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How To Write And Research Mental Illnesses
Mental illnesses are a large aspect of literature often incorporated into various different genres. However, even with their prevalence, many authors are often unaware of how to write about mental illnesses accurately. If you’re an author writing a character with a mental illness, here are some tips on how to write with mental illnesses.
Don’t ‘Self Diagnose’ Your Characters
When writing about mental illnesses it’s important to consider whether or not your character would realistically have this mental illness given their situation and story. Many authors often ‘self diagnose’ their characters without actually taking the time to research these illnesses and figure out whether their character would develop this illness if they were a real person.
I say ‘self diagnose’ because as authors we generally do diagnose our characters based on our own interpretations and plans for them and their story, without looking to real people with these illnesses.
Just because your character is going through an unproductive slump doesn’t mean they they are depressed. Just because your character is nervous and experiencing stage fright doesn’t mean they have anxiety.
Take the time to look into these mental illnesses and genuinely consider whether or not your character has a mental illness, or if you’re just self diagnosing and wrongly labelling them.
Do Your Research
Whenever I blog about such sensitive topics, I always find myself ultimately mentioning this one point. This is because even with so many resources available to us both online and offline, writers still choose to be blissfully unaware of sensitive topics mentioned in their WIPs or stories.
I sincerely cannot stress how important it is for a writer to do their due diligence and research the topics they write for, especially if it is something as sensitive as mental illnesses.
Once you have established that your character would realistically develop or undergo a mental illness given the situation they are in, it is now time to research what exactly they would go through.
A simple google search can tell you everything you need to know about your character’s mental illness. Or, you could reach out to people you know who suffer from the same illness and ask them questions about it.
Researching your character’s mental illness helps ensure you don’t accidentally misrepresent that illness or create symptoms that are inaccurate and insulting to people who do suffer from that mental illness. It will also provide you with a sense of ease as an author, and allow you to work on your WIP without having to worry about accidentally offending an entire community.
Remember The Three Ss
One of the biggest challenges writers face with writing with mental illnesses is unrealistic representation. Unsure where to start with your research? Here is a simple guide for you to keep in mind.
When writing about mental illnesses, you need to recall the three Ss:
Symptoms
Side effects
Stages
Symptoms
Every illness or disease has its own symptoms, the same applies to mental illnesses. When writing about a character with mental illnesses, you need to take the time to research the symptoms of this illness and how these symptoms can impact your character on a day-to-day and general level.
For example, a character with PTSD would face trouble sleeping and concentrating, would be irritable, angry and face overwhelming guilt or shame. These symptoms can all make it hard for a person to excel at school or the workplace and can lead to delayed deadlines, unfinished work, and a lot of stress and anxious thinking.
A character with PTSD would likely not be able to handle being at the top of their class, unless they completely engross themselves in their studies to the point where they can’t think of anything except that. However, if that were the case then they would find it very hard to handle ‘normal’ situations and wouldn’t be getting a lot of sleep.
Side Effects
A side effect is a temporary and commonly unwanted effect of a drug or medical condition. Unlike a symptom, a side effect can