Which Writers Suffered?

Question

When I doubt my ability to succeed as a writer, or when I'm depressed, I sometimes read "Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul." Knowing that others have experienced hardships--and more importantly, have overcome them--strenghtens me. And, it provides perspective.

Alex Haley was once so depressed by the continual rejection letters he'd received, he considered plunging into the ocean. Marcel Proust nearly withered away in a hotel bed in Paris after his mother, with whom he was extremely close, died. Fyodor Dostoevsky was exiled to Siberia for six years, faced a firing squad, and was forced to serve in the military for five years after his release.

I've thought about writing a book about the obstacles writers have overcome; I think it would inspire writers and non-writers alike. I know it would help me. So, my question is this: which writers overcame difficult circumstances?

Answer 1

A lot of writers have overcome hardships. For example,
Stephen King had a drug and alcohol addiction for years.
Most writers have some form of Bipolar disorder so they are
all like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Unfortunately some writers don't make it. Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf
and Robert E. Howard all committed suicide.

Answer 2

I don't know of any writer who went through and overcome difficulties, well Virginia Woolfe drawned herself. However, i've read this about being a writer that might help. If the first thing that comes to your head when you wake up in the morning is writing, then you are meant to be a writer. However long your writer's block, however much rejection letters you get. If writing a book that would let it all out for you is what waters your mouth, you ARE meant to be a writer. Remember that you just don't write the perfect book. You polish your writing into perfection.

Good luck.

A wanna be writer such as yourself

Answer 3

I agree that most, if not all, writers have difficulties and have received rejections. Even J.K. Rowling received tons of rejections before her agent was able to sell her first Harry Potter story.

Answer 4

Oscar Wilde suffered a lot. He was imprisoned for about two years in England, his home country, because he was homosexual. After that he died in exile, in Paris in total loneliness.

Answer 5

All of them.

No author has it easy, one of the hardest career paths you can take, but it's worth it.

That's why whenever someone asks what it takes to be an author I put determination right up with creativity, you have to be made of steel to be an author.

Answer 6

I think that all writers be suffered!because they are nervous about that they write

Answer 7

John Keats.....look him up.

Answer 8

sylvia plath.
although she did it by comitting suicide.