I am one of the most serious writers at my middle school and my writing has hidden meaning behind it, so I am the insane one. Writing is a chore and a love for me and the hidden meanings, of course. What do you think about writers and a different way of thinking? I believe writers - and all kinds of storytellers - see the world differently. Does this make us insane?
I think what's insane are the people who just blindly follow the crowd, accept everything that is as the way it must be, and the people who don't strive to create their own circumstances. Thinking for yourself and being independent make you truly alive and sane. So we're the sane ones in this regard, writers or not.
Insanity is certainly a plus if you want to be remembered as a great writer. Can't think of too many of the big names of literature that weren't slightly insane. Unfortuantely, it's not the only prerequisite.
In my experience there's no such thing as sanity. Sanity is just a human made concept to describe the perception of a personality bell-curve (google the Normal Distribution - you'll know what i mean). By this definition, the only sane people are those who hide their social differences sufficiently to appear as if they fall into the middle of the bell-curve. Now for writers... good ones at least, insanity is a prerequisite. It allows you to think outside the box by making you oblivious to its actual boundaries. On the other hand, if you want to be accepted by the insane, bell-curve-loving society, then you have to suppress those qualities that would make you a good writer. But that's only my insane ramblings....
People often call insane those who they cannot understand. Everyone who's ever thought differently from the crowd has been called all sorts of names that went from witch, to crazy.
I'm a bit odd and I have a good imagination - that is not insane its a talent and a gift. I am sociable and have a good group of friends and function well on a day to day basis interacting with other human beings.
I think the line between insanity and genius is a very very fine line. If you listen to any classical music, this clearly shows through (And yes, composing is just as much a form of creative writing, in this case you just write it in notes instead of words, no difference). To be honest, a lot of the greatest masterpieces in art or music was written when the author/composer/artist is not mentally sound.
To be honest, I've suffered through some serious mental problems in my life time and I think it actually improves my writing for me to have gone through those things. In fact, sometimes I tell myself now, when I'm struggling through something hard,"It's okay. It will make your writing better."
