I was wondering...

[Comicality]

 

Do any of you guys have issues or draw from parts of your life that you find difficult or even 'intimidating' to write about? Bad times, sour memories, maybe a specific heartbreak? Sometimes, I have subjects that I want to dig deep and be really honest about, but it hurts to write it out. It's disturbing, you know?

 

Do any of you have parts of your life that you're hesitant, maybe even 'afraid', to write about? Just curious.

[mogwhy]

11 minutes ago, Comicality said:

 

Do any of you have parts of your life that you're hesitant, maybe even 'afraid', to write about? Just curious.

since i write mostly poetry, all of the things i write about are painful to write for me. they all stem from things in my life. posting is harder, but i do find writing and posting them as cathartic in a way. so i write and hope i touch people. writing clears the mind, but it does take longer to write about difficult things that touch our lives.

[MrM]

I am one to believe that a story cannot have true depth unless you spill some of your blood onto the pages upon which you are writing.

 

All of my works contain my blood and each letting is painful, but it is good pain. It is the pain of an expressed wound. Once emptied the wound can heal and, interestingly, that blood can work to help heal others. When I partake in another authors blood I find it mingles with mine and we join in a kind of kinship. We are not alone in our pains and together we can ease or erase them.

 

I do not fear exposing my hurts anymore knowing that by sharing them I can give some of my blood to someone else who needs it more than I.

[Solus Magus]

On topic: They said that the best writers could describe the scene detail by detail instead of simply stating them out. It swallows up the reader into the imagination you have foreseen beforehand. And going back to the very details of those nights that were traumatizing is but a big a challenge I must overcome, not just as a writer, but also a human being. So yes, there are a lot of times I had to take a pause whenever I'd like to describe a traumatic scene for me.

 

Some side-notes: The reason why it's difficult and intimidating to right about is because you are trying to face the darkest corners of your past especially if the experience was abuse or something very traumatic. However, it is highly-encouraged by some psychologists to write about those as an outlet. This is a very therapeutic activity for your mental health. Writing is a form of expression and as I have said before, unexpressed grief is a fuel for addiction. Always try to find ways to express yourself! I believe that the GA Community has a lot of regular readers to tune in to your grief and empathize with you. 

[Brayon]

2 hours ago, Solus Magus said:

This is a very therapeutic activity for your mental health. Writing is a form of expression and as I have said before, unexpressed grief is a fuel for addiction. Always try to find ways to express yourself! I believe that the GA Community has a lot of regular readers to tune in to your grief and empathize with you. 

This is actually a reason why I write, and why so many of my stories here on GA has a lot of me in them. Either directly or indirectly. Plus, the 30 other stories I have, that I have not, and most likely never will post anywhere.

[Jordn87]

I would say yes, my character Nessay is a lot like me. His anxiety and depression issues are based a lot on ones I live with. I find days are a lot better if I can get into Nessay mode and let it out in a story. 

[comicfan]

Occasionally, I spill some of myself into a story. It is facing those parts of myself that are hurt, cruel, or dark that allow me to move forward. A lot of my writing goes hea. However, there are a few pieces that people have a hard time reading, and knowing where those stories came from, I'm glad it causes the reader to pause and see that, reflect on it, and hopefully excise it from their own life. Just my two cents.

[Hudson Bartholomew]

There are definitely some stories that I don't want to write because they hit a little too close to home. My stories already tend to be angsty and I end up going on emotional roller coasters when I write them. If I write a story that's too close to me, I don't think my emotional well-being would survive. I need at least a little distance from it to be able to get it down on paper. 

[William King]

On 18/10/2017 at 6:00 AM, Comicality said:

Sometimes, I have subjects that I want to dig deep and be really honest about, but it hurts to write it out.

 

I too have experiences that become part of my stories and get relived by the characters and I have deep things I try to be honest about, but I think about how when written down they might be received by the reader. It doesn't hurt me to expose my emotions in my writing, it may make me tremble and cry, yes I have shed tears as I write, tears for no other reason than I was pouring my emotions into the scene, almost living it! I want to tell readers my experiences, I want to share, but I want to do so in a way that they might take something from what they have read, a tiny spark of realisation or recognition, of understanding, perhaps even a new thought, idea, or point of view. What greater thing is there in life than to love and share our emotions and our experiences?

 

[KD_stories]

I think as a writer you have to let some things drip from your personal life into your characters.  I know from every story I wrote there is a little of things I have dealt with in the character.  I think that's how you bridge that gap so readers can relate to a character more and make them less words on page and more of someone you can relate with

[LJCC]

I guess if I am being honest, the topic of unrequited love shook the very fabric of my being to new heights that as a person with full logic, is dumbfounded when all reasons were thrown at the window when the crutches of something unrequited clung to my heart.

 

When I was writing my story when a supporting character had asked my main character while they were at the gym previously laughing and joshing around, "But Henry, how about him? What are you to him?"

 

To which my writing indicated:

Henry paused...

And paused.

And smiled.

'I can't do this here' he thought.

'It's starting' he begged.

'Don't. Please' and begged...

 

The truth stings.

He knows.

It hurts.

It really hurts.

For he knows he is nothing.

He is nothing to him.

He was winded.

And so it fell.

 

Sarah quickly hugged his friend while Henry's tears flowed onto her cheeks. He was silently crying; like how he had silenced his heart to endure.

 

The irony was, the exact thing happened to me while I was blisfully chatting to a friend while shopping at a mall when he had asked me the same question out of nowhere, then bam...waterworks for nearly 3 years of having a 'thang' for some guy while my tears just fell cause it did. Some emotions doesn't care if you're passing by an H&M store in front of a fountain in the middle of a mall where people usually gather. And most emotions are not considerate even if you're a grown ass man with a beard.

 

And yes it was cathartic...but it had been 2 years since the whole stupid unrequited thingie happened, so when I wrote that section, it made me bawl like a baby not expecting some things to resurface like an old friend saying: hello, it's me...I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet.

 

Because when it happens, it happens. Just like stories, it's written to tell. I wanted to stop writing it, but...it has to be told, because...why not.

[Sam Wyer]

Yes - there are absolutely parts of me in every story i write, but there are also some aspects that I really can’t ever imagine including, it would just be too hard.

[VampireMystic]

Yes.

 

In one instance a certain kind of trauma crept into a character's background without my knowing why I put it there or why I couldn't get rid of it. Pieced it together a few years later.

 

The unconscious seeking an outlet, it seems.

 

I do agree that  talking about things, especially if they're difficult, is a strong part of healing. 

Edited January 12, 2018 by VampireMystic
Added pieced it together a few years later