POLL: Are all writers depressed/depressing people?

I think many writers, including myself, are not outwardly expressive of our emotions, at least not to the point where we are told we "wear our hearts on our sleeves". It seems to me we channel a lot of our emotions into our writing, especially anger and melancholia, which is why when people read our work they think "Wow, this person has serious issues!".

As I've said before, negative emotions seem to inspire writers much more than positive ones. Throughout the history of literature darker themes have always been predominant over lighter themes. This is just the nature of creativity with these types of emotions. This is how writers are most comfortable expressing them. I don't necessarily think this makes us more prone to depressive moods, but when we do feel "down" and we reflect that in our work, it seems to be amplified in the eyes of those who read it.

I consider myself a writer (at least, I write) and I'm not depressed. But frustration and even sadness is something that comes from writing, because, as someone else said before me, you're not just feeling your own ups and downs, but your characters as well. I'm a very emotional person, I will admit, and I get worked up over stuff that maybe I shouldn't.

Does how writing is going for me effect my mood? I think so. Writing is, for people who are passionate about it, a form of release of their innermost self, and when all of a sudden something happens and that release gets up on hold, it gets all bottled up. I guess that's why I call Writer's Block a disease. You're being slowly tormented to death by the ideas that you can't write.

Haha, so yeah. Are all writers emotional people? I think so. Are they all depressed? I'm going to have to disagree with that one, although they certainly all can be depressed at different times.

Well I have a certain type of depression, but for different reasons. It's actually what made me want to write. I wanted to be alone, I wanted to make up my own world where I can be whoever I want, with no worries in the world. So I look to writing to satisfy my needs there.

I'm kind of happy I have it, and kind of upset. It's hard to say, but it rarely effects my writing. It brings out a darker side of the story sometimes, but usually it's just... there.

Hard to explain, but it normally worsens at night, after I've had a bad day, or a person really crushed my mood with a horrible comment about my writing.

I'm usually pretty happy, but the depression kind of sneaks out of nowhere, like it did about 20 minutes ago :\

I'm not depressed per say, but I'm definitely emotional and apt to go into "moods." Sometimes, I just need to be alone, and luckily my friends and my family all understand that.

I was actually thinking about the "all writers are lonely people" thing earlier today. I love writing. So much. I want to pursue it as a career more than anything. But I wouldn't want to become lonely because of it. My worst fear is to die alone. Just the thought of it makes me want to burst into tears (I'm actually getting a little bit teary just thinking about it now. Like I said, I'm extremely emotional :P). Sometimes, I push my writing aside to maintain my relationships. I'd never want to lose my friends and family for my writing. I think that writing would become significantly less enjoyable if I ever let that happen.

On the other hand, I do like to be alone sometimes. It's not that I can't be in social situations, it's just that I'm rather shy and awkward when I first meet people, and it's sort of hard for me to make friends. Luckily, most of my friends are the same way. :)

Fascinating that you bring this up because there is a certain stereotype that all writers are the "depressed" type. I do remember a study that was finding a link between depression and writers but the whole facts, I cannot recall.

But to say that all writers are depressed, I would have to disagree. This is a broad generalization of a profession, sort of like saying "all football players are muscle headed jocks with no brain" but alas, there are those individuals who are quite brainy.

Now to say that there aren't depressed writers would be foolish. Of course there are and there have been famous "depressed" writers such as Lord Byron, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, Tennessee Williams, and Ernest Hemingway just to name a few.

I believe the important part is that writers who get into a routine of staying shut in all the time will fall prey to this sort of mindset. How do I know? Well I was one of them. I fell into the depressed state but thanks to my wonderful husband, I got out of my stuff apartment building and wrote outside. I enjoy writing beside the pool, near a lake, there is also a nice horse pasture close by that I travel to to write. I try not to let the "demons" take hold of me and do enjoy things outside of writings but it is very tempting.

Well yeah, any writer would feel "depressed" if their manuscript got dissed-- same as any other artist. It's not just an insult to something they've made, but to them. It's too much emotional investment to not be sensitive about it.

As far as in general, it depends. I think a lot of artsy people, especially in such an idea centered art as writing, are just more thoughtful/self-aware by nature, and knowing/thinking too much can be depressing. I actually tend to think less of well adjusted writers if I haven't read anything by them yet, as their writing is usually pretty shallow.

"The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly." --J. D. Salinger

I don't think that a writer is more 'depressing' per say, I just think we're more difficult to satisfy. It's hard to ever feel fully satisfied with anything you've ever written. There's always something to change, to improve. When it comes to his own work, a writer must be a perfectionist.

It's easier to feel like a complete failure as a writer than as a complete success.

Overcome your Depression Without Medication

I believe they may not be all depressive, though some are. The thing about it is you have to have a lot of emotion to A) Get attatched to your characters, B) Immerse yourself in the story, and C) Let your emotions you want to express spill out over the page and into the reader's mind. That's all it is really, writing can be very hard and when you put time and effort into it and anything at all goes wrong it can be -heart wrenching-. Hope this helps your questioning!

Stressed, maybe, but not depressed..

Imagine the works and researches and polls and editing and etc etc a writer has to go through just to create a a piece of fiction. It's very stressing... :'(