Lately, I’ve not really been in the mood to read anything emotionally disturbing or heavy. Lately being the last couple of years. :)
I grew up reading heavy literature in school. I read a ton of the classics, which aren’t usually known for being lighthearted.
But for some reason, every time I pick up some really heavy literary fiction lately, I struggle with the topics.
For crime fiction, I handle it better. I wondered why, started thinking about it, and realized that the bad guy gets in trouble at the end of the book. It satisfies my sense of poetic justice, I think.
My book club has really been reading heavy literature, which is why I keep trying to read it, myself. Right now we’re reading Geraldine Brooks’ historical novel Year of Wonders. It’s elegantly written, meticulously researched, powerful…and disturbing. Basically, a village in 17th century England is hit by the plague. They decide to stay in the village instead of running away and spreading the contagion. The narrator fights against superstitious villagers and their fears about witchcraft.
It’s excellent and I’ll highly recommend it to anyone who is interested…but I’m just not in the right mood to read it.
I’m the same way with my writing—you’re just not going to see me writing books that aren’t humorous right now. Right now being the foreseeable future.
I’ll write scenes that are heavier in the book than others—dead bodies don’t make for humor, after all. But I’m not writing the entire book with a serious tone.
And then, some days I’m not in the mood to write something funny. Those are the days I’ll skip ahead and write a tense scene between my protagonist and the murderer, or I’ll describe a murder scene.
Does your mood affect your reading? Your writing? How do you handle it?
Mood definitely effects my reading. There are days when I only want to read something that makes me laugh, other days something with a little romance, and others a combination of mystery and humor, and then sometimes just thrillers. I’ve learned not to make myself read a book in a genre that I’m not in the mood for. If I do, I don’t enjoy the book as much and that’s not fair to me or the author.
When I read a review of a book that isn’t in the best light, I wonder if the reader was in the right mood to really read that book then.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Elizabeth – I think mood has a powerful effect on what we read and write. Or at least it does for me. I’ve read plenty of heavy literature, including Gothic, and very light stuff, too. They can both be memorable, but I know I’m not always in the mood for one or the other. Sometimes, I’m in the mood for a light, comic-caper novel, and sometimes I look at the same novel and think, “How cloying!” Sometimes, I want to really explore “the dark side,” and sometimes I think, “I don’t need this depression!”
When I write, the same thing happens. So sometimes I end up writing different scenes: the lighter scenes when I’m in that kind of mood, and the darker scenes when that particular Muse is visiting.
My mood definitely affects my writing too. But I’m linear for writing scenes so it’s a struggle. :)
I really think moodiness may just be fertilizer for a story. One night I was a little scared at a noise I heard and immediately sat down and wrote a scary short story.
I have always thought there was something terribly wrong with me in that I love reading the dark, depressing classics. And sometimes I find humor in them which is also probably strange.
Teresa
Me too!
It’s funny you should mention Year of Wonders – I have in the house (somewhere!) a signed copy of that same book – I bought it at a museum conference in Portland, Oregon, where Geraldine Brooks gave a really good and not at all heavy keynote speech which I really enjoyed, all about how she came to write the book – she was walking in the Peak District and came across a signpost pointing to a ‘Plague Village’, couldn’t resist following it, found a Plague Museum there etc. However I have been unable to read the book because the whole plague village scenario really put me off! I decided I would have to be in the right mood to read it but I haven’t been yet in the 7 or so years since I bought it.
My mood definitely affects my writing! Mood and weather also affects my inspiration. I wish I could write humorous and comedy. It’s something that’s hard for me to do. I have to work at it.
All that required reading of moody classics for high school English almost killed my interest in classical literature. Took me until my late 20s to find my way back to the Classics. Even then, I went for the “fun” stuff first, like The Three Musketeers and Treasure Island.
My older son had to read Year of Wonders in 9th-grade World History class. I read it with him. We thought the book had problems with characterization, and the ending wasn’t believable.
Suzanne Adair
Sure! Some days I’m feeling particularly snarky, and it shows in my writing. Not heavy on the humour – just some extra snark here and there.
Absolutely. I have books that I’ve started reading, but wasn’t in the mood for that type, and put them back on the shelf until I was. I wonder how many books in the past I deemed “bad” because I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for them. I didn’t realize this about myself until recently.
It took me three tries to read “The Book Thief” and I loved it when I was finally in the mood for it.
