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Absolutely. And I do horrible things to my characters. If I didn't cry while writing, I doubt my readers would feel much of anything reading those scenes.
During this winter holiday, I wrote a nostalgic short story that should have ended in horror. But somehow, as I wrote it, the ending didn’t fit anymore, so I followed the characters, and it ended being a very moving piece. So much so I decided, instead of posting it on Reddit, as I do, to polish it and send it to a magazine. If all goes well, I’ll be sending it this month.
I think I get the rights back after three to six months after publishing, so I might post it on Reddit after that. If no magazine wants it by the end of this year, I’ll post it here anyway.
Yeah, I wrote a story that I perfectly intended to go in one direction when I wrote the major arcs. Then as I wrote, I realized that it the arcs weren't a great fit for the characters.
My writing makes me cry because it’s so bad. Haha
Now being sad while writing happens all the time. In fact if a scene doesn’t make me feel something, it’s a bad scene.
Yup. I tear up every time I read certain scenes in my WIPs.
If *I* don't tear up a little bit writing something, then I haven't hit the emotional tone that I need to have the same impact in my readers.
Yeah, it definitely has. I started writing a fantasy story when I was 14, about a group of privateers and thier adventures on the high seas. It helped me feel a little less lonely as a young teen. After 5 years of writing, in the last chapter of the final book, the main characters all stood on the boardwalk to say goodbye and I just lost it lol. It felt like I was saying goodbye to childhood friends
Absolutely! Even after editing twenty times. I started out writing inspirational stories and the point is to evoke emotion, so I know I'm track if I get teary eyed or cry.
But not sad, or depressed.
I cry because I'm the character.
I become the character, and the only reason I tear up is because my character did in the scene I'm writing. If *I* don't, I question whether I should write in that my character starts to cry because I try to make things realistic.
When I used to write about my trauma, absolutely. I don't do that anymore, so now I only cry over the cuteness of my stories and the plight of these imagined characters. I still cry, just not about me...
Yes, ive cried writing a scene. I just recently wrote a very tense, dangerous, real-life-scary sene that gave me chills more than once. Im just hoping it comes across as well in the writing as what i see in my head.
I cried while writing the emotional climax of my novel. I only had a general idea of how the book was going to end, but it’s not like I planned it out completely. Certainly took me by surprise.
Oh yes, definitely.
The last volume in the story I’m writing is horribly tragic, one of the main characters cries for the first time and it’s a gut wrenching scene; the main villain is extremely abusive and manipulative, I inspired his dialogue in stuff I’ve been told by abusive people before, it all hit close to home. Can’t wait to have readers suffer too once it’s published :D
It has made me cry. I write fictional stories about my verbally abusive parents and how these characters are "heroes" who get out of there, since I am unable to. The hope and faith i put into these characters make me cry lots.
Absolutely, especially poetry. Each of my poems is an attempt to capture a specific feeling, and they aren't always happy ones. Editing my first poetry book was emotionally exhausting in a way I didn't expect. Fortunately, my partner understands that "poetry tears" don't indicate anything is wrong.
Weirdest thing that happens to me as I'm writing stories is a feel a twinge of pain where I imagine they get hurt and often my fingers ache at the same time, I don't know if I've ever cried but I've only been thinking about them being sad I've yet to actually write it
Unfortunately, making my characters tear up or cry doesn't make me sad. I do it a lot so I kinda burn the reader out of it mainly because I make super bad things happen to my character... Giving them a reason to cry but not my reader. So usually for readers, I do deaths. So far, I've only killed off one character and, yeah, it did make me cry. Middle of the night, sad music, made myself tear up at one point, then made myself cry by having said character write a letter to the second.
I think that the reason it was so sad is because the dead character blamed himself so much and only wished for one more hug from the second main before he died... Spoiler alert, he never got it b/c the last time they saw each other, the second Mc got unnecessarily mad at him. Another spoiler: lol, second Mc goes through hell and back in his head because of this.
I think for me it was a combination of the future change to the second Mc, the sadness of the situation, and the reality that I could NEVER write real, alive dialogue for this character ever again.
I miss you, Charlie😞
If a scene that is meant to make the readers feel like crap doesn't also make me feel like crap, then either the scene isn't strong enough or there's more that needs to be added. I use my own tears as a Baseline for if an emotional scene is impactful enough; so to answer your question, yes.
Yes. When I killed Danica off, I cried because it reminded me of my own losses in life and I had to make Kyro's reactions real. 5 stars to Aphro for keeping it together.
I’ve only cried at my writing twice. Both from the same book.
