How stressful can writing be?

[mikesk11]

Is writing a stressful occupation? If we take Dorothy Parker’s famous quote: “And there was that poor sucker Flaubert rolling around on his floor for three days looking for the right word,” then it clearly is. And I must confess that this form of semantic amnesia has also piss*d me off on more than one occasion. Even more so now that senility is finally settling in. But I’ve never rolled on the carpet. Either Gustave was a chronic pedant with a short fuse or he was suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. Ironically, Hitler was also reputed to have rolled on the carpet when frustrated. Although he went one step further and chewed it up as well. Did he just devour the carpet or the underlay along with it? They don’t say. However, whilst Flaubert came up with some pretty good books, Hitler only managed “Mein Kampf.” Or, to be more precise, Mein Scheiss. So I suppose there’s a moral lesson there. If you’re a dictator who enjoys a bit of genocide you’re never going to turn into a famous author. No matter how many carpets you eat.

[Doubtcent]

Depending on how you want to share your work, either having it just as a hobby (like wordpress, wattpad, fanfiction.net, etc.) or being published fo-realz, writing can be stressful. It's like someone has given you a block of concrete and it is your job or hobby to crack it open for a small ounce of gold contained within. Depending on how one does it, if you have the proper tools and experience or if you just hit your head against it long enough, it is still a difficult task. It is said that anyone with a basic grasp of language can write, but not everyone can write well. Unless you're some sort of genius like Harper Lee, you will have to practice a lot in order to forge your tools. And in the process, it can be frustrating to not know how to put that awesome story in your head down on paper. But the more you write, the easier it can become. That scene that once took you two hours to wrap your head around can now be written in a breath and you can now worry about on the next scene.

So in some ways, writing is one of the most stressful occupations out there, but at the same time the easiest. It all depends on how long you're willing to write in your lifetime without expecting pay or expecting anyone to read it, if at all.

[teoferrazzi]

it's better than working in a coal mine
overall, not very stressful

[mikesk11]

I’ve been incredibly fortunate. For over 30 years I’ve been a published writer and all this with the bare minimum of talent. I haven’t amassed a fortune, mainly because most of my work was in comics. I had a foothold in TV and animation and if I’d had more financial acumen I could have been a hell of a lot richer than I am now. But no, like the Greek Sirens, comics drew me back. Yes, there is stress. Having to work to a publisher’s deadlines was stressful. But we need to remember that stress is relative. Writing is not as stressful as, say, working in bomb disposal. In my case the workload didn’t help. At one point I was working for 10 comics – and eight of these were weeklies. So I had to churn out well over a dozen stories each week. For over a dozen different story lines and characters! Fortunately they were only one to three pages in length. That was on top of being a gag writer, writing articles for a soft porn magazine and the occasional TV and radio work! But I love writing and I thrived on the stress. The only hiccup was at the start of my career when I wrote poetry and ended up with writer’s block. Since then I’ve played safe and never touched poetry

[mikesk11]

Yes, working in a coal mine can get you down.

[Strontium]

I like writing, but it is stressful. It takes a lot of work to write something good, and I find that most of the ideas I have for short stories are really very long and thus difficult to complete. I also have chronic tendonitis in my wrists, which writing aggravates more than drawing, and because I'm very invested in my webcomic I always prioritize working on the comic above doing any writing.

I still do like writing even if it is difficult. I'm an English major at school so I've taken writing classes and enjoyed them. I hope to write a YA novel someday.

[mikesk11]

I've run into that problem - short story but long idea! You have to be brutal and cut it down. It hurts, but these things have to to be done. No pain, no gain, right? LOL. Anyway, keep at it it.

[jonufele]

This post was flagged by the community and is temporarily hidden.

[mikesk11]

I too, have dabbled in artwork and I can concur with the above remarks. In fact, in my scripts I always tried to be kind to the artist who had to turn my feeble efforts into something worthwhile. This is because, after a wasted year at art school, I discovered that artwork requires more in the way of physical work. Whereas writers simply have to tap away at a keyboard, the poor artist must use an assortment of tools. Yes, writing is a walk in the park. In fact I recommend artists to write as well, just to provide themselves with some relaxation.

[DynamoToon]

It can be stressful when you suffer from writer's block. It happens quite often, if that happens just take a break. Your mind needs to rest before it can come up with good ideas.

[mikesk11]

The opposite can also be a nightmare! When you suffer from an over-active imagination and your head is constantly filled with ideas writers block can offer the sufferer an oasis of calm. The problem is, it never fu*king happens! LOL.

[gateofselidor]

I find that writing prose can be stressful, and it can take a long time, albeit not as long as drawing comic pages, but comic writing I find a lot less stressful. That's not to say it's easy, but it requires a lot less labour. It takes far less time to script a chapter than draw it, and I can do the writing in short bursts and take a break afterwards, whereas drawing requires me to sit down and do basically nothing else for hours. If I'm stuck on the writing, I have time to relax or think it over until I get it right, but if I do that for the drawing, the page will be late.