diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index 0ae455016d..d07a152492 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -1027,8 +1027,7 @@ WriteStream.prototype.flush = function() {
 
 WriteStream.prototype.write = function(data) {
   if (!this.writable) {
-    this.emit("error", new Error('stream not writable'));
-    return false;
+    throw new Error('stream not writable');
   }
 
   this.drainable = true;
diff --git a/lib/tty_win32.js b/lib/tty_win32.js
index 7aa137a094..6ca011a333 100644
--- a/lib/tty_win32.js
+++ b/lib/tty_win32.js
@@ -99,8 +99,7 @@ WriteStream.prototype.isTTY = true;
 
 WriteStream.prototype.write = function(data, encoding) {
   if (!this.writable) {
-    this.emit("error", new Error('stream not writable'));
-    return false;
+    throw new Error('stream not writable');
   }
 
   if (Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {