Is it true, in order to become a great writer, you have to spend many years living in isolation?

Answer 1

No, in fact I would argue that doing so would at the very least make you a WORSE writer (and, at most, it would kill you due to drug overdose, alcohol poisoning, or suicide as many isolated writers tend to fall victim to).

I think it would impede your writing because you really would no longer have material to feed your writing. Even if you aren't writing about your own life, details from the world around you can, and should, manage to seep in. The color of a friend's hair, the pattern of a sweater, an anecdote someone told over dinner-- your life experience helps provide the details that make writing great and realistic.

Go out there and live life!

Answer 2

Hola Minkus... personally, I am able to concentrate better after spending a few hours in isolation... and my writing reflects that. Over the long-term, however, I'm not sure whether isolation fosters genius, because much of what I write is inspired by experiences I've had, which requires past interaction with the "outside world". But that's just me. I would suggest reading biographies/autobiographies of the writers/poets you respect most to see what kind of lives they lived.

Answer 3

No. You'd just end up miserable and lonely--good material for writing, perhaps, but it's not necessary to "suffer" for art. To become a great writer, you have to write and write and write. People think there's some big secret to becoming a great writer, when really all a person needs is discipline and the willingness to practice (and fail along the way, and learn from those mistakes).

Answer 4

Where did you get THAT idea??? LOL

In order to become a great writer (too strong a word, BTW: No one is GREAT. Each of us are just GOOD at what we do!), you have to do lots of reading into your favorite genre, and then embark on years of dedicated literary experiments known as poems, stories, and novels.

The process takes time and effort.

But if you lived in isolation, you wouldn't KNOW what to write because your mind is deprived of ideas, thoughts, and imagination.

You need to be exposed to the outside world in order to generate good storylines.

Answer 5

James Joyce sure thought so. So did Matthew Arnold. So did Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.... Poe lived in seclusion because he was an opium addict. Melville lived in seclusion because he couldn't make any money on his writing and was depressed. Twain hated being alone. So did Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde. Hemingway loved being in the wilderness, hunting and fishing, but he also loved hanging out in bars and going to parties. Fitzgerald loved parties of any kind. Lillian Helman liked seclusion, but found herself constantly surrounded by people so did she really? Marian Robinson built herself a room with padded walls and one door with a lock only she had the key for, so she could be totally alone. Virginia Woolfe wrote that a woman needs only a room of her own, not that a woman needed to be isolated. Emily Dickinson lived in almost total isolation. Elizabeth Barret Browning was kept like a prisoner by her father until she was in her early 40s, when Robert Browning rescued Elizabeth like a knight rescues a princess. They got married but were sadly only together a short time, then Elizabeth died. She wrote during her brief happy years that she loathed isolation. Percey Shelley hated being alone but Mary Shelley wrote that she enjoyed it, but that was after Percy had died and she was left with a bunch of kids and no way to care for them.

So I'd say that as a blanket statement, the answer is no. Give me specifics and that answer might change. Here's a thought, though, if you aren't at least partially isolated how will you find the time to write and the quiet to form your ideas????????

Answer 6

No. Completely false. You do need some time alone, just to concentrate on the writing, but to be in complete isolation, you'd more than likely go crazy. Best interest would be to continue interaction with the population and use those interactions to write from. That doesn't mean everything you write will be fiction, it just means it will have a sense of reality in it.

Answer 7

No. Some writers do that to try and lessen the writers block most writers suffer at some point. I have had writers block, and it sucks! But, it always comes together in the end.

Answer 8

No, you don't have to live in isolation, but you may have to find a quiet place to do your work, (like a library or something). To be a writier though, you MUST be a reader. Writers are readers, and readers make leaders, or good ones that is.

Answer 9

In order to be a great writer you have to write and write and write and write.

Oh yes, and read a lot of the kind of stuff you want to write.

If you isolate yourself you won't have much to write about.

PF

Answer 10

You may require a quiet place in which to do your writings. Other than that, your talent will weigh out as to how successful you will be. You need positive contacts in your life to replenish your thoughts. Don't block yourself away. Refresh yourself daily by just being yourself and follow the flow, let God lead your life. Read Psalm 35 to (Plead My Cause) - It is long-winded and quite worthwhile. Remember this, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31. Peace and God Bless.