction · Nov 4, 2008

Rarely, I'll work on certain scenes rather than other's depending on my mood. But, more often, my moods are affected by what I'm working on rather than the other way around. I'm a reed in the wind. Yep.

As for killing off characters, if a character needs to die to move the plot along, I'll kill them. But I don't like doing it much, because it's usually the loss of someone I've taken time to develop and I feel that I'm going to be missing out on a whole slew of possibilities after they're gone. So killing characters is something I avoid unless I feel it's absolutely necessary.

Angela_785 · Nov 5, 2008

I'm with Brain-Bliss about music as a vehicle to better get into an emotional state. I can only do this with musical score--songs with words tend to distract me.

Elwolf · Nov 5, 2008

TrickyFiction said:
As for killing off characters, if a character needs to die to move the plot along, I'll kill them. But I don't like doing it much, because it's usually the loss of someone I've taken time to develop and I feel that I'm going to be missing out on a whole slew of possibilities after they're gone. So killing characters is something I avoid unless I feel it's absolutely necessary.

Ouch. I can't kill off my characters unless I really have to. I just get attached to them as I write, and just can't part with them.

Sounds stupid, I know; but I'm just like that. I just sort of feel like I am deciding someone else's fate in a book, so I suppose I don't want to go too far. They aren't real and I created them--so strange--but that's just me. :Shrug:

Raynfall · Nov 5, 2008

It doesn't effect me when I actually write. However, when I plan out what happens next, it's certainly subject to my whims.

Stunted · Nov 5, 2008

I don't think so.

Ekimwolf · Nov 9, 2008

That doesn't happen to me but what I am writing may alter my mood. If the story takes a turn that ends up be angry or sad my mood will mirror that as well.

Ekimwolf · Nov 9, 2008

As far as killing off characters for me it's more the story happens and I am just along to watch and record, if they die it's because the story turned out that way.

Elwolf · Jan 22, 2009

That is true. I usually don't have a storyline that I follow, I just write. Somehow, I always get all of the small, questionable details to come together in the end, and they pretty much explain everything, even though I just put them in to make the story more interesting. Well, that is most of the time, I do have stories that are dead ends.

Blind Writer · Jan 22, 2009

I don't think my mood influencs my characters at all. Actually, when I'm depressed or sad I use my writing to escape. If I'm happy or hyper and my MC isn't, I usually don't write for a little bit.

Rachel · Jan 22, 2009

When I'm depressed I tend to make my characters happy. And then, normally, my characters are all miserable. I am always going back to lighten the mood.
I feel that maybe I should wait until I'm depressed before writing, that way my book will be upbeat and cheerful.

dianeP · Jan 22, 2009

No, it's usually the other way around.

jmn · Jan 22, 2009

There have been times when I have been upset that I have written random scenes for my book, but they never end up staying in the story.

Typically I have to be in the right mood to write, so if I am down about something or super hyper about something, then it's too hard for me to focus.

MDei · Jan 23, 2009

TrickyFiction said:
Rarely, I'll work on certain scenes rather than other's depending on my mood. But, more often, my moods are affected by what I'm working on rather than the other way around. I'm a reed in the wind. Yep.

I thought I was the only one that happened to. If I'm writing a very deep scene and the atmosphere is tense and angry, I get that way. Likewise when I'm writing something sweet, happy, or sad. It just happens that way.

Click to expand...

Horserider · Jan 24, 2009

No I can't say my depression causes me to kill a character. Usually I go backwards; my writing affects my mood. Like when I wrote a part where my MC's boyfriend proposes, I was really happy that day.

abctriplets · Jan 24, 2009

I don't believe it affects my writing, but I am sure it affects what project I want to work on (if I want to work at all). Probably mood makes me choose between writing, reading, and surfing on the net

PortableHal · Jan 25, 2009

I (almost) always follow a storyline. If I'm about to kill off a character, I know it far in advance. It's part of the process and it doesn't lead me to depression.

But I do feel for my characters and, in my latest work, it led me to change the ending of my novel and let two characters live.

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