Savannah Watson

Our moods and emotions have a big impact on our day-to-day life. If we feel good, we usually enjoy things just a little bit more. If we are in a bad mood… well, that’s usually when we feel a bit more negative about pretty much everything. I find that writing (and creativity, in general) falls into a weird, flexible middle ground. Creativity seems to be influenced by both good and bad moods – sometimes just not in the way we expect.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have seen some clear, obvious trends in my writing based on my mood. Oftentimes, when I am happy, I write about happy things. When I’m sad, I channel that sadness into writing something sad. And this all makes sense. Writing is cathartic. It helps us deal with and process the world, what we feel, etc. Additionally, it’s easier to write things that are based on our current emotional state because we have something powerful to pull from. The emotions are more raw and can be expressed more viscerally. For example, it can be hard to fully and accurately portray love if we aren’t feeling loved or in love. But if we feel jilted in love, we can more accurately convey what that feels like because we feel it ourselves in that very moment.

Another thing that I have seen is that when my mood is heightened (either in a positive or negative way), I may not feel like writing at all. Again, this is normal and makes sense. Sadness or depression can cause a lack of interest in a person’s interests or hobbies. How can we feel creative if all we want to do is cry and eat ice cream? And on the flip side of that, when I am in a heightened state of happiness or positivity, I may not feel like channeling that energy into writing or being creative – I’m more likely to be dancing or singing or doing something else to annoy my neighbors with that happy energy.

Sometimes, however, when I’m sad… I want to write something happy. I want to try to pull forward this emotion in myself. And what better way than providing happiness to someone else (even if it’s just a fictional character)?

The interesting and most important thing that I have noticed about how my mood affects my creativity is that it’s completely unpredictable. I may be sad and completely uncreative now, but next time, I might be sad and need to write this sadness into a story. So, I have learned to embrace these writing wims and let my mood control my creativity every so often.

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