The Couch
We sometimes joke on this blog about sitting down on the Couch for some analysis.
Well, the Couch is comfy tonight.
Most writers I know are, generally, more intense than the rest of the population. We live in other worlds. We are constantly thinking--off in some other place. And more than a fair share I've met are screwed up. Maybe more than the general population, maybe not. They are alcoholics. Potheads. Messing up marrige number four (you know who you are). They are, sometimes, working through trauma in their writing. It's a version of the Couch.
Lily's ex-husband in Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? He generally goes by Spawn of Satan, or, affectionately, "Spawn" for short. Hmm . . . yeah, I get that one.
The drill sergeant run over by the the dad in the in The Roofer after hijacking a bus? Uh . . . I don't think Dad will mind me saying . . . true.
Now these little tidbits of real life are not to be confused with what I refer to, as an editor, as The Revenge Book. Those are books so dense with anger and hatred, in which the writer has gained no distance, so it's this toxic soup of dysfunctional crap. They REALLY need the Couch.
But yeah, I think it can be said that for a lot of us, there are tiny elements here and there of working things out on the pages.
So . . . you need a spot on the Couch?
Dr. Freud is in.
Well, the Couch is comfy tonight.
Most writers I know are, generally, more intense than the rest of the population. We live in other worlds. We are constantly thinking--off in some other place. And more than a fair share I've met are screwed up. Maybe more than the general population, maybe not. They are alcoholics. Potheads. Messing up marrige number four (you know who you are). They are, sometimes, working through trauma in their writing. It's a version of the Couch.
Lily's ex-husband in Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? He generally goes by Spawn of Satan, or, affectionately, "Spawn" for short. Hmm . . . yeah, I get that one.
The drill sergeant run over by the the dad in the in The Roofer after hijacking a bus? Uh . . . I don't think Dad will mind me saying . . . true.
Now these little tidbits of real life are not to be confused with what I refer to, as an editor, as The Revenge Book. Those are books so dense with anger and hatred, in which the writer has gained no distance, so it's this toxic soup of dysfunctional crap. They REALLY need the Couch.
But yeah, I think it can be said that for a lot of us, there are tiny elements here and there of working things out on the pages.
So . . . you need a spot on the Couch?
Dr. Freud is in.
posted by Erica Orloff at 6:37 PM
8 Comments:
I need a spot!
I've had a rough day--a rough week--and ended up hurting someone I care very deeply for.
What can I do, Dr. Freud, to tell her how sorry I am?
Is there any hope for me?
This post has been removed by the author.
Jude:
I think this is why we are writers. We channel our "stuff"--good and bad--into the page. Write as medicine.
E
Ha! I love little tidbits like the bus story. Whether fact, or embellished fact, they somehow ring truer.
In 'the book under the bed' I have a highly successful, respected veterinarian as a secondary. He's had a problem with mice and red squirrels in his luxurious, rural post and beam home, so he sits down one night with a .22 and a bottle of scotch and blows the little suckers off the rafters. Blowing numerous holes in his roof in the process.
The vet was my uncle Harry. An otherwise normal man, pushed beyond his limit for various reasons.
I've never written a revenge book, but I do know by times I've worked things out on the pages. But hey, I'm a freakin' Pollyanna...I try to take the negativity and give it a positive spin. Hmm, perhaps I'm writing fairy tales more than commercial fiction.
Better sign me up for next weeks session right now!
Hi Lainey:
I know . . . truth twisted into fiction is always or often somehow more edgy or real.
And your uncle . . . I don't wish shooting animals on anyone while drunk . . . but the STORY of it is priceless, fiction-wise.
E
Thanks, Dr. Freud. :)
I just finished a new blogpost about inner conflict, and it did actually help a bit.
I always feel better when I write.
I always need The Couch after reading reviews (both positive and negative) or my Amazon stats. But since I've been avoiding both and focusing on other stuff, I'm good for now!
Mary C.
mary:
Yeah, I liken that to being in the bathroom in junior high and overhearing girls gossiping about you. It's a weird fly-on-the-wall feeling.
E
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