So I made a post a few days ago about how my character Scorchstrike was going to develop psychosis symptoms due to trauma, and @Starfall gave me some wonderful advice for (stupid) questions I had. I did research, asked an irl friend a bunch of dumb questions (ty for putting up with me dude) and generally did my best. My reasoning was based in fact. People actually can develop schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms after traumatic events, which was what happened to Scorch, so that's why I thought it would be a good idea.
But when I started writing some drafts after doing a butt-ton of research, I realized my writing was awful. I don't have psychosis, so I wasn't writing an accurate depiction of this serious disorder, and it just felt wrong.
I also realized that Scorch's symptoms look much more like PTSD, which is something I actually have. Blacking out and losing memories during stress, irrational decision making, nightmares, dissociation, and flashbacks are all symptoms Scorch and I have in common, so by writing about myself, I am writing about Scorchstrike, and that's going much better.
My characters all have a little piece of me inside them. Their personalities, experiences, inner voices, and even style choices are all based at least slightly off of myself.
Scorchstrike's mental issues, Silentpaw's childhood and social problems, Cloverspring's intense need for cleanliness, Mothshade's awkwardness and Ivyshade's determination and drive (mostly for weird stuff) are all somewhat from me.
That's why trying to write a character with pieces taken from someone else doesn't work and often ends up being horrible, because I'm unintentionally trying to write a character that isn't me...as me.
I've decided to stick to writing mental disorders and illnesses I have instead of any others because I don't want to make a potentially dangerous mistake until I'm much more confident in my writing abilities.
So Scorchstrike will be very slightly retconned to have PTSD (much more realistic) instead of psychosis symptoms. The experiences I will begin to write about will instead be drawn from my own experiences with mental illness, so my writing may seem a little limited to how I feel.
I apologize if I don't write to other people's expectations. I do this to make people happy, but I am people too, so making myself happy is also important. Even though I didn't hurt anybody by my ghastly writing because my writing wasn't posted,(i don't remember if I posted any please tell me) I still want to apologize. I was wrong, and I want to do better. There are a lot of young kids here, and I want to be a good role model!
Don't shove in a mental disorder or illness to make your character interesting. Writing out Scorch's PTSD, or Silent's autism, would remove a fundamental aspect of who they are. Ask yourself, "Would my character change if they didn't have this illness?" If the answer is no, don't write it. Or whatever, I'm not the writing police.
I plan to minor in psychology, especially mental illnesses, so if majoring in veterinary science doesn't work out I have something to fall back on. Because I do research all the time, sometimes my head gets too big and I think I know everything, but I don't. I'll consider this a learning experience for essay topics in college.
Small edit: I meant psychiatry. And if that doesn't work out, I'm also considering working for CPS, but CPS workers can get a lot of secondary trauma from their job, so that's sort of a last resort.
I actually have a lot of mental illnesses/disorders/problems, so writing a disorder I actually have experience with shouldn't be difficult :/ I have a lot of choices, so I won't be very limited.
@Fletcher I was actually going to make this post a few days ago but I forgot XP So your recent post actually helped me remember I had this sitting in my drafts, so thank you!
Also @BILL. just in case you're interested. Sorry if you don't care.
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Last edited by ChillCat; March 25th, 2021 at 01:29 PM.
Reason: formatting for easier reading
I was worried about where you were going with the character but didn't really want to stop you- however, that doesn't mean you can never write a character with psychosis. You can always do research, or ask me, or anyone else who's experienced it <3
This post is very sweet though, I can't wait to see how Scorch's story continues on
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Don't feel the need to apologize! I can totally see where you're coming from, as I've had to do this with a few of my characters as well. This post gives some really important advice that a lot of people miss out on- including me *lowkey reevaluating my characters now* Scorchstrike is still a really interesting cat and I think PTSD fits her arc better anyway. Good job for recognizing and redeeming this part of her character!
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Last edited by crumbl; March 25th, 2021 at 01:21 PM.
Small apology, because my idiocy knows no bounds
Re: Small apology, because my idiocy knows no bounds
Scorchstrike is still a really interesting cat and I think PTSD fits her arc better anyway. Good job for recognizing and redeeming this part of her character!
