Old News: Some of the greatest writers in the world were drug addicts, alcoholics, and totally depressed out of their minds. New News: Someone decided to scientifically figure out why.

University of New South Wales Psychology Professor Joe Forgas has done a lot of research around the whole “are sad writers are better writers?” debate, and has decided that bad moods could actually get you closer to your Ulysses-esque masterpiece.

According to Good.is, when Forgas made people watch either a funny movie or a film about Cancer, the people who watched the depressing stuff “produced arguments that were more concrete and therefore more persuasive than the happy campers.”

“People in a negative mood have a better bullshit detector when it [comes] to urban legends, false trivia statements, and even the sincerity of facial expressions.” Forgas apparently determined. “They are more reliable eyewitnesses [and even] overcome stereotypes better.”

The thing we should all keep in mind here (lest you decide to take off for the closest dark bar, pour yourself a glass of bourbon, and wallow in your nearest tragedy), is the fact that Forgas was concentrating on “mild and temporary” bad moods. Moods like the ones which develop during the ending credits of Beaches or after that horrible ASPCA commercial featuring sad dogs and Sarah McLachlan.

Although I’m one of those writers who refuses to smoke day-old cigarettes in the shadows, I have noticed that writing under a sunny disposition usually creates crap. When I’m happy, I’m simply not concentrating. My mind isn’t on the creative process, and if for some reason writing needs to be done, it usually turns out flat. And annoying. At least when read over again during a “mild and temporary” bad mood.

When we’re happy, time and experiences are fleeting. When we’re not happy, everything takes longer (hence the better attention to details and the more careful consideration of syntax during a bad mood). Besides, isn’t the actual act of writing enough to put a person in a mild bad mood? Even those of us who love it? Blank pages blow.