Hmmm, it could explain why I’m always in a bad mood. It’ because I write a lot of dark stuff. Perhaps I should write a happier book.
CD
Elizabeth, I totally with you about mood. From my late teens until my middle-twenties I probably read as much literary fiction as genre fiction. Once I got married, bought a house and had kids, I found that literary fiction began to loose it’s appeal. It may be that Literary fiction take so much longer to get to the same point a similarly themed genre piece. Or possibly that genre literature easy easier to “get back into” when I have a free moment. Literary fiction often requires a certain mindset which is difficult to switch to after a day of diapers, bottles, grocery shopping and fixing the toilet. I want to be entertained. I want story movement. I don’t have time for navel-gazing. These are also the types of stories I tend to develop, written for those in my same situation.
Mood does dictate what I read and, to a certain extent, what I can write. It’s always easier for me to go darker than my mood. When I’m in a funk, I think a light-hearted, beach read will help pull me out, but I usually can’t stand it. (Clarissa, if you ever figure out the trick to writing happier stuff, please share. I need to, too!)
However, I can usually force myself to get through/into something, but I haven’t been able to force myself past the first few pages of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. A friend recommended it. I picked it up right after I got a piece of bad news and couldn’t through the prologue. Now, every time I see the book, I feel loathing. But, it’s still on my to read list. Someday.
I loved Year of Wonders…and read it at Christmas time. Hmm, what does that say?
Sheila– What a cool story! I didn’t know that. I was familiar with the author because of her journalism background but didn’t know anything about the background for the book. I think she did a bang-up job with the research…I wish I were in the mood to read the book, though. I’ll definitely finish it, but that’s because of my book club. I’m hoping next month’s selection will be a little on the lighter side!
Suzanne–I still enjoy reading classic poetry, but that’s about it for right now. Yeah, I was an English major, so I was absolutely inundated with it. I enjoyed it at the time, but I think something cut off in my brain for me when I had kids…and that’s been 13 years ago!
I will say that I thought the narrator was VERY modern in her thinking. I like the narrator, I’m just not so sure that a servant who is that modern is believable for that time period. Haven’t read the ending yet…I’m getting there, though. Book club is next week. :)
Mason–And you’re a reviewer who *recognizes* that. Which I really appreciate. I agree with you…sometimes people give mediocre reviews because they weren’t in the mood to read the book. But you can recognize a book is good without enjoying it…it’s just an internal thing.
Alex–Ha! I do that, too. I usually have at least one snarky person in the book for that very reason.
Margot–Yes! That’s exactly what I do. And sometimes I don’t even gauge my own mood correctly. I *think* I want something really lighthearted to read, but then it just annoys me. It’s times like these when I spend a LOT of time at the library or else I’d spend too much money on reading something I’m not in the mood to read.
Jemi–Ooh…linear writing. But, you know, I wouldn’t dream of messing with success! Whatever works is what I try to stick with.
Journaling Woman–Good point. And I think writers are moody, in general, anyway.
You know, with those books, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry! So maybe that’s the humor there.
Judy–I bet you’d do a great job with humor. Southerners do!
Janice, I haven’t gotten there yet with “Book Thief!” That was another book club pick. I thought it was brilliant–wow! A book narrated by Death!–but I wasn’t in the mood to read a book set in Nazi Germany. But I *know* it was good. It’s just this mood thing with me.
Clarissa–Sometimes I sit there and laugh as I write. When I do this in public, people stare. :)
Ike–I’m with you on the day to day grind! Yes, maybe it’s just that my brain isn’t FOCUSED enough. Then, of course, these lit fics are just so dark…and I keep running into dead children in these books which is really a plot no-no for me, at least in this stage of my life.
And then I tend to pick these books apart, too. And *that’s* no fun. They bring out the analytical side to me.
Cam–You know, I think it would probably be cathartic to write dark. Maybe I should try it (not, though, while I’m under contracts for cozies. :) My editors would be wondering what the heck I’m doing…)
Life’s too short to read something you don’t want to read–and there are too many great books out there that are just what we’re in the mood to read!
Right now my mood dictates that I don’t want to write, and that’s not good!
Absolutely, mood does influence what I write. Not the story-line, perhaps, but certainly the tone and background.
I’m backwards. My writing tends to affect my mood. I get into the mood I need for whatever chapter I’m working on. It doesn’t always work of course, but usually! As for heavy, literary books, I’ve never been able to read them with much enthusiasm.