At the beginning of the book, a woman is trying to kill one of the men who killed four of her family members, as the group stands over their bodies. She pleas with everyone there to allow her to get revenge, tries to do it when they all argue it’s useless and foolish, and eventually she sinks to the floor crying. I cried too.
At the end of the book, the woman who stopped the original griever, also has a sister die, this time right in front of her, by the man she loves. But she can’t fully blame him because the sister was trying to kill them. When another character checks on her she expresses her grief, her hatred of her ex, her love of her ex despite her hatred. The character who came holds her as she screams. A memory of her deceased mother comes back to her, a lullaby she sang to ease her child’s fear. She comforts her by singing that song. I cried with them both.
I’ve had this happen to me a couple of times before and my goodness it was exhilarating, lol. I started to tear up as I was writing it and started sobbing right after I finished the scene.
All the time. Every time, probably. If I sit down to write and I don't end up tearing up, I'm not doing something right.
It is an emotional outlet for me, though. Sometimes it's not even that sad but the ability to feel something through the characters I've created gives me an opening to let some emotion out
Yessss. Omg I had to kill the grandfather character of my group and it sucked. I was sad so I decided to really dig at the reader and make them sad too. 😋
I got a "don't die on me please" scene coming up in a current wip that I plan on making absolutely heartrending becaaaaaause I can.
Yes, both manuscripts, and the first book multiple times. The Epilogue of my first book had me in tears WRITING it, not just reading it. I’m excited to see how others react.
I do this to myself a lot more than I like to admit. I do it for sad scenes, happy scenes, and ptsd flashbacks. I do a lot of writing early in the mornings, and I’ve texted my friends at like four or five in the morning simply saying, “I really got to stop making myself cry with my writing.”
Yes, multiple times. I will not be elaborating further as I am currently working on a happy scene and don't want the sad in my brain while I try and write it.
Yes. One of my characters was cheerful and chatty. Not a care in the world, but there was a darkness around him. Almost imperceptible, but each time the protagonist visited him, she was able to stare into that darkness a little longer.
F*ck dementia. That chapter hit me harder than I expected it to.
Yep. It makes me cry. While I know maybe the story beats, I don't always know the finer parts of dialogue. Sometimes I just write and see where it goes, then it takes on parts I didn't intend to.
Also, my characters usually take on a life of their own as I continue writing for them.
Constantly. I also cry at sad parts of movies I'm watching for the second time. Just because you know it's coming doesn't mean it can't evoke sadness, because there's a sympathetic/empathetic response to thinking of someone being in that kind of emotional pain, and often it resonates with instances in our own lives where we were in a similar position. Even if I know that there is going to be a reprieve from the imminent death or loss the person is mourning, it doesn't take away from what they'd be feeling in that moment.
Once or twice, maybe? But most of the time the worst I get is that achy hollow chest feeling.
I rather like that feeling and wish I could find ways to provoke it more often.
Every so often yes. I’m writing a script for an audio drama series and when the puppy is running around looking for the MC? Cue the misty eyes, even in just the outline
I also have a novel in the works and the fading former hero pushing her adopted daughter to safety? Damn those onion chopping ninjas!
Whenever I'm feeling down, I write whump. One of my characters' whole backstory is to be a whump magnet, and one time I passively cried while writing out their desperation so I guess there's that!
I’ve cried once and for the first time, a few year ago. I’m writing a novel and at some point a kid gets very sick and might not make it. Im describing how her mother gives up as the sickness gets worse and in the end, she slowly loses grip on reality, she is here but her mind is not. She is not crying or worried, she is just knocked out. And as a mother myself, it was very hard to write.
Hi! Welcome to r/Writers - please remember to follow the [rules](https://reddit.com/r/writers/about/rules/) and treat each other respectfully, especially if there are disagreements. Please help keep this community safe and friendly by **reporting rule violating posts and comments**. If you're interested in a friendly Discord community for writers, please **[join our Discord server](https://discord.gg/mdzyEz9uFB)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/writers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If a character is tearing up, than so am I. I think it's like acting, you get deep into the emotions of a character that you actually feel them.
Absolutely. And I do horrible things to my characters. If I didn't cry while writing, I doubt my readers would feel much of anything reading those scenes.
You’re probably a very good writer.
If it makes you cry while writing, your writing has passed a first quality check.
