Writing Honestly: The Case for Tortured Artists
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
It takes something special to write a great novel. It takes something beyond writing craft, beyond competence, beyond anything that can be taught or learned. Every great novel is full of profound truths and wisdoms masquerading as fiction, sheep in wolves clothing. At the end of the day, a novel’s greatness is judged by the truths and wisdoms it gives us and not by the plot, pacing, style or any other story element.
But how do great writers find these truths and wisdoms. How do they discover these subtle and bold epiphanies that stun us, warn us, teach us things we knew but did not recognize? Where do they find this capacity to write so deeply and honestly?
Living. Loving. Suffering.
If my man Thoreau is right, and I believe he is, writers find these truths from lives lived fully and terribly. From blunders and errors: bitter divorces, one night stands with ponies, investments in Enron, lifesavings with Madoff, affairs with balding neighbors, soul killing day jobs, alcohol. From pain: dead lovers, hernias, healthy and unfaithful spouses, cancer, heartbreak, liver disease. From Joy: the birth of a child, intertwined fingers at dusk, hours cuddled with a favorite novel, lottery winnings, family (on thanksgiving at least), fulfillment.
From living, loving and suffering.
We learn truths and wisdoms from those emotions. The intensity of feeling itself is profound and when we write during these times and experiences, that intensity seeps through our fingers and pens onto the page. I truly believe that when a widowed writer writes of loss it is greater thing than when a writer of equal skill but less personal experience writes about it. The same holds true for every other emotion, thought and epiphany.
The Tortured Artist
There has been a backlash against the tortured artist archetype. Using strong emotions like anger, sadness and euphoria to fuel one’s creativity is now passe and unnecessary. Writing while depressed or drunk is for the old school writers, for the Cheevers of the day.
I beg to differ.
Fydor Dostoevsky, Kurt Cobain, Sylvia Plath, Hemmingway, Beethoven, Tennessee Williams, Vincent van Gogh; these are the models upon which the tortured artist is based. Yes, they were all great artists. Yes, they committed suicide or died in physical, financial or mental ruin.
But the issues that plagued these artists, low self esteem, terrible health, heartbreak, depression, domineering parents, alcoholism and post traumatic stress disorder, are all human issues. People who can’t write, draw, sing, play, dance or paint to save their lives go through these same issues and God help them all. These are not symptoms of the tortured artist, these are symptoms of our fragile humanity.
A Creative Opportunity
The truth is always better, always greater when it comes from a writer’s gut and not from the mind. I do not encourage anyone to stay sad or angry for creativity’s sake. I do not encourage anyone to drink or use drugs for creativity’s sake (Snoop Dog and T.I are exempt). I do not encourage suffering or love for creativity’s sake.
But if you are sad or angry, If you’re in love, in consume the universe love, peace like a river love, If you drank a peg or ten to douse some pain, If you flung your legs and your heart wide open in error, if you know loss by its other, secret names, If your dreams stand before you realized, use it. Write down the truth, capture it to enrich others, and maybe, just maybe you’ll find some catharsis in the process.
Use it.
What say you on the matter? Do you think personal experience makes a writer’s work better?
[UPDATE]: This post on Latent Lucia is a wonderful example of what it means to use one’s emotions and state of mind to fuel creativity. Katarina’s writing is profoundly honest.
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Join The Conversation
I absolutely agree. I love that quote by Thoreau. I think that people generally take the author more seriously if they have experience to back up their work. But there is such a huge range of emotions out there … I don’t think that the author needs to necessarily be “tortured” or “depressed.” I’m reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen right now, and there are so many little details about suburban life and about marriage that are spot-on. There is just such a broad range of experience in life, and I love when an author can capture that.
Hey Ingrid,
I’m reading Freedom too! Just started yesterday and I’m loving it so far. You’re right about all the details Franzen captures (volvo overdrives had me rolling on the floor).
