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/lit/ - Literature

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16717471 No.16717471 [Reply] [Original]

how do I write about misery and suffering if I've never experienced any? does being privileged disqualify one from portraying the struggles of others in a realistic and relatable way?
I asked this on my uni forum and a professor suggested I try the homeless life for 2 weeks to see how it feels, but it doesn't seem genuine, at the end of the day I know I'm just pretending and it wouldn't be an authentic experience of homelessness, what do you suggest /lit/bros?

>> No.16717574

>>16717471
Do voluntary work in poor communities

>> No.16717602

>>16717471
Suffering is everywhere, read about impermanence. Try isolating yourself.

>> No.16717864

I dont know what to tell you, I've experienced true, world-ending horror, the kind that makes you want to kill yourself every moment of every single day, the only reason I haven't done it is because I'm too much of a coward, I'd rather stew in my own misery than end it because I'm scared.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone, not even my worst enemy. Theres nothing
Beautiful or heroic about it, its just the scum of life, something that should be ignored and insulted.
Feel blessed that you didn't need to experience tragedy, life is beautiful and multifaceted, write about the good things in life, the kind that give you hope and wonder, only that way will you pass on something meaningful and true

>> No.16717876

>>16717471
shove razorblades under your fingernails

>> No.16718081

>>16717471
lol faggot

>> No.16718088

>>16718081
rude

>> No.16718091

>>16717471
Chug a cold Heiney, light a cigarette and sit down on the toilet to read Bukowski while dumping ass--the nastiest, filthiest diarrhea dump you can ejaculate.

>> No.16718099

>>16717471
post address and i'll help you out

>> No.16718142

>>16717471
>implying /lit/ isn't just a bunch of middle class fags with office jobs who think "suffering" is having an existential crisis every now and then
no one posting in this board has had a tough life, you're better off asking /mu/

>> No.16718149

>>16717471
Watch a rekt thread on b where people torture each other won't be difficult to describe a reaction of someone in extreme pain if you've actually seen it

>> No.16718365

>>16718149
seeing someone getting his dick chopped =/= getting your own dick chopped
at a certain point you eventually get desensitized from watching gore shit, it only invokes a sense of disgust to new comers, perhaps a certain anxiety too, but it'll never deliver the actual experience of the person being decapitated on the video, and I don't mean it in a physical way, but just the feelings that person has in his last moments are completely lost on someone watching from the comfort of his blanket.

>> No.16718415

>>16717471
Putting yourself in a situation of suffering won’t give you the full authentic experience but it will still help. The more important thing is actually socializing with the lower rungs of society so that you actually know what they’re like firsthand, I’d recommend working the shittiest jobs possible at a temp agency

>> No.16718879

>>16718142
Speak for yourself, you have no idea how terrible my life is.

>> No.16718903

>>16717471
Thing is, you don't need to necessarily write about suffering in detail, if you've never experienced it and you want your work to revolve around it then of course it will sound superficial, but if your work has other themes in it then focus on them, don't highlight too much the suffering theme and focus on the ones you have a good grasp and experience on.

>> No.16718916

>>16717471
fuck off women aren't allowed here
reeeeeeeeeeee

>> No.16718957

You cannot put down in words for yourself in totality (not even to others), what you have not yet come to understand and integrate.
Your intuition regarding the homelessness experiment is on point - any attempt at seeking out a sort of "suffering", and believing yourself to have suffered in that way in which you seek, will all be supreme acts of bad faith.
In the end, you cannot seek it out - profound suffering will catch you with your guard down, in your most authentic moments when you are not reflecting, but the moment you reflect on the profound suffering that you have just experienced in your non-reflective moment, there is a chance that you will come not only to know of your suffering, but come to understand it.
But remember - you won't even realize it, until it has already happened, so don't waste worry and time in looking out for it.

>> No.16718995

>>16717864
Ironically, suffering doesn't need to be seen as beautiful or heroic by the sufferer for it to be as such in the grand portrait of life

>> No.16719074

>>16717471
Eurocuck hands made this post

>> No.16719145

>>16717471
Give away all your money or extreme self harm both would let you experience real suffering, if that's what you really want.

>> No.16719176

The short answer is: don't.

The long answer is, wait a little while and learn about the human condition before you try to write seriously about it. In the meantime, write other things, bric-a-brac, vignettes, meaningless love sonnets or whatever. The real writing will come when you understand not only your role in the drama, but the drama itself.