During this winter holiday, I wrote a nostalgic short story that should have ended in horror. But somehow, as I wrote it, the ending didn’t fit anymore, so I followed the characters, and it ended being a very moving piece. So much so I decided, instead of posting it on Reddit, as I do, to polish it and send it to a magazine. If all goes well, I’ll be sending it this month. I think I get the rights back after three to six months after publishing, so I might post it on Reddit after that. If no magazine wants it by the end of this year, I’ll post it here anyway.
Yeah, I wrote a story that I perfectly intended to go in one direction when I wrote the major arcs. Then as I wrote, I realized that it the arcs weren't a great fit for the characters.
I always say that our characters have a life of their own, because, as we write, *they* tend to make decisions instead of us.
My writing makes me cry because it’s so bad. Haha Now being sad while writing happens all the time. In fact if a scene doesn’t make me feel something, it’s a bad scene.
If I don’t cry or laugh at all during a project, it’s no good.
Yup. I tear up every time I read certain scenes in my WIPs. If *I* don't tear up a little bit writing something, then I haven't hit the emotional tone that I need to have the same impact in my readers.
Yeah, it definitely has. I started writing a fantasy story when I was 14, about a group of privateers and thier adventures on the high seas. It helped me feel a little less lonely as a young teen. After 5 years of writing, in the last chapter of the final book, the main characters all stood on the boardwalk to say goodbye and I just lost it lol. It felt like I was saying goodbye to childhood friends
Absolutely! Even after editing twenty times. I started out writing inspirational stories and the point is to evoke emotion, so I know I'm track if I get teary eyed or cry. But not sad, or depressed.
I cry because I'm the character. I become the character, and the only reason I tear up is because my character did in the scene I'm writing. If *I* don't, I question whether I should write in that my character starts to cry because I try to make things realistic.
Yes. I killed a character I loved very much.
I feel bad when I kill a good one that I write up some sequel for them like a video game dlc.
Yes, many times. One of my readers once commented to me, "I cried when I read your story." I answered them, "Well, I cried when I wrote it."
I wrote a tragedy and yeah I wept and wept and wept. Even in editing mode when I'm not pulling out those emotions, I get teary. \^\^;
When I used to write about my trauma, absolutely. I don't do that anymore, so now I only cry over the cuteness of my stories and the plight of these imagined characters. I still cry, just not about me...
Ya, but it was from journal entries from a couple of months ago, not from a story.
Yes, ive cried writing a scene. I just recently wrote a very tense, dangerous, real-life-scary sene that gave me chills more than once. Im just hoping it comes across as well in the writing as what i see in my head.
I cried while writing the emotional climax of my novel. I only had a general idea of how the book was going to end, but it’s not like I planned it out completely. Certainly took me by surprise.
I’ve never cried outright but I have a couple of scenes that choked me up during writing and rereading.
Oh yes, definitely. The last volume in the story I’m writing is horribly tragic, one of the main characters cries for the first time and it’s a gut wrenching scene; the main villain is extremely abusive and manipulative, I inspired his dialogue in stuff I’ve been told by abusive people before, it all hit close to home. Can’t wait to have readers suffer too once it’s published :D
It has made me cry. I write fictional stories about my verbally abusive parents and how these characters are "heroes" who get out of there, since I am unable to. The hope and faith i put into these characters make me cry lots.
Absolutely, especially poetry. Each of my poems is an attempt to capture a specific feeling, and they aren't always happy ones. Editing my first poetry book was emotionally exhausting in a way I didn't expect. Fortunately, my partner understands that "poetry tears" don't indicate anything is wrong.
Weirdest thing that happens to me as I'm writing stories is a feel a twinge of pain where I imagine they get hurt and often my fingers ache at the same time, I don't know if I've ever cried but I've only been thinking about them being sad I've yet to actually write it
No
absolutely.
Unfortunately, making my characters tear up or cry doesn't make me sad. I do it a lot so I kinda burn the reader out of it mainly because I make super bad things happen to my character... Giving them a reason to cry but not my reader. So usually for readers, I do deaths. So far, I've only killed off one character and, yeah, it did make me cry. Middle of the night, sad music, made myself tear up at one point, then made myself cry by having said character write a letter to the second. I think that the reason it was so sad is because the dead character blamed himself so much and only wished for one more hug from the second main before he died... Spoiler alert, he never got it b/c the last time they saw each other, the second Mc got unnecessarily mad at him. Another spoiler: lol, second Mc goes through hell and back in his head because of this. I think for me it was a combination of the future change to the second Mc, the sadness of the situation, and the reality that I could NEVER write real, alive dialogue for this character ever again. I miss you, Charlie😞
If a scene that is meant to make the readers feel like crap doesn't also make me feel like crap, then either the scene isn't strong enough or there's more that needs to be added. I use my own tears as a Baseline for if an emotional scene is impactful enough; so to answer your question, yes.
