Saturday 1 March 2014

Writing: Are (Most) Writers Brooding Introverts?

This has fascinated me a lot. You see, back to college days, most of my classmates were a brooding introvert. Reason? Well. They said they were learning writing, and to be a good writer, they had to brood over a lot of things.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked this to a friend of mine in the college, who often put on a face signifying much of his aging were sacrificed onto deep thinking. “Do you mean writers are a heck of brooding lots? Men with personality-avoidant-disorders? Sounds like they are cut off the rest of the world, aren't they, huh?”

“Precisely. But, most writers are brooding introverts. This doesn’t mean they don’t have social contacts or simply they don’t want to have them. The fact is their passion for writing demands this kind of fealty. Introversion is not a demerit, it's helpful for such professionals.” said the friend.

“Fealty? Dude, you sound they’re killing themselves. I don’t find any virtue to be in that state of personality.”

“I can’t make you understand now. Eventually, you will get the drift.”

And, yes, he was right, to some extent.

Well, I am not an introvert, but yes, I brood, and sometimes I brood so much that I have a feeling that I am under the influence of introversion. Because, much of my thinking is carried out in a quiet room/place, away from the hustle bustle life of metro-city.

If that short-term reclusion to a quieter place has anything to do with me being an introvert, then you can call me introverted.

Well, I do have social contacts, but the fact is, my writing always requires me to be at peace. I can’t write anything when I am disturbed or when I am lack of good thoughts.

As a matter of fact, I have to brood over many things before I come up with a fresh topic. It doesn’t mean the moment I start hitting keywords, ideas just get scripted into a form of an article/blog. Yeah – that’s the possibility, but the output of such written blog doesn’t sound good to me.

Without much brooding, I can’t write well – that’s a fact. And, I am an ambivert individual. My brooding regarding writing is not associated with introversion aspect of my personality as a writer.

By the way, what do you think of it? Do you believe writers are brooding introverts?