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Time to Stop WritingAuthor, Rating and Tags:
Submitted by nancycole on Fri, 2011/11/04 - 9:46am
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Writing tip for the day; You know the time to stop writing for the day has come when you can no longer see the computer screen through your own tears and there's a danger those tears just might short out your keyboard. 
Nancy Cole P.S. Any body have a spare tissue you can lend me? »
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Time to Stop Writing
Why are you crying?
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
You'll find out...
Nancy has just written a real tear jerker of a chapter.
I know it's been true for me....
...you've written some things that have brought me...not just to tears, but sobbing so hard as to be a painful from the connection I have with your characters. If you're crying, I cannot imagine how sad it will be, but I know it will be alright because it will be real and moving and good, no matter how sad it may be. Thank you.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
and then you still have to decide what to do. ― C.S. Lewis
Love, Andrea Lena
Time To Stop Writing
Dang, lady. The writer isn't supposed to cry. We your humble readers are. *grin*
Although you don't have to quit for the day when that happens. Go dry your eyes, do something else for a bit, then come back to it...
*pulls a tissue out of her bra and gives it to Nancy*
Helpful Lisa
Do you write Lisa?
Because, in my humblest opinion, every writer should feel the emotions of their characters while writing, or else, how can they possibly write them?
So no. A writer is supposed to cry. Get angry. Get frustrated. Feel depressed. And so on. Every single thing that every single one of their characters experience, so should experience the writer.
Or else, they aren't writing it right.
I know I go through all the same things my characters go through as they share their experiences with me, and severely doubt I am alone on this count. Certainly sounds, at least, as though Nancy does similar if not the same.
Oh, and Nancy, I understand completely. Sometimes the emotions are so charged that you HAVE to quit for a while. Sometimes it can be an entire day before you're recharged. Yes. Writing is a very emotionally charged and thus draining activity.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Yes it is
Girl, you said a a cotton pickin' mouth full.
I tend to do that...
Both in real life and virtual life. I open my mouth, or touch fingers to keyboard, and it just keeps flowing.
Tends to get me in trouble more often than not when people just get sick and tired of listening to/reading my ramblings.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Does Lisa write? With emotion?
I agree with most of what you said.
I was teasing when I said it's the readers who should feel the emotion, not the author.
I guess my sarcasm and parody projector is on the fritz this week. Or it just doesn't come across to you well, like with my "could it be... satin?" joke.
Of course, there are authors who don't feel the emotions of their characters. Not all writers are the same. Just as not all actors are the same. Some actors put on a role, while their real selves don't feel it. Others are "method actors", and make themselves feel the emotions, to better portray them in their characters. I personally think feeling the emotions makes you better at writing them, or portraying them. But not everyone does. Different things work for different people.
And yes, I write myself. I just haven't finished anything (yet). Being both a procrastinator AND a perfectionist doesn't help. The hard drive crash a few months ago didn't help either. I lost a lot of things I didn't want to lose, including several stories I was working on. I'm trying to rewrite the one I was most excited about from memory (plus inspiration).
And yes, I'm the emotional sort, including when I am reading, or writing, and even sometimes when I'm sitting there THINKING about characters and possibilities...
Lisa Danielle
Just for the record...
I got both of your jokes and laughed out loud about "...satin?" It was so peculiarly appropriate. :)
But yes, I do cry when I write a tearjerker of a scene and laugh out loud when I think I'm being funny. I also get angry at injustice which is probably why I do not write that sort of story very often. Me hats off to Nancy and others who can do that without leaving holes in the walls.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Tearjerkers and Angry Injustices
Thank you, Erin. And yes, after the "church ladies" comment, I HAD to make the satin crack.
And yeah, I'm very emotional too. My brothers used to (good naturedly) tease me for being a crybaby during movies. Thankfully they never saw me bawling while reading a novel or short story. Heck, sometimes I'll sit and think about what I read (or later, wrote), and just imagine alternate plots, the characters interacting or saying different things, and I'd get all emotional from that, all going on only in my head.
I can handle injustices, as long as the victim is going to turn the tables, or at least escape and recover eventually (although I still get angry, which makes me cheer louder when they turn the tables on their tormentors). Writing it is tough, though, I agree.
I only have a few holes in the wall, though.
Lisa
Sorry...
I did miss it this time. I got Satin though.
Jokes are like that, generally. Sometimes some people get them, while others miss them, and other times, it's the opposite, and then there's always that peculiar group who, like Erin, never miss a beat. Usually when I'm writing and trying to make a scene funny, I'll try multiple jokes in short succession so that hopefully at least a couple make it through and it comes across funny.
Anyway, yeah, I realize that not all are going to feel them, but I do wonder if those perhaps are the same authors I can't stomach reading very much. No offense, if so, it's just not my cup of tea. Coming from a background decisively lacking in any real emotional range for years, I used reading and music as a source for surrogate emotions; and the training has stuck with me, such that I really only like particularly charged stuff.
Oh, and about finishing - I tend to have that problem too... it helps when I know people are expecting me to work on doing so though... maybe it would for you too? Maybe try an experiment with pushing out chapters as you get them "good enough" and feed off the comments to give you the energy to push each new chapter until you reach that elusive goal of finishing a story? Was helping me with mine until I realized I was writing more about myself than I realized... Now I need to pick that steam back up again. Life's settled back into a routine of a sort again, if a bit new of one.
Abigail Drew.
Abigail Drew.
Thanks, Abigail
That's actually a good tip, and I've used it before to overcome my procrastination. When I have a deadline, pressure to get done, it gets me off my ass doing it. And I usually surprise myself by doing good work in such cases. It surprises me because I hate deadlines and being under pressure. But I often do my best work "at the last minute". It's more stressful, though, of course, and I tried to avoid doing things that way once out of college. :P
Lisa
Satan in Satin
Oops, that was Katie who didn't get the Satin joke. For some reason, I thought it was you when I made that post above. Doh. Sorry.
Lisa "I failed Reading Comprehension" Danielle
Writing can be hard work.
Oh, I completely understand how draining it can be. Recently I wrote a scene in which the same thing had happened in real life. It is very hard to relive trauma from our past.
Hope you feel better.
Gwendolyn
tissue
sending a whole box. take care.
robert
Come on Nancy
Its hard not to be affected by the things that we write sometimes. It is also good to have a good cry occasionally as it gives us relief from our emotions.
I quite often get wrapped up in my stories and sometimes I get upset. Other times, things get me down and I have wondered why I actually bothered to get up in the morning. But then I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.
The way I look at things is that you can't change the past and today might be c***py. Tomorrow is another day and I always hope that the new day might bring something nice.
Lets hope tomorrow is a brighter and better day for you.
Hugs
Sue
My writing sometimes moves others to tears.
a five year old could do better but, when I read other people's writing, I've always got a good supply of multipacks of tissues, which I purchase like they're going out of fashion.
The study floor can get wet and slippery very quickly.
A spare keyboard or two in the cupboard is handy, too.
S.
safety valve
Nancy having a good cry is like letting the steam out of a boiler ,it is called a pressure release valve .
the human brain is no different, So girl let the tears flow and have a good nights sleep and greet the morning with a smile on your face :)
PS I love your latest story, Love Hugs ,Roo
ROO
ROO
Know what ya mean
got a sore nose too from wiping it.
Angharad
Angharad