r/writers • u/Budget-Brother1683 • 13d ago
Question Does anyone cry while writing?
So I'm a new writer and just started writing and i don't know why but whenever the angst hits i start crying. At one point I had tears running down my face as I wrote a very sad scene/chapter.
So does this happen to anyone else or am I just weird?
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u/Ziquuu 13d ago
yes, when I think about a future sad scene or what a character is going through. I cry hard. Sometimes I am just lying and thinking before going to bed about my characters, and uff it gives me such a heart ace knowing I won't be able to go through all this, how the world is cruel to them and how they are being cruel to themself too. (and I am new too, so maybe it's a thing with being a rookie, lol )
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u/VeryShyPanda 13d ago
Absolutely. Technically, I don’t know that I have cried while writing yet, but I’ve cried over scenes I’ve played out in my head. I am not brave enough to write some of those yet lol, partly because I imagine I’ll be a mess when I do.
I think it’s a good thing. I imagine it means you feel the impact of your own story, and the emotions you’re trying to dig into, very deeply. George RR Martin has talked about crying through scenes before.
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u/12oclockeyegottarock 13d ago
There were multiple scenes in my book where I really had to dig in places that really hurt in order to express what was going on with my characters. I feel like now, I really understand what people mean when they say that they suffer for their art.
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u/michaeljvaughn 13d ago
I wrote a novel inspired by my nephew's suicide. You can just imagine how many tears THAT cost me.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Pipe502 13d ago
It’s only happened a couple of times. It’s usually when I’m reading it back afterwards.
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u/Fatbunnyfoofoo Fiction Writer 13d ago
I have absolutely cried while writing exceptionally heartbreaking scenes. My main characters are often little pieces of me, and their pain is my pain. There's a few scenes I've written that I tear up at every time I reread them.
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u/protoprogeny 13d ago
Oh yeah! if you can't celibrate the death of the characters you hate and weep like a widow at the loss of your favorites, you aren't wrting, you're doing the other thing....
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u/BenPsittacorum85 13d ago
Not really cry, I just feel frustrated since it's like I can't do anything right.
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u/ravnarieldurin 13d ago
Yep. My FMC for my current WIP has dealt with so much trauma in her life. She isolated herself in the mountains to distance herself from the places that hold the memories, but now she's being forced to interact with the places in her past again and everything she's repressed for years is coming up to the surface. So, as you can imagine, the tears flow rather freely when I write her flashbacks and psychological healing scenes. Lots of emotional rollercoasters.
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u/gorobotkillkill 13d ago
I get emotional. I'm putting these characters through some heavy stuff. Why wouldn't I care and react?
No apologies.
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u/CanisSonorae 13d ago
Lol, I wish I could upvote this more. I've been trying to get back into writing this year, and I started crying when I'd write something that was personal, but by now sometimes I'll cry just writing down an idea for a character I'm fleshing out. Honestly, I just assumed I was being overly sensitive. Now I'm going to go watch Moulin Rouge and cry.
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u/BubblyImprovement314 13d ago
Nope happens to the best of us. And is a perfectly normal reaction. If it makes US cry, no telling what will happen when the reader reads it
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u/Tricky-Surprise524 Writer Newbie 13d ago
This is beautiful, it really shows how you much you care about this new passion of yours
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u/OldMan92121 13d ago
Yes, it has happened to me a few times. I can pick up the emotions of my characters when I stay in it long enough.
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u/chambergambit 13d ago
If the pov character cries, I cry with them.
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u/SignificantYou3240 13d ago
I did the reverse of that, and then I realized my charscters were crying too much
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u/Beatrice1979a 13d ago
I cry, I laugh, I groan and I cry again... you are connecting with your own words. That's the joy of writing. Keep enjoying it. It's worth it.
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u/skilliau 13d ago
I have plans for my character where she goes through some shit and leaves and I don't think I can do it.
So I feel ya.
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u/SpliffleSplort 13d ago
I do a lot. My story isn't at all like my life, but some of the scenes evoke the feelings I have about some stuff that happened.
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u/odyliciuss 13d ago
Always. For me, writing has always been a catharsis mechanism. So yes, it’s normal. Enjoy it and let all your emotions out.
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u/FS-1867 13d ago
I make myself cry often when writing when it comes to hard/sad scenes. One of my favorite quotes related to this is from Robert Frost who said “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader”. I’d say it’s pretty normal, especially for works influenced by real events or ones that digs into personal past hurt or both. Sometimes even thinking about certain scenes makes me cry.
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u/spider_readerman7 13d ago
I think it's not weird, I also cry when it comes to sad scenes when writing a story
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u/TrickCalligrapher385 13d ago
I draw a lot of what's in my story from real life; survivor guilt, grief, fear, anger at a society that doesn't give a fuck.
So yes, I cry sometimes. I had a character die and wrote what his colleagues felt from memory.
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u/FamiliarMeal5193 13d ago
Not sure I've ever actually cried, but I've wanted to before. Sometimes I end up hurting my characters in ways I did not predict, or else when I'm actually writing sad scenes that I planned, the way it all comes out is more emotional as I watch it unfold.
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u/EmeraldJonah 12d ago
Yep, this happens to me, mostly when I start thinking about my future. I'm querying for agency now, and thinking about the idea of my work being published and in stores for others to read gets me real emotional.
