how do writers/artists feel--compared to the average person?

Question

if you're an artist or a writer, do you feel things differently than most people? if you're stuck around ppl who define themselves as "realists" all the time, why does it feel so lonely? do artists or writers feel 'different' than the average person??? anyone else feel this way? explain...best detailed answer gets 10 pts! thanks!

Answer 1

The guy above me clearly has an unbeatable detailed answer, but regardless... my two cents..
I would say that I feel things on a deeper level. I see things that other people don't see. I am painfully aware of my surroundings. I am constantly reminded of how UN-observant others really are. I feel misunderstood a lot (the misunderstood artist, how cliche but true). I am passionate and driven.
But this isn't to say that normal "average" people don't feel the same way, I would just say that they must feel it to a lesser extent.
I wouldn't say that I am ever surrounded by "realists" because being a realist implies that one is truthful. I can see the nipple on all their unpure souls (maybe another symptom of being a writer). But I do surround myself with non artistic or creative people (maybe it's a fear of knowing someone better than me), and I can say that during creative peaks I feel most alone. They find it hard to understand why sometimes my day needs to come to a sudden halt in order to write something down. They really don't understand any of my motives or inspirations.
I feel very different than the average person. But what is average anyways? Can't I be a writer AND average? Can't I be creative and normal? You must not understand me either.
This is why there are so many reclusive writer/artists.
I now feel the need to create.

Answer 2

Well, just up front: I don't know how "other people feel." The fact that an artist can create something that seems to move many people in great ways lends truth to the idea that we all share many emotions and "work" in the same sort of ways; but ultimately I only know what it's like to be "me," and I'm just assuming that others have similar experiences.

Anyway, I think the most profound artists:
* "see" what currently is invisible to most people or does not yet exist but could.
* they are sensitive to possibilities, to people's emotions and motivations.
* they can distill the large themes out of life experiences, themes that are similar for every person no matter their personality (and thus these artists are relevant to what it means to human).

I do okay with realists, but they can frustrate me sometimes because they don't "see" outside the box. I'm what I would call a "realistic idealist" -- I'm totally aware of what will probably happen and can deal with events as they unfold (I have been disappointed enough life, and think logically enough), but I also have a keen sense of what is possible in a situation and think it is often worth pursuing whether it's likely to succeed or not.

Some artists (usually the solo/introverted kind) can end up feeling very lonely. The craft (writing or drawing) usually is solitary in nature; much time is spent alone to begin with. The artist often is observing life, rather than living it. And many people also live in the moment, rather than standing back to distill big ideas from their experiences, so the artist feels very much set apart -- which s/he both loves (because it gives special identity)and hates (because it isolates).

I remember being miserable when I was a kid, at least in the sense of fitting in. I was fine being alone, because the world was open for exploration and I had lots of freedom by myself; but as soon I had to deal with people, it was clear that few of my peers at that age cared about the larger meaning or deeper experiences of life.

To me, they were already caught up in shallow pursuits (where they would go saturday night, who was cute and who wasn't, which team would win the football game, what was on tv, and so on). I couldn't identify with them, nor vice versa. I was into the meaning of life, and my own mortality and the passage of time was very obvious to me.

The thing is, the experience of alienation as a kid sets us up to experience it as an adult, even when we don't have to. Most of my adulthood has been spent realizing that I'm still part of the human race, that I can actually fit in in some ways, that I have something to contribute that the kids who were now adults find valuable, and that often the rejection I thought I was experiencing as an adult was me reading far too much into people's comments and reactions.

It's okay for me to be as different as I am, and some people value me for that; and if someone else doesn't, well, it no longer matters. I don't need to understood or accepted by everyone to still have a claim on being a human being, as much as they have their own claim.

Artist or not, we're all human and bound together at some level.

(And realists keep the "world running" so that I can see and share what they cannot.)

Answer 3

I guess I don't compare my self. That's why I will sit next to a lonely street person, or even one that wants to talk and strike up a conversation. Or have a great time with kids doing what they like and talking about subject their interested in. I love going out to lunch with the older crowd, as well as younger crowd from church. Even as a christian I can't think any one is higher or lower then me, we all make mistakes, we can all learn from one another if we are open.

Answer 4

no. i like to be alone and create. i make a very good living and my family is well cared for. i cannot do other types of employment because i hate it so much i literally get sick. i feel as though most people are miserable and unhappy with what they do. they have let themselves get to the point where gossip and other undesirable traits are acceptable as being part of the job. i will not compromise my morals any longer. i teach my children to stand up for what they believe even if it means being an outsider at times

Answer 5

My art and my writing give me ways to express myself and help me to gain a much better understanding of myself and my place in the world. Its important to remember that what makes anartist is not the craft of creating something but using that craft to bring out from inside what has developed from a deep observation and experience of life.

Answer 6

i love to write song lyrics and i am also working on a couple of books at the moment. i THINK i know what you mean. when i am writing, it is like i am sucked in to whatever adventure or senario i am creating and if i am really on a role, i just don't notice what is going on around me. and my friends are like 'you need to get back to the real world!' and i am like-yeah i am, i just like loosing myself sometimes in something else. but they just don't get it! and it is sooo frustrating because they are on amout living in the 'real world' and getting 'serioud' and you just want to scream because you can't explain it unless you have experienced it yourself. so most of my 'friends' now currently think that i am a slightly loopy recluse...

ah well there loss.




that help?

Answer 7

i feel like i see things in a completely different way than my counterparts and that i feel things on a deeper level than most of the people i have ever known.