>> No.16719184

>>16717471
At least you recognize you are privileged OP, there is nothing I hate more than faggots who were spoon fed their entire life acting as if they struggled to get where they are.

>> No.16719397
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16719397

>>16717471


1. EVERYONE IN THIS KOSMOS SUFFERS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE SAPIENT, OR NESCIENT; WEALTHY, OR POOR; IF YOU CANNOT LITERALIZE YOUR SUFFERING IT IS BECAUSE YOU LACK LITERARY TALENT.

2. MISERY, AND SUFFERING, ARE NOT THE ONLY TOPICS, NOR THE MOST IMPORTANT, NOR THE MOST LITERARILY FECUND, NOR DOES WRITING REGARDING THEM ENTAIL LITERARY EXCELLENCE.

>> No.16719446

>>16717471
you are suffering right now. You want to write something meaningful and authentic. Yet you can't. But that situation is suffering in itself.
Wake up and recognize what deep shit you are in. We are all suffering everyday. We are all fucked.

>> No.16720198

>>16719397
>EVERYONE IN THIS KOSMOS SUFFERS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE SAPIENT, OR NESCIENT; WEALTHY, OR POOR;
Yes, but there are different levels of suffering, privileged people who were born in a middle class family on a first world country suffer much less compared to people born in a poor family on a third world country.

>> No.16720214

>>16720198
Is this supposed to be a rebuttal? A qualification? The original statement stands regardless, as does its corollary.

>> No.16720223

>>16717471
Take your professor’s advice and write a satirical work reflecting on your self inflicted two weeks of misery after returning to a lifestyle of comfort
On a serious note surely you’ve experience SOME misfortune in your life that you can reference for your writing?

>> No.16720509

>>16720214
No, I'm just stating that OP is probably referring to more extreme sufferings rather than the day-to-day sufferings that priviliged people experience.

>> No.16720542

>>16720509
The majority of great literary authors did not suffer abjectly. Abject suffering is actually counterproductive for writing. OP is just talentless and afraid to admit so.

>> No.16720560

>>16718142
>>99344403

>> No.16721383

>>16719397
kys tripfag

>> No.16721416

>>16720542
>The majority of great literary authors did not suffer abjectly
Wrong

>> No.16721742

>>16718142
having an office job IS suffering, you think I enjoy the soulless bureaucrat life?

>> No.16721771

>>16717471

Hit the gym every single day and experience extreme physical strife to make up for your lack of existential suffering

>> No.16722539

>>16717574
fpbp
do this OP

>> No.16722550

>>16717471
What are some books about wanting to LIVE?

>> No.16722565

>>16717471

Every living being suffers.

>> No.16722573

>>16717471
>how do I write about misery and suffering if I've never experienced any?
I doubt that. Has your life truly been a rollercoaster of funfunfun? Please teach me.

>> No.16722590

>>16717471
People wrote about elves and alien planets and it worked fine for them stop obsessing about capturing "the true essence" of something it's completely meaningless.

>> No.16722595
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16722595

>>16717471
>I've never experienced any
Kill yourself. Imagine having such a lame life. If you want some of fire that burns our souls, practice self sabotage: procrastinate until your oppertunties leave; isolate until intimacy becomes frightening; hate yourself until you can't help but love the world for the cruelty it's bestowed upon; struggle with your anguish that compels you to die by inventing and adopting philosophies that allow to resolve your will and press forward.

>> No.16722615

>>16717471
The same way you write about romance and sex when you're an unwanted virgin

>> No.16722619

>>16722590
People don't have personal attachments to "what elves are" and "what alien planets are." It's not a fictional concept, it's something your readers will have experienced in different ways, and they will feel personally slighted if you minimize or halfass it.

>> No.16722633

>>16722595
>suffering is just caused by self-sabotage
stop watching jordan peterson

>> No.16722640

>>16722633
First off, I don't watch that hack. And secondly, we suffer from two things, circumstance and character: All suffering is a result of ambition in sense but that's not the point. Self sabotage is door to suffering as it harms your circumstances and degrades your character

>> No.16722662

>>16718995
t. someone whose never known suffering

>> No.16722668

>>16722640
character is 100% a result of circumstance. again stop watching jordan peterson.

