Angst and Writing

[queenoftheskies]

When you have angst in your life, or there's chaos going on around you (involving yourself and/or others) that you can't seem to escape, how does it affect your writing and your ability to write?

Do you thrive on it?

Or does it run you straight towards a hole in the ground?

Comments

[saycestsay.livejournal.com]

Like everything else, it depends. A little chaos can focus my efforts; total disaster erases my mind.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

It depends. Sometimes I throw myself into writing, welcoming the chance to escape from my problems. Other times it's just too overwhelming to concentrate and I can't write at all.

[calene.livejournal.com]

Depends on the kind of angst for me. When we were having major financial stress from Nov-Dec of last year, it gave me major problems with my writing. The whole household was stressed out and in a bad mood, and it made it really difficult for me to focus on my WIP. But then, in Jan I was having some issues with a couple people in the household, and it fueled my writing. The need to get away from them and their problems ended up helping me focus a lot on my writing, and my daily output shot up. So it varies from time to time for me.

[annathepiper]

Generally stress takes out my ability to write, I find. There are occasional times when I can channel it into producing something, but those times are few and far between. My problem is generally that if I'm stressing about something else and that affects my writing, I'll start stressing that I'm not writing, too, which then puts me into a feedback loop.

[quiller77.livejournal.com]

Higher stress kills the muse for me. Small amounts can't be avoided so it's business as usual then.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

If I'm really angsting, I don't write at all. This bothers me because I would like to be more resiliant than that, or at least be able to channel some of the angst into therapy writing or something.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Can "yes" be the answer? It depends.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

It depends for me, too. Sometimes, if the angst is particularly angsty, I freeze up and can't bring myself to write. But not often. Usually, getting it out on paper helps me work through it, or immersing myself in something completely different helps me forget for a while. Writing is therapy for me. ;)

[icepicklobotomy.livejournal.com]

Channel it.

For me it bleeds into the fiction.

I also have a free-writing document where I go to ventillate at times of stress.

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

I'm a happy writer. If I'm depressed, I don't write. If I'm happy, I write. Even the dark stuff.

If life/angst really has me down, I'm more interested in dealing with that than escaping into my fantasy world.

I've known some people who say they can only create when they are depressed/angsty/sad, but I've never understood it.

[renakuzar.livejournal.com]

angst and chaos has done both. it depends on the source and my state of being at the moment. right now I'm thriving on it. mostly because I've given up on the idea of controlling who I am or what the results of my actions are. I act to the best of my judgement and ability and let go of the results.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

[[ angst and chaos has done both. it depends on the source and my state of being at the moment. ]]

And, for me, on what I'm writing. Sometimes extra stress will send me into a mode of escape or venting, which produces a whole short story all in one burst. These are usually stories that depend on one big idea which comes all at once and doesn't need a lot of thought along the way.

But my normal sort of exploring/tinkering kind of writing, often gets thrown off by ordinary stress/busy-ness, or some big crisis-project.

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i thrive on it.

not in a "i need drama and other crap in my life" sort of way, but in a "there's too much to do be done and writing needs to be the most important of it" sort of way.

when i've got all the time in the world, i take all the time in the world. and sometimes that can work against you.

: D

[navicat.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it messes me up. I know I should channel my agnst, but I never can :( ah well

[d-michiko-f.livejournal.com]

Chaos in my life = NO writing. Angst can lead to good writing - depending on what that angst is. But I thrive on neither. I write best when my life is smooth and organized. Well, scratch that, my life is neither. But you know what I mean. When I feel like I have a small handle on things - which is most of the time. ;)

how about you?

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

I tend to go all-out in various creative channels that I might otherwise ignore: writing, playing piano, drawing.

[knowing-carrion.livejournal.com]

Generally, I am unable to write when I am undergoing internal chaos. This is largely because I am unable to write using the emotions I'm feeling at that time in my life, if I'm to draw from personal experience, it has to be something from my past that I can revisit. Although the novel project I'm working on at the moment is based off something that was going on in my life when I began writing it (and has since essentially come to an end), that is a rarity.

So no, it typically runs me straight toward a hole in the ground, and that's unfortunate. I'd rather be able to feed off it & use it, otherwise it seems wasted.

[canadiansuzanne.livejournal.com]

Depends on the angst.

If it's mere frustration, then writing can sometimes soothe me. If it's personal messes, i.e. relationship stuff, then I become emotionally paralyzed and can't write a damned thing.