Stephen King Was Right! (guest post)

Aug 31

6 min read

Happy last day of August, writers!

So... I don’t know if every writer does this, but I can be halfway through loading the dishwasher and realize I haven’t been thinking about dishes at all. I’m back in the book I'm writing, replaying a scene, trying to solve a plot problem, or wondering what one of my characters knows that I haven’t figured out yet.

Photo of author Amy S. Cutler — Author Sherri L. Dodd

It’s a strange part of writing fiction. We know these people and places aren’t real, but after spending months or years with them, they take up very real space in our heads. Sometimes a lot of space.

Sherri L. Dodd, author of the Murder, Tea & Crystals trilogy, is back on the blog today. Last time she visited, she wrote about navigating book promotion as an introvert.

(You can read more about Sherri and her books here!)

This time, she’s looking at what happens when writers get so mentally involved in a story that we keep living with it even after we walk away from the page... and why Stephen King was right about the whole thing.

If you’ve ever carried an imaginary person’s problems around with you all day, I think you’ll relate. :)

—CC

When Writers Become Mentally Involved in Their Stories

by Sherri L. Dodd

Writing is an artistic expression, whether fiction or fact, bringing a sense of achievement to the author.

Specific to fact, many reputable organizations have released articles claiming that journaling can help with mental health. For example, Medical News Today examined the benefits of journaling in a 2022 review of twenty randomized controlled trials.

Beige quote card with teal text: Through my characters... SHERRI L. DODD.

Researchers analyzed the efficacy of journaling for depression and found that those subjects who journaled had lower scores on mental health measures, such as standardized screen tools (PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5, etc.), clinical interviews, mental status examinations, and self-reporting, meaning that the subject had lower stress, depression, and/or anxiety.

Taking the measure beyond autobiographical, writers express themselves through other forms of the written word. In fiction, they take us into enchanted forests, away to exotic lands, toward the infinite space above us, or even deep beneath the vast sea – Thank you, Jules Verne. They give us fictional characters who we fall in love with, root for, or who break our hearts with their endurance of poignant woes. In fact, often these characters are all emotions expressed from the author’s own psyche.

I know this well.

Through my characters, I can convey everything from my naivete to rational positivity to misogynistic guff to the sickness of a bloodthirsty serial killer. All, a composition of my own emotions. As Janet Finch, author of White Oleander, wrote, “A novel is like a dream in which everyone is you. They’re all parts of yourself.” It is rewarding when writers constructively write to express themselves or free their demons.

But what happens when authors become so involved in their characters that it affects their mental health to the negative?

Stephen King quote on pale green background about rage, hate, and frustration, in dark teal type.

Sylvia Plath sank into a depression while writing her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. Friedrich Nietzsche fell into mental collapse upon completing Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Virginia Woolf, already prone to depression, triggered debilitating depressive episodes and auditory hallucinations while writing such books as To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway. I will add that all the above chose to leap into the ether shortly after finishing their novel(s).

While his thousand-plus-word and best-known novel, Infinite Jest, did not lead to an immediate suicide, David Foster Wallace suffered an immense amount of pressure while writing the novel. Within it, he relived the harsh parental habits of his mother that could have contributed to his lifelong poor mental health.

In doing so, it only exacerbated its grip on him.

Upon finishing the book, he felt severe anxiety that his mother would know the unfavorable character within it was her. The popularity that came with its publication brought even greater anxiety. Within ten years of this project, he too succumbed to suicide.

Coming full circle, Stephen King praised Wallace’s classic to Entertainment Weekly, calling it one of two greatest American novels. While the mutual respect between the authors had been apparent before Wallace’s death, King found his own writing put him on the positive side of the mental health spectrum.

In fact, in his book, On Writing, King wrote he can, “… write myself sane …” and, “All the rage and hate and frustration, all that’s dangerous and sick and foul within me, I’m able to spew into my work.” He also credits writing with helping him survive and recover from his near-fatal accident in 1999.

I am no PhD, but I have a theory.

Those who explore the deep abyss of their psyche may find that immersing themselves in their darkest memories and most depraved thoughts can lead to a poorer psychological state, sinking them further into depression or anxiety. They see that distant light back to sanity, but it lies too far out of reach. While others such as King can delve into the dark spaces that haunt them and find resolution, leading to the release of mental toxicity and creating a healthier mindset well into their golden years.

— Sherri

About the Guest Blogger

Sherri grew up in southeastern Texas walking barefoot and catching crawdads as they swam the creek beds. Her childhood ran rampant with talk of ghosts, demons, and backcountry folklore, inspiring her first short story about a poisonous flower that shot toxins onto curious children. Her classmate bought it for all the change in his pocket.

Woman with long auburn hair sits outdoors in a blue embroidered blouse, resting her chin on her hand by a blurred fence.

Not long after, her mother packed the two of them up and headed to the central coast of California. She has explored the vast area ever since, using it as a catalyst to her writing, from journaling to fitness articles to fiction. She holds a bachelor’s degree, and is pursuing her master’s, in holistic theology and believes this helps her to see the world through a more colorful and accepting lens.

In writing, her publisher labeled her 2024 debut novel as a paranormal thriller. She would have described it as a cozy murder mystery with generous dashes of magic realism, showing that she loves to merge genres. Her trilogy — Murder, Tea & Crystals — released book one - Murder Under Redwood Moon in March 2024; book two - Moonset on Desert Sands in March 2025; and the final book in the series- Hummingbird Moonrise released October 2025! All three books became an Amazon #1 Best Seller in the Occult Supernatural genre.

Connect with Sherri:

Website: http://www.sherridodd.com/
Instagram: @Sherri.Dodd.Author

Book cover with butterfly over desert canyon at moonset; text reads SHERRI L. DODD and Moonset on Desert Sands.

Sherri is on tour, promoting book 2 in the series. Here's a little more about the title:

With a traumatic year of fending off a serial killer behind her, Arista has settled contentedly into her temporary home with Auntie in Sedona, Arizona. She enjoys her new job selling all things metaphysical and even has her eye on the hot security guard, Dakota, after her recent breakup with Shane.

But a series of new fainting spells has her worried, and when Auntie witnesses one, they decide the answer lies in her home of Boulder Creek. However, returning means not only dealing with her breakup and its heartache but also the possibility of drawing her bloodthirsty Uncle Fergus to her once safe haven in the redwoods. And this time he has recruited an even more dangerous alliance.

Arista's closest bonds will be strengthened, but the mounting tension of a death in the desert, a stalker on the streets, and the relentless pursuit of Fergus puts her in dangerous territory, and escaping sorrow proves impossible.

Purchase a copy of Moonset on Desert Sands: