(Note: This article isn't about mental health or avoiding treatment for mental illnesses. If you're sick, schedule an appointment with the appropriate doctor.)
You’re a writer—and chances are, you’re insane. Not in a clinical, diagnostic way (hopefully), but in the delightful, sideways-thinking, deeply imaginative sense of the word.
We’ve all heard the clichés: “Writers are a little crazy,” “You have to be mad to write,” “All the best authors are nuts.” These sayings exist because there’s some truth in them—not that we’re unwell, but that writers simply do not think like everyone else. And that’s not only okay—it’s a superpower.
Writers see patterns where others see chaos. They hear dialogue in their heads that no one else can hear. They dream in metaphors. They obsess over obscure facts. They feel everything too much or too little, and then they write about it.
So stop trying to be “normal.” Embrace your particular brand of madness—because that’s where the magic happens.
1. Your Insanity Is Your Author Voice
You don’t need to be the next Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or Octavia Butler. You need to be you—in all your weird, unfiltered, semi-chaotic glory.
Your author voice isn’t just about word choice or tone—it’s a reflection of how you think. It’s your sense of humor, your emotional rhythms, your unique way of seeing the world. Are you morbidly curious about death? Unreasonably obsessed with time travel? Do you find yourself narrating your own grocery shopping like it’s an epic quest? That’s not something to hide—that’s your brand.
Own the strange cocktail of impulses, fascinations, and flaws that make up your mind. That’s the stuff your readers will fall in love with—because no one else can write quite like you.
2. Your Wildest Thoughts Are Plot Gold
What’s the most bizarre, outlandish, completely unhinged idea you’ve ever had?
Maybe you’ve imagined what would happen if everyone’s thoughts suddenly became public. Maybe you’ve pictured a world where people legally marry buildings. Maybe you once plotted to rob a bank using an army of trained squirrels.
Good. Write that.
These strange, impossible, delightfully weird thoughts aren’t something to be embarrassed about—they’re the raw material of brilliant fiction. Some of the greatest books started with a single crazy thought that no one else would take seriously.
Even the intrusive thoughts you try to push away—the uncomfortable, dark, or taboo ones—can be transformed into meaningful stories. Writing through them can be therapeutic, cathartic, or simply a way to release the pressure valve on your brain. Better out than stuck inside, right?
3. The Weirdest Thing That’s Ever Happened to You Is Story Fuel
Life is messy and strange—and if you’re a writer, that’s a gift.
Think about the most bizarre or surreal experience you’ve ever had. Maybe it was hilarious, maybe it was traumatic, maybe it was just so awkward you still wake up thinking about it ten years later. Whatever it was, there’s a story in it.
Let’s say your car broke down in the desert and you ended up hitchhiking with a truck full of parrots. Or maybe you once dated someone who turned out to be running a pyramid scheme out of their mom’s basement. These are not just cocktail party anecdotes—they're seeds for unforgettable fiction.
The trick is to fictionalize, expand, twist, and transform these real-life moments. Take the truth and make it bigger, weirder, scarier, funnier. Ask yourself: What if this had gone differently? What if this happened to my character instead? Boom—you’ve got a plot.
4. Your Irrational Rage is Creative Fuel
What irrationally pisses you off? Go ahead, be honest.
Is it slow walkers? People who clap when a plane lands? Socks that won’t stay up? Or maybe it’s bigger stuff—economic inequality, broken systems, performative morality on social media. Whatever gets your blood boiling, write about it.
Anger is energy. When you channel it into fiction, it becomes powerful, propulsive storytelling. Give your characters your weirdest pet peeves or your most righteous fury. Let them throw a chair, burn down a system, or just spend a whole page ranting about the smell of artificial vanilla.
Readers connect with characters who feel. If something makes you mad, chances are someone else feels the same—and your story might give them a voice.
5. Your Quirks Are Your Character Blueprint
Do you always tap a doorframe three times before entering? Do you eat the same lunch every day? Have you been known to rewrite a single sentence 42 times because it doesn’t quite feel right yet?
Great. Use it.
Your quirks—your tics, your odd habits, your rituals and fixations—can become the DNA of unforgettable characters. The world doesn’t need another flawless protagonist. Give us the twitchy, anxious inventor who alphabetizes their spoons. Give us the detective who solves crimes by interpreting dreams. Give us the necromancer who’s terrified of germs.
When you build characters out of your own “insanity,” they feel real—not because they’re normal, but because they’re deeply, believably human.
6. Your Obsessions Are Story Themes
What are the things you can’t stop thinking about? What do you circle back to, over and over, in your journaling, your daydreams, your 2 a.m. shower thoughts?
Those obsessions—death, identity, betrayal, time, parenthood, love, revenge, justice—aren’t random. They’re the themes you’re meant to explore in your writing. They’re the questions your stories are supposed to wrestle with.
Don’t try to be “balanced” or “normal” in your storytelling. Lean into your obsessions. Write the same story five times in five different ways if you need to. That’s not laziness—it’s you digging deeper. That’s where the truth lives.
Embrace the Madness—It’s Your Muse
When you embrace your uniqueness—your quirks, your dark thoughts, your obsessions, your irrational reactions—you’re doing more than just accepting yourself.
You’re tapping into your author voice. You’re unlocking the part of you that has something specific to say. And once you start writing from that raw, strange, personal place, you’ll find that you’re writing the kind of stories you wish you could have read. The kind of stories that make readers feel seen. The kind of stories only you can tell.
So yes, you’re a little insane.
Good. Stay that way.
✅ The Official "I’m a Gloriously Insane Writer" Checklist
☐ I’ve had at least one idea so bizarre I’m scared to tell my friends about it.
(You should tell them—but only after you sell the movie rights.)
☐ I hear fictional voices in my head and let them argue.
(And sometimes I pick sides. With popcorn.)
☐ I’ve written angry scenes while muttering under my breath.
("Take that, Greg-from-high-school!")
☐ I’ve turned an embarrassing or traumatic experience into a chapter, subplot, or entire trilogy.
(Bonus points if it now outsells your ex's self-published memoir.)
☐ I’ve based a character’s weirdest trait on me.
(They organize their socks by color and mood. So what?)
☐ I’ve written a scene purely to process an existential crisis.
(And ended up with one of my best chapters.)
☐ I get irrationally excited about obscure research no one else cares about.
(Ask me about 19th-century medical leeches. I dare you.)
☐ I’ve Googled things that would definitely put me on a government watchlist—for a book.
(“How long does it take to dissolve a body in lye” is for research. I swear.)
☐ I’ve written stories that make even me question my sanity.
(And I loved every minute of it.)
☐ I’ve finally accepted that “normal” is overrated.
(I’m weird. I write weird stuff. That’s why it’s good.)
Final Score:
- 0–3 boxes checked: You're still hiding. Let your freak flag fly!
- 4–7 boxes checked: You’re halfway to literary lunacy. Keep going.
- 8–10 boxes checked: Congratulations. You are a gloriously unhinged writer. Never change.