SperoWolf wrote:But all these emus who write poetry or stories do it for the purpose of fulfilling their own desires; venting an emotion they're feeling or trying to bring someone's attention to their current "predicament". Not to say it's harmful to vent or anyone should stop, but I just find it hilarious that SO MUCH of the community built around writing various things are as able to do so as someone with no arms is generally able to swim.
It's basically the golden rule of creating anything. If what you're creating is meant to be indulged in by others, you're doing it for them. Of course you should enjoy it and be self-expressive, but you can't give someone a present intended for yourself and then expect them to enjoy it.
I generally agree that you have to be really, really,
really careful not to let writing about yourself get in the way, but something that I think is missing from your analysis is that writing 'to vent' can be writing for catharsis. And something that's cathartic to you can also be cathartic to a great many other people, because as different as people are, there is still, especially among large groups of people, a great commonality of experience.
So I haven't had a lot of occasion to read emo poetry (or stories), but I wouldn't categorically condemn it. If it's creative, and people are willing to spend time on it, there's probably something of value to someone to be found there. And poetry to me has always seemed like something that is about communicating a feeling or an experience, rather than telling a story, and I think it's only the latter where most of your objections come into play.
SperoWolf wrote:Venting can be good. Venting and passing it off as entertainment... not so much.
That's a business model on youtube
