“How do you feel about the “tortured artist” stereotype, as often applied to writers/authors?”
Maybe I’m a shallow person, but I’ve never really felt tortured by my writing. I enjoyed every moment of it. I live in a small town, and all of the people I know have been very nice about my writing. I don’t even have a lot of troll reviews. I didn’t make a national bestseller list, but that’s okay. I wrote for my own pleasure. It was only a bonus that lots of people liked my work.
I wonder if some of those tortured writers, poets, and artists had put so much of themselves into their work that it eventually caused them to have emotional or mental problems. I write romance, which I don’t think is anything like Ernest Hemingway, for example.
Some of the tortured people weren’t too highly regarded until after their death. That might have made a difference in the way they viewed life. And truly, I think some of the people just happened to be mentally unstable people with much talent.
I’ve known one tortured writer personally. This person’s angst was of her own making. I won’t say what happened, but things were bad for a while.
So that’s the short version of the subject. I wish every artist could enjoy a nice experience as they go through life, but I doubt that will ever be the case. Have you ever known a tortured writer or artist? If so, what did you think was the problem with him/her?
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