Wish fulfilment? - Writers Forum

suzakugaiden · 10-17-2006, 01:45 AM

A) Writing to work out emotional problems seems like an interesting and potentially effective way to write something true-sounding

B) Doing it wrong seems like it would lead to wish-fulfillment.

C) I'm not really sure what wish-fulfillment is, though, or what the signs of it are.

Can someone explain wish-fulfillment to me?

aspiring · 10-17-2006, 02:37 AM

wish fulfillment
n.

Gratification of a desire.
In psychoanalytic theory, the satisfaction of a desire, need, or impulse through a dream, fantasy, or other exercise of the imagination.

Mike C · 10-17-2006, 06:32 AM

Forget wish-fulfillment - it's what writing's all about.

The biggest problem with writing to exorcise your demons is that it may descend into wallowing in self pity. That's not pretty to read.

mammamaia · 10-17-2006, 11:15 AM

Quote:

The biggest problem with writing to exorcise your demons is that it may descend into wallowing in self pity. That's not pretty to read.

agree, mike!

while writing about one's personal 'life' problems is almost always a good catharsis, it almost never results in anything anyone else would enjoy reading or pay good money to do so...

i encourage those who have truly horrendous experiences to reconcile with, to write about them in third person... that provides a safe distance to view it all from and when they can see it as happening to someone else, they're much more able to accept it and then let it all go, to move on to a new and happier phase of life...

but again, it still only very rarely will result in a good piece of writing that has any market value... basically, the person has to have been a good writer to begin with, for that to happen...

cbrmale · 10-17-2006, 06:27 PM

I had this marvellous story in my head, and an interesting character to go with it. I couldn't understand why such a story came to me, or why the character was so real and vivid. But there she was, this pretty young Russian girl talking to me, telling me how to write her. And as I wrote, I realised she was me! Well, part of her at least.

I would never do such a thing conciously, but as a subconcious thing it was amazingly cathartic. As a character, her flaws (my flaws) make her a very interesting person. A character with a 'strong voice' as my agent puts her. But this character isn't me either, which is how the concept works as a piece of fiction rather than self-help psychology.

mammamaia · 10-18-2006, 11:05 AM

intriguing, to say the least, cb... especially as you're the opposite gender!... so, what happened with your story?... is it done/published?

Kimba · 10-18-2006, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbrmale

I had this marvellous story in my head, and an interesting character to go with it. I couldn't understand why such a story came to me, or why the character was so real and vivid.

I wish something like that would happen to me! lol

cbrmale · 10-19-2006, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

intriguing, to say the least, cb... especially as you're the opposite gender!... so, what happened with your story?... is it done/published?

Interesting indeed, her main character flaws are she sometimes acts without thinking, and when things become stressful she lashes out with cruel sarcasm. To shut her friend the hotel escort up:

"Shouldn't you be putting on your makeup and miniskirt for the rich businessmen at the Notelov?" Tatyana asked while she leaned against the wall with her hands on her hips. "I know every Western man loves a pretty Russian girl."

She has corresponding strengths, she is thoughtful and intelligent and she appreciates the best aspects of modern culture as well as culture of the past (music, art, literature). And she has a dry sense of humour. All me, I'm afraid.

Mai, it is hard (near impossible) to find an agent for fiction in Australia, but I did find one to represent me for this work, so that's the first obstacle out of the way for me.

mammamaia · 10-19-2006, 11:07 AM

a big obstacle, no less... good luck with it...

Omnisu · 10-19-2006, 06:34 PM

You could, of course, market the book to publishers on this side of the globe. I'd hate to have to pay the extra shipping to get it off Amazon Down Under.

Seeing some of yourself in your characters is unavoidable. Every character you will ever write is partly - maybe even mostly - you. However, you know you're doing it right when your readers all see themselves in the protagonist, even when the readers couldn't possibly be more different.

cbrmale · 10-19-2006, 09:49 PM

Omnisu,
We don't have Amazon Australia, and to buy an Australian-published book outside of Australia is very hard, unless the book is stocked by Amazon UK or US or whatever. A few Australian books are internationally stocked, most are not.

However the story is not particularly Australian, so I have the potential to publish it outside Australia, and I intend to contact UK agents and publishers in due course.

It is story of East meets West, the difference between traditional and modern cultures, and the Australian journalist who is the main narrator is the Western part of the story. It doesn't make much difference that he is Australian 'cause he is mostly the odd man out in a story with a very Russian feel to it.

Your comment about characters being reflections of ourselves is quite true, and we must dig deep to our dark sides (we all have them) to build the dark characters in our stories and to make them real and multi-dimensional. I am not naturally good at doing dark characters, because it can be painful. I did one in another story, and it messed me up a bit for a few weeks while I wrote the scenes when he was at his worst.

Aqua · 10-22-2006, 02:50 PM

I agree that our characters are mostly reflections of ourselves. However, it's the haze and shadow we wrap around them that makes such work interesting to read. Writing, in that sense, is like having a lucid dream on paper. It's still you, but you can be whoever you want to be.