Yes. When I killed Danica off, I cried because it reminded me of my own losses in life and I had to make Kyro's reactions real. 5 stars to Aphro for keeping it together.
I’ve only cried at my writing twice. Both from the same book. At the beginning of the book, a woman is trying to kill one of the men who killed four of her family members, as the group stands over their bodies. She pleas with everyone there to allow her to get revenge, tries to do it when they all argue it’s useless and foolish, and eventually she sinks to the floor crying. I cried too. At the end of the book, the woman who stopped the original griever, also has a sister die, this time right in front of her, by the man she loves. But she can’t fully blame him because the sister was trying to kill them. When another character checks on her she expresses her grief, her hatred of her ex, her love of her ex despite her hatred. The character who came holds her as she screams. A memory of her deceased mother comes back to her, a lullaby she sang to ease her child’s fear. She comforts her by singing that song. I cried with them both.
Yes. That is exactly why I put them down on paper. To get the feelings out of my mind and gone from my life.
I’ve had this happen to me a couple of times before and my goodness it was exhilarating, lol. I started to tear up as I was writing it and started sobbing right after I finished the scene.
I always cry when I get to the sad parts…
Too many times.
All the time. Every time, probably. If I sit down to write and I don't end up tearing up, I'm not doing something right. It is an emotional outlet for me, though. Sometimes it's not even that sad but the ability to feel something through the characters I've created gives me an opening to let some emotion out
Yes. I know weird but I do act the scenes out sometimes. Talking as the character with another character and imagine their response
Yessss. Omg I had to kill the grandfather character of my group and it sucked. I was sad so I decided to really dig at the reader and make them sad too. 😋 I got a "don't die on me please" scene coming up in a current wip that I plan on making absolutely heartrending becaaaaaause I can.
Yes, both manuscripts, and the first book multiple times. The Epilogue of my first book had me in tears WRITING it, not just reading it. I’m excited to see how others react.
Yes! My MC’s break up and every time I write/rewrite their goodbye scene, I tear up.
I do this to myself a lot more than I like to admit. I do it for sad scenes, happy scenes, and ptsd flashbacks. I do a lot of writing early in the mornings, and I’ve texted my friends at like four or five in the morning simply saying, “I really got to stop making myself cry with my writing.”
Yes, multiple times. I will not be elaborating further as I am currently working on a happy scene and don't want the sad in my brain while I try and write it.
Yes. One of my characters was cheerful and chatty. Not a care in the world, but there was a darkness around him. Almost imperceptible, but each time the protagonist visited him, she was able to stare into that darkness a little longer. F*ck dementia. That chapter hit me harder than I expected it to.
Not yet
Yep. It makes me cry. While I know maybe the story beats, I don't always know the finer parts of dialogue. Sometimes I just write and see where it goes, then it takes on parts I didn't intend to. Also, my characters usually take on a life of their own as I continue writing for them.
Yes I cried because of the suffering of my characters in Daughter of Damascus
Constantly. I also cry at sad parts of movies I'm watching for the second time. Just because you know it's coming doesn't mean it can't evoke sadness, because there's a sympathetic/empathetic response to thinking of someone being in that kind of emotional pain, and often it resonates with instances in our own lives where we were in a similar position. Even if I know that there is going to be a reprieve from the imminent death or loss the person is mourning, it doesn't take away from what they'd be feeling in that moment.
Once or twice, maybe? But most of the time the worst I get is that achy hollow chest feeling. I rather like that feeling and wish I could find ways to provoke it more often.
Yes.
Every so often yes. I’m writing a script for an audio drama series and when the puppy is running around looking for the MC? Cue the misty eyes, even in just the outline I also have a novel in the works and the fading former hero pushing her adopted daughter to safety? Damn those onion chopping ninjas!
Yep. Writing about my Uncle Grandpa.
No, never. I cry when when I hear others who read my work cried or liked it though!
My writing doesn’t make me cry but I usually write when I’m crying
Whenever I'm feeling down, I write whump. One of my characters' whole backstory is to be a whump magnet, and one time I passively cried while writing out their desperation so I guess there's that!
Yes, all the time!!!
I’ve cried once and for the first time, a few year ago. I’m writing a novel and at some point a kid gets very sick and might not make it. Im describing how her mother gives up as the sickness gets worse and in the end, she slowly loses grip on reality, she is here but her mind is not. She is not crying or worried, she is just knocked out. And as a mother myself, it was very hard to write.