>> No.16722684

OP don't do this
>>16717574
>>16722539
these people are idiots. Poor people suck they're retarded and violent. There's nothing noble about pretending you care about them, it's the most fake and bourgeoisie thing possible.

>> No.16722685

>>16722668
You're an idiot. Your circumstance is being dropped on your head.

>> No.16723020

>>16722684
you reek of narcissism, have some empathy you might find it humbling.

>> No.16723048

>>16722595
>practice self sabotage
Imagine equating a purposeful lack of discipline with facing unfortunate circumstances, your entire being is as inauthentic as the suffering you so romanticize, OP might have a "lame life" but at the very least he isn't pretending to be something he's not.
neck yourself, by far the worst fucking post I've read today, I'm unironcially disgusted.

>> No.16723113

>>16722640
>Self sabotage is door to suffering as it harms your circumstances and degrades your character
retard, no one reflects on self sabotage, suffering for the sake of it has no catharsis to one's being

>> No.16723188

>>16717471
>does being privileged disqualify one from portraying the struggles of others in a realistic and relatable way?
Insofar as one does not use that privelage to voluntarily forge oneself through Fire, the answer is: yes; one who overcomes darkness whilst constantly being submerged in it --whether voluntarily, or involuntarily-- has greater comprehension of oneself --of one's love & fury--, and of others, since one's self is constantly being maximally mirrored in one's actions.

One should stay close to pain/misery/suffering, in penumbra, however, one should not have to, nor does one need to, experience more of it --whether constantly, or otherwise-- than is alloted to one by merely living nobly in this world in order to learn regarding, and know, Truth; one who does, and overcomes it, is quickened in their own personal growth/maturation.

Heroic, ultimate virtue is always performed in the face of darkness, on the line that seperates Good from Evil --on the verge of vice; on the edge of error.

>> No.16723271

>>16723188
tripfags are the shitstain of this board, all this verbosity to say nothing of value

>> No.16723508

>>16717471
You can try, it may feel genuine for readers that are like you. But it'll be cringe for real people.

>> No.16723626

>>16723508
Many great authors managed to write about such topics despite having lived very privileged and aristocratic lives

>> No.16723797

>>16723626
Name one

>> No.16723832

>>16723797
Dostoevsky

>> No.16723843

>>16723832
very low effort bait

>> No.16723859
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16723859

>>16723843

>> No.16723931

>Watch interviews of victims, relatives of victims, documentaries or just the news
>Watch gore videos, preferably ones were 1)the victim is innocent 2)you can see and hear the horror of the victim
>Get high and imagine it is happening to you or your family
Thank me later OP

>> No.16724044

>>16723113
>suffering for the sake of it has no catharsis to one's being
Never said it did, dumbass
>>16723048
He asks how he can suffer, he can self sabotage. That's easier than giving yourself a birth defect—stop projecting

>> No.16724658

>>16723931
>fantasizing about suffering is basically the same thing as facing hardships
shut the fuck up you sheltered faggot, you're even worse than OP

>> No.16724699

>>16722662
I've known suffering, and I'll know plenty more. You guys do know that outstanding or fantastical sufferings, like being on death row, losing family members, can hurt a man just as much as less sensational wars of attrition. Constant depression, agoraphobia, self-hatred will get you down just as much as the sufferings of those "people who have suffered", although not so quickly.

>> No.16725355

>>16717864
I've been sad. Don't be sad op. It makes you less of a man. More of an animal. You regress and grow like a cactus.

>> No.16725370

>>16718903
This. Imagination is a powerful thing and readers will make connections with the suffering in their lives. There's no scale for suffering yet.

>> No.16725382

>>16718957
Anon gets it.

>> No.16725390

>>16720198
Why do you say that ?

>> No.16725393

Even if you've been through it, it can still be hard to write about. I spent quite a bit of time around the homeless, junkies and just general criminals. It's such a harsh inverse of everyday life that you can't really pull the experience back from that place. It remains in a shadow. So maybe you're better for it. Fuck being genuine you're writing fiction.

>> No.16725425

>>16723020
Poor people are poor because they can’t adapt

>> No.16725517
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16725517

>>16717471
>how do I write about misery and suffering if I've never experienced any?
You've probably never "experienced" the fifth season of 'Hangin' with Mr. Cooper' either, but you're about to.

>> No.16725634

>>16717471
"personal experience" is a meme propagated by internet geeks and has zero importance on creative work