What are emotional needs? Sarah Crossan’s novel provides some insights…
Sarah Crossan’s Young Adult (YA) novel One is, among many things, a marvellous exploration of human beings’ emotional needs. The story is narrated by Grace, one of two conjoined twins: it explores their physical disability in powerful, direct poetry. Grace has go with her sister Tippi everywhere: what is simple for most people is complex for Grace and Tippi: eating, sleeping, moving, going to school, friendships, having a boyfriend all have to be done with someone else right next to you. The novel shows that vital human emotional needs are denied to Grace and Tippi; autonomy, control and privacy are not possible. Other needs such as having status — that is to be taken seriously — are also problematic because of their disability, but this is more about the prejudice of other people and cultural expectations than the disability. This said, the novel shows how Grace and Tippi have something many people don’t have; a huge sense of belonging and connection. Crossan’s narrative explores these emotional needs in a unique and illuminating fashion, and provides all of us with a perspective on our emotional needs.
Writers and emotional needs
The concept of humans having innate emotional needs — as well as physiological ones such as need food, water, oxygen, exercise etc — has been formulated by psychologists and psychotherapists in the century. Perhaps most famously, Abraham Maslow formulated what has come to be termed a ‘hierarchy of needs’ (although Maslow himself didn’t see these needs in a strict hierarchy). Since then, numerous models of human needs have been developed. One of these that has interested me is a psychotherapeutic one developed by an organisation called Human Givens. They have spelt them out in this useful diagram:
The Human Givens approach builds upon Maslow’s and other psychological models, and argues that these emotional needs are innate to humans, and that when these needs are missing in someone’s life then this can cause mental illness. Whether they are innate is debatable in my mind, but for me the model is a very helpful one from which to understand a writer’s needs. In particular, because writing is so linked, in many ways, with publishing work, considering a writer’s emotional needs in connection with publishing offers many insights. It provides a perspective from which to understand how publishing can both meet and not meet a writer’s emotional needs. Many writers suffer from mental ill health, particularly in connection with publishing. The Society of Authors (2023) observe:
More than half of the authors surveyed (54%) said their experience of publishing their debut book negatively affected their mental health. Only one in five (22%) reported a positive experience overall.
Publishing can provide writers with a sense of meaning and purpose
Many professional writers can have very negative experiences regarding publishing their books, for several reasons: publishers can exploit writers, fail to understand, edit and promote their work properly, put unrealistic expectations on writers to sell their work and so on.
However, publishing can bring a real sense of meaning and purpose for creative writers, particularly in educational contexts. Teachers of creative writing, take note!
In particular, the creative writing charities Ministry of Stories and First Story, which work with children from disadvantaged areas in the United Kingdom, use a pedagogical model which puts the publishing of the children’s work at the centre. Typically, a creative writing tutor will work with a group of children on their stories, poems, scripts etc over a span of a few weeks, a month or even a year (in First Story’s case) and foster meaningful redrafting of work so that it can be published either online or in book form at the end of the teaching period. In such a way, the creative writing tutor builds what Etienne Wenger first termed as a ‘community of practice’ around the notion of publishing the work at some point. Communities of practice are organically run — as opposed to project teams which are much more linear — but they do have end points; for writers, publishing serves a useful point of closure and often brings meaning to the process.
Publishing can support feelings of belonging and connection
The science fiction writer and theorist, Ursula Le Guin, speculated that stories can be ‘containers’ or ‘carrier bags’ for lots of different ‘objects’ — plot devices, characters, settings, images — analogous to our ancestors putting varied tools in a ‘carrier bag’ in order to support their nomadic lifestyles. Crucially, stories are about human beings feeling included in stories, perceiving connections between people and the environment. She critiqued patriarchal ideas of stories where there are always male heroes, conflict, violence, and death. Rather she saw that stories about bringing people together, creating feelings of belonging across cultures, rather than against cultures. Publishing people’s creative work can do this. A book can be like Le Guin’s carrier bag in that books such as anthologies or stories written for, and by groups of people, can help communities connect with one another.
Publishing can nurture status and feelings of autonomy and control
As Philippa East points out in her article about publishing and writers’ mental health for the Society of Authors, a major trigger for writers is uncertainty. She writes:
Many, many things in publishing are uncertain. Will I be accepted or rejected? Will my book sell? How many people will read it? Will they give it a one-star or five-star review? Will my editor leave to have a baby or go to a new job? Will my editorial notes suggest a page-one rewrite? Why did no-one tell me my release date has been moved?
Ultimately, these points are about status and feelings of autonomy and control. Many writers feel that they have a very low status in the publishing process. They are often so grateful to be published that they may well sign contracts that are exploitative. In the academic world, writers are usually not even paid advances or royalties. Despite the fact that publishers have enjoyed greater profits in recent years and the rising cost of living, writers’ incomes have diminished considerably. Publishing work in the modern era is a daunting business because of all the reasons that East lists.
This said, writers have more autonomy and control in some respects than before. It is much easier to self-publish than it used to be, and, in some quarters, though not all, the stigma of self-publishing has disappeared. I have found that self-publishing my study guides through Amazon’s KDP platform has generated much more income for me than I would have done if I had gone to a traditional publisher. Furthermore, I have also discovered that forming a publishing collective, Blue Door Press, has provided me and my fellow writers with more autonomy and control over publishing my fiction than I would have had with a traditional publisher. This is because I have been able to publish work that the group has deemed worthy of publication; there’s been a stringent editorial process, with more emphasis on the quality of the work than how much it might sell.
References
Bolton, G. and ProQuest (2011) Write yourself creative writing and personal development. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
East, P. (2023) Dream job? Or psychological nightmare? London, Society of Authors. URL: https://societyofauthors.org/2023/08/09/dream-job-or-psychological-nightmare/ (Accessed 8/01/2025)
Leave a Reply