"Life Is Pain, Highness. Anyone Who Says Different Is Selling Something."

[jackofallgeeks]

I like to write, and when I write, it's about pain. Physical pain, emotional pain, mental pain - even the pain of being completly numb. Those who know me in passing might find this odd, while those who know me better might find it ironically fitting. Writing is perhapse the channel for dark emotion which can't find expression through the rest of my personality. In a sense, perhapse writing makes me whole.

It occurs to me, however, that I am not alone in this phenomenon of pain-writing. Poets and lyricists come readily to mind, their art being marked by strong emotion. But even beyond that, no story is of any worth without some conflict, some pain. When the characters are happy, the story is over.

I think, then, that the phenomenon occurs because pain seems more real when you put it in words. Joy feels fake when you try to write about it; two-dimentional, hollow. Pain can be felt in words, it strikes a chord and resonates within us.

Pain can be falsified.
Joy can not; if you try, it falls apart. Joy is too real to be transferred in words - it must be experienced. Words fail to capture the essence of joy because it is so powerful, so far beyond what can be expressed in such a limited medium. pain is simple enough to be recognized. Joy has to be real.

Comments

[naughtjennifer.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say pain is simple or easily falsified. Just like joy, it is far too complex for words to describe. I think it is more easy to write about pain because it is something everyone can relate to. Few people would actually say they know what true joy is like. The pain seems more realistic because it is somethign that people find very real.

That said, I find that many people, especially in modern times, write about pain.