# People who write compulsively/obsessively--what's going on there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011 "2005-12-04T07:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/1 "2005-12-04T07:05:00Z")
I’ve met several people, and read about more, who write constantly. There are several commonalities: they use spiral-bound notebooks, they’re secretive about what they’re writing, they keep everything they’ve written. Is this a special syndrome or something? The particular person I’m thinking of has several other interesting behavioral habits but I think they’re, um, psychological problems. 1) Grover-like speech, as in "Grover will ride the me-Tal bicycle and 2) total belief that personal choices are wrong. When at a resturant this person will always order whatever you are having. ALWAYS. It’s kinda creepy. Any light anyone could bring to bear would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/2 "2005-12-04T07:35:15Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Is this a special syndrome or something? A pathological compulsion to write is called “hypergraphia.” As far as I know, it’s really more of a simple symptom than a part of a syndrome. It can result from at least two causes: Either a quasi-epileptic condition, or localized brain damage, as from a stroke or a tumour. I wouldn’t place too much importance on the commonalities you’ve noted. For instance, I use spiral notebooks, am “secretive” about what I write (in that I don’t show anything to anyone, and get annoyed if they ask to look at it) and keep everything I write. No pathology there, though, I’m just working on something and hope to get it done someday. I won’t speculate about what’s wrong with the person you’re thinking about. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/3 "2005-12-04T08:50:08Z")
I’m going to WAG that these folks also have horrible scrunched-up crabby handwriting, and that they cover _every last frickin square centimeter of every line of the paper._ And that they _always_ use lined paper. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/4 "2005-12-04T09:17:12Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > And that they _always_ use lined paper. Is there something weird about that? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/5 "2005-12-04T09:53:00Z")
Yes, it’s _lined_ man, _lined_. Don’t you find that, kind of, vaguely creepy? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/6 "2005-12-04T10:30:59Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > Yes, it’s _lined_ man, _lined_. Don’t you find that, kind of, vaguely creepy? Hmmm… When I think about it… I’m going to make an appointment with a psychiatrist … ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/7 "2005-12-04T15:11:10Z")
I believe this is also seen in one or more varieties of schizoprenia (as least the writing part, not sure about the other symptoms mentioned). First person I thought of in this context was cartoonist R. Crumb’s brother, from the documnetary about Crumb. First the brother started doing cartoons with larger and larger word balloons crowding out the pictures, then there weren’t anymore pictures and the writing turned into a scrawl as the psychological problems worsened. So far as I know there was no trauma; this developed gradually. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/8 "2005-12-04T19:51:44Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > I’m going to WAG that these folks also have horrible scrunched-up crabby handwriting, and that they cover _every last frickin square centimeter of every line of the paper._ And that they _always_ use lined paper. Actually, the few I met use…paper grocery bags. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/9 "2005-12-04T23:52:28Z")
If the ONLY weird behavior is writing a lot, keeping it and not showing it to anyone, ignore it. There’s nothing pathological about keeping a diary or journal. Some people, like Samuel Pepys, have achieved posthumous fame that way. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/10 "2005-12-05T00:44:56Z")
People in the manic phase of Bipolar Disorder often write in bursts that can run for days straight with little or no sleep. In some instances, they even complete something like a novel that turns out pretty well. These are usually localized however, and I am pretty sure that is not what you are describing. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/11 "2005-12-05T01:13:37Z")
There are cases of hypergraphia that certainly don’t easily fit into any ideas of all such people being hopelessly dysfunctional personalities. Samuel Pepys, as ryobserver notes, was an obsessive diarist whose diaries are now considered important pieces of literature. How do you characterize Philip K. Dick from 1974 to his death in 1982? After a series of events in February and March of 1974 where he had a psychotic breakdown/had a series of divine visions/was contacted by aliens/was the subject of broadcasts by the CIA or KGB or whatever, he spent the remaining eight years of his life writing a million-and-a-half word journal speculating on the events in 1974. It certainly decreased the amount of fiction he wrote in those years, although some of the ideas from the diaries ended up in the novels he did write. How would you characterize J. R. R. Tolkien? In his late teens he started to create a fantasy world. He worked on it, often changing it and writing it up in various literary forms, for all of his remaining life (and he lived to be 81). This might sound like the biography of a schizophrenic, but Tolkien lived a full life outside this writing in his fantasy world: marrying, having four children, fighting in World War I, and becoming a professor at Oxford. At 45, he published a popular children’s book that incorporated parts of this fantasy world. At 62, he published a novel using even more from the fantasy world. It is now by a long, long shot the best-selling novel of all time. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/12 "2005-12-05T01:46:24Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > How would you characterize J. R. R. Tolkien? In his late teens he started to create a fantasy world. He worked on it, often changing it and writing it up in various literary forms, for all of his remaining life (and he lived to be 81). \*\* This might sound like the biography of a schizophrenic, but Tolkien lived a full life outside this writing in his fantasy world: marrying, having four children, fighting in World War I, and becoming a professor at Oxford.\*\* At 45, he published a popular children’s book that incorporated parts of this fantasy world. At 62, he published a novel using even more from the fantasy world. It is now by a long, long shot the best-selling novel of all time. The life that you describe outside of this fantasy world does not preclude nor occlude schizophrenics. Truly, schizophrenics have fought in wars, had children, and become professors. This doesn’t define the disease, nor prove that Tolkien was or wasn’t schizophrenic. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/13 "2005-12-05T01:54:22Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#): > > Yes, it’s _lined_ man, _lined_. Don’t you find that, kind of, vaguely creepy? I don’t like them creepy lines, nohow. I keep a sketchbook at work to take notes in: nice, heavy paper, without any of those constraining lines. I don’t sketch in the ones that I keep at work, or even significantly doodle. I just use them as a relatively disorderly note pad. I’ve had two arguments–one fairly heated–with people who discovered I was using unlined paper just to take notes. Apparently, this is a symptom of something seriously wrong with me. I also keep my notes private by the simple expedient of strong-encryption-level poor handwriting. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/14 "2005-12-05T02:17:49Z")
devilsknew writes: \> The life that you describe outside of this fantasy world does not preclude nor \> occlude schizophrenics. And I wasn’t trying to say that it did. Put it this way: If you were to say that there’s someone who spent essentially their entire adult life working on writing about a fantasy world, one that they didn’t publish anything about for the first twenty years of their writing, one that the main narrative about this world was only published after their death (and sixty years of their life working on it), the image that many people would get in their minds was some isolated schizophrenic who scribbled into notebooks with no other life who hardly even left his house. Tolkien, whatever his writing style, didn’t fit that image (which isn’t a real psychiatric image anyway). Tolkien led by nearly any standard a full life. Tolkien, by all accounts of his life, was not schizophrenic. I wasn’t saying that fighting in a war, marrying, having children, or being a professor precluded being a schizophrenic. At most I was saying that some people have the (mistaken) impression that it precludes being a schizophrenic. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/15 "2005-12-05T02:34:09Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > I don’t like them creepy lines, nohow. I keep a sketchbook at work to take notes in: nice, heavy paper, without any of those constraining lines. I don’t sketch in the ones that I keep at work, or even significantly doodle. I just use them as a relatively disorderly note pad. > > I’ve had two arguments–one fairly heated–with people who discovered I was using unlined paper just to take notes. Apparently, this is a symptom of something seriously wrong with me. > > I also keep my notes private by the simple expedient of strong-encryption-level poor handwriting. I don’t mind some lined paper. I like the lined paper with the lines you can’t see, but you know they are there, and they just guide your hand so it doesn’t stray, they also help the words come out you know? I don’t like lined paper that forces you to write stuff you don’t want to though. That stuff is evil, and it makes me want to do bad things. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/16 "2005-12-05T04:46:22Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > How do you characterize Philip K. Dick from 1974 to his death in 1982? PKD is particularly germane to the discussion of hypergraphia. People (certainly helped along by Dick’s own fixation) tend to mark 2/3/74 as a watershed when his behaviour changed radically – but I think if you take a larger view this distinction is artificial, and his personality change was much more graduated. Based only on Dick’s self-reporting, many people have speculated about the onset of temporal lobe epilepsy, pointing to the reported symptoms: Hyperreligiosity, hypergraphia, and diminished sex drive. This ignores the decades _before_ 2/3/74, when Dick used massive amounts of methamphetamine in order to keep his literary output at a level where penny-a-word pulp publishing paid off, more or less. (Usually less.) If you look carefully at this period, you’ll find that he had all of these symptoms long before he saw the pink light and his focus narrowed – and all of these conditions are frequently associated with amphetamine use. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/17 "2005-12-05T04:55:01Z")
I should point specifically to _Confessions of a Crap Artist_ (1959), as people can easily argue the bizarre ontological themes in his short fiction might have been purely fictional. _Crap Artist_ is clearly a _roman a clef_ in which Phil held the mirror up to himself pretty brutally – His rational self denigrating his irrational self. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/18 "2005-12-05T13:49:04Z")
I call him “Stephen King” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/19 "2005-12-05T14:45:01Z")
IMHO, this is all sort of overkill - the behavior noted in the OP is mostly, in my experience, a symptom of self-important adolescence. Come on, the teenagers with poor social skills and dark wardrobes who were always writing secretively in notebooks weren’t mostly schizophrenics, they were unhappy teenagers who would be much happier once they got to college. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-write-compulsively-obsessively-whats-going-on-there/334011/20 "2005-12-05T15:29:23Z")
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