We know Franzen is not a Patty and yet he captures her and that place so well. The ability to observe life and capture it correctly is one of a writer’s biggest assets and Franzen is a master of putting himself in other people’s shoes. IMO this ability is only second to feeling the emotions oneself, or living the life onself. Imagine someone like Patty with Franzen’s skills writing this novel, how much more profound would it be? Methinks a lot.
What do you think of Freedom so far? Does the rest of the novel hold up to that brilliant beginning?
So far, it definitely does. I’m only on page 170, but it just seems to get better and better the further I read. I loved the gossipy neighbors and controversial bumper stickers. Haha. I think I read for like three straight hours yesterday.
Lol, good ol Blake and his truck eh? Good to know it keeps up, that opening was so just genius. I felt kinda happy (for reading such good work) and sad (for being a writer of much less powers) reading it. Can’t wait to get home and pick it up tonight.
I totally know how you feel. I’m reorganizing my day so I get school stuff done sooner so I’ll be able to come home early and read!
Lol…we’re hooked.
Oj, I have to read Freedom I guess… thank you, thank you, thank you Mayowa for this post! It could not have come in ANY better day for me, cos this day was full of embarrassing emotions shown to the public, but I refuse to feel anything but relief. I didn’t know either if I should continue pouring it out on my blog, but ha, I sort of feel like the tortured artist today and it feels kinda nice! I beg to differ too, but I agree with you. Harmony is boring, no evolution comes from status quo. When I am 89 I will know that I was only human on this planet…
Lol, everyone (and their third cousins) is reading Freedom right now. I usually don’t like to be counted among the many (yes, i have issues lol), but this novel is amazing so far.
Where and how to express emotions (blogs, manuscripts, poetry, publicly or privately) are harder to say for sure. That they should be captured and expressed I think is part of what we (as writers and artists) do. I hope your day is going better by now :)
ps: Harmony/happiness, contentment, peace; these can all be used to fuel creativity too. It doesn’t have to be negative emotions, only honest ones. Having said that, I just read your post for today and some what you feel seeped through your fingers, onto the internets and touched me. Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by.
“these are symptoms of our fragile humanity”. Sweet.
As for Thoreau…. 19th c. Transcendentalist writers are my specialty area so I have a soft spot for any quote by my Concord crowd.
“Transcendentalist writers” – I had absolutely no clue what that meant. Had to use “the google.” Now that i’ve booked up a bit, may I say that is bloody impressive! That would be like me saying string theory was my specialty hehe.
So, are you and Ralph Waldo Emerson like bffs or what? lol
Absolutly – me, Ralph Waldo and Stephen Hawking – we’re like blood.
Dude…you are out of control. LMFAO!
HA!…blood indeed! I hope there’s some sort of sign you guys throw up (like when someone yells Weesssttiiiidddeee!). Are you going to read The Grand Design?
Over and over again, what my critique readers have said was my best work invariably was that which either had brought me to tears while writing or moved me deeply in some other way. Was it easy to write while tears were flowing down my face or, even, while I was laughing uproariously? Not really. But it turns out I had done exactly what you suggest here, to use whatever deep human experiences we have as fodder for our writing.
Way to go, Judy.
I’ve probably been fooled a bunch of times, but I like to think I can spot when a writer is writing. And I think most readers (like your critique readers for example) can too. It’s a win win within moderation IMO.
Thanks for stopping by.
I don’t disagree with what you are saying. Personal experience can definitely mean a great work of art, but I don’t think that the author necessarily has to have the experience of what they are writing for it to be amazing.
Agreed!
I think I might need to write a follow up post to this one that talks about the best alternative to experiencing these things oneself…observing everything and drawing meaning from it. Thanks for the idea and for stopping by.
“Fydor Dostoevsky, Kurt Cobain, Sylvia Plath, Hemmingway, Beethoven, Tennessee Williams, Vincent van Gogh; these are the models upon which the tortured artist is based.” – And I love them all. The tortured artist is the best writer. And yes, life fuels writing. Honesty is a rare thing and can only be captured by first-hand experiences. What an excellent article. I’m going to cut and paste some of your quotes to remind me of what real writing consists of.
Glad you enjoyed it, Zee.