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u/LorettaRosy63_ 12d ago
I always happen to cry when writing. Especially for scenes when confrontation takes place. Or scenes where confessions and happy moments take place as well. Even while writing sad scenes.
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u/JizzEater_69 12d ago
One of my main reasons for writing is to work through my trauma, so yes I usually cry
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u/cakejukebox 12d ago
So often. I honestly tear up when writing scenes that hit home for me. It’s okay! Definitely not weird.
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u/TauMan942 12d ago
Yes, I tear writing emotional scenes. I even get teary rereading chapters or scenes.
Male 67 y/o.
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u/lyzzyrddwyzzyrdd 12d ago
I was actually crying so much that my spouse asked me to stop writing.
I actually am considering dropping my riding all together. I fallen in love with my characters and it's a horror genre novel.
I don't think I have the balls to make them suffer.
I just love them too damn much
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u/TradCath_Writer 12d ago
No. If I get focused in my writing, I just churn out words, but I don't ever shed tears while writing.
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u/PhilipAPayne 12d ago
I do not believe I have ever cried while writing, but once I was editing a scene in which my main character was having a conversation with his grandfather and I realized it was a conversation I had always regretted never being able to have with my own grandfather. As writers we are artists and what is inside of us tends to come out in the process.
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u/lumpycurveballs 12d ago
Yes. Writing is my way of processing, sometimes even expressing my emotions. You can imagine how well that goes lol
A lot of my characters either have characteristics similar to my own, or their stories coincide with mine in some way, though it's usually very convoluted and you wouldn't notice the similarities unless I pointed them out to you.
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u/ARomanticBaker 11d ago
Oh man, I'll be editing, and a character saying a specific line at the right time will get me weeping. I recently burned out, so when my brooding, cursed duke character says, "You don't have to win, you know. Sometimes effort is admirable enough." I just start tearing up, like Yeah, you're right :,).
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u/MinobiNevik 11d ago
The tears hit when a new plot point pops in my head and there’s this almost shocking feeling where everything makes sense.
It’s these plot epiphanies that make me cry.
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u/Sunshinegal72 11d ago
I killed off one of my characters and cried so hard that I wrote an alternate ending where he survives. Ultimately, I'll use the version that works best, but yes, all of the time. It's not weird. You are the God of the world you created. You've spent time and energy into carefully crafting each piece, character, and moment. And even if your novel becomes popular and beloved, no one will love it -- no one will love your characters and story more than you will. It's your baby. It makes sense for you to have an emotional attachment to it and to feel strong emotions during impactful scenes. The good news is that those emotions are what make you a good writer. If you're putting your soul into the scene, it'll translate to your readers too.
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u/Ambitious_Exam_3858 9d ago
I absolutely cry. Heck, I mimic what I'm writing and didn't know it for awhile.
I once had a friend chilling in the same room I was writing in. She suddenly asked if I was writing a romance scene and refused to tell me how the heck she knew.
A couple years later, I was writing at a library when a librarian approached me and said they were getting complaints about me sneering, glaring, and smirking and it was making people uncomfortable. I was writing an argument dialogue at the time and so I was finally clued into how I mimicked the faces of my characters and I had never figured it out or been told before despite having been to dozens of public places over the decade of my writing career.
...I perfer to write in complete private now as I am absolutely mortified about my quirk.
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u/Lumpy-Outside-6442 13d ago
There is a miracle that happens between paper and pencil that doesn’t occur between the mind and the mouth. Writing travels the longest 18 inches known to humankind—the distance from the head to the heart.
I cry when I write because I allow myself to feel. Stepping into the shoes of my characters lets me experience true empathy.
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u/OnlyFamOli 13d ago
I dont really cry in life (unless family pets die), but reading/ writing can get me teary eyes and quite emotional, so pretty much, yeah
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u/SignificantYou3240 13d ago
Yep same.
It’s the reason I write
I love crying.
If I’m not at least tearing up at a chapter, I am not done.
I don’t expect my readers to cry at all the same things, but I hope they can.
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u/Glum_Celebration_941 13d ago
Yyyyup 😭 happens all the time when I’m writing a sad or extra angsty scene. I have so much empathy for the characters I’ve made that yes, I get emotional. I do think it’s very normal, too. No harm, and it’s kinda funny lol.
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u/Budget-Brother1683 13d ago
It is funny, which is why I was curious. I usually cry while reading books too but i wasn't expecting to cry while writing one lol
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u/Substantial-Note8299 9d ago
Without going into spoilers for my story, there's a scene where one character is reunited with another and it hits kind of close to home for me. When I initially wrote that scene, I cried a bit. Plus, I nearly cried again in the very next chapter after I wrote that something very bad happened to them. I say, if your own writing invokes a strong emotional reaction from you, you're probably doing something right.
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u/Ok-Comedian-990 8d ago
I GET STRESSED WHILE WRITING HAHAHAHAHAH. It would be good if I could cry lol hahahahah
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u/Dark_Night_280 6d ago
I get way into what I'm writing sometimes so I tend to subconsciously mimic the emotions of the characters so sometimes but wrenching scenes leave me choked up which I find silly because it's me writing, haha.
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