Last night, I was in a particularly bad mood. I'm one of those nighttime depressees. Come daylight, I'm fine. I cried and I didn't try fighting it. {this is NOT easy for me to admit. I hate crying, especially when I'm caught, but I needed the example} I knew I'd feel better once I was done. And I did feel better. At least a little. After that, I got my notebook from off the floor, turned to a new page, and started writing. It's a new poem, on my WDC. "The Hunter." It's not about what was wrong, not entirely anyway, but it was something I had been wanting to write.
My best writer friend, Lacey, writes when she's in a bad mood and in need of therapy. After a few sessions, she feels better. Writing has proven therapeutic for many.
But what about when it has the opposite effect?
Back in July, when I first started the current draft, something odd happened. It was a conversation between Naren (our protagonist) and Alandra (the antagonist). Naren was annoyed. Incredibly annoyed. I started getting annoyed. I was thinking, "Why doesn't Naren just kill her now and get it over with?"
Whoa. Back up! I was getting annoyed at what I was writing? In hindsight, it makes sense. I've cried (oh, dang, I'm just admitting to it a lot tonight, aren't I?) several times when I was writing. Just ask my friend, Amanda. She's caught me crying while I was writing! When my characters were happy, I was happy. When they were sad, so was I. When they were angry, I was angry. When they didn't know how to feel, neither did I.
I don't know if this is necessarily a good thing, though. Yes, it's good that I can get under my characters' skins, but is it good for my feelings to be affected as well? I'm supposed to feel better after a good write, not like I want to kill someone.
But I'm certain I'm not the only one.
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