Why Vent Art is Important

Why Vent Art is Important

As of this past month, I have been hit with great amounts of writing inspiration. I’ve been able to churn out story after story, some being only a couple thousand words, to some being full chapters or new projects entirely. I find that often when the muse decides to bless me with motivation is completely random, but as of late I’ve found my spark is coming from a more concrete source: my emotions. 

I always write with my emotions; it’s not uncommon for me to put little pieces of myself and my experiences into the characters I’m writing about. However, this recent bout of inspiration has been different. Being a junior in high school with the stress of figuring out college on top of extracurriculars and family issues, things are piling up, and my stress has been high. But when I sit down to write, all that stress seems to disappear. I write stories where the characters experience similar things to what I experience in real life, which makes the situations easier for me to understand myself. Then I get to see how the characters deal with those scenarios in the fictional world, and build strategies for myself to use in the real world. 

What I’m doing isn’t new, nor is it unusual. It’s called vent art, which The Courier defines as “a piece of art through venting, [vent art] is an activity that has nothing to do with aesthetics, and everything to do with emotion. It’s an art form wholly reliant on channeling your feelings when you don’t know where to put them” (Jarvis). Vent art– which can include any art form such as drawing, writing, painting, songwriting, and so on– allows people to express the harder emotions to handle in a healthy, safe way. Rather than screaming at someone and throwing things across the room, or internalizing their pain and letting it grow, vent art is a way to let your emotions out without potentially hurting yourself or others. On top of that, you get your emotions out of your head and onto something you can see. The part of your brain in charge of processing emotions is significantly more irrational than the part of your brain that processes what you see, which means that getting to see your emotions in front of you helps you think about them more rationally. It is amazing to be able to understand the true scope of the problem, which is often much less than you think once you get to see it in front of you. 

So vent art is good, but how do you actually make vent art? The answer is simple, but sometimes hard to do in practice. All you really need to do is create solely what you’re feeling. Don’t worry about if it is good, or if it even makes sense. Just focus on the emotion you’re creating from, and expand upon it. That can be difficult in practice, since a lot of people are perfectionists when it comes to what they create. The whole point of vent art is that it’s not perfect, because emotion isn’t perfect. That need to make everything “just right” is hard to let go; but once you do, you might find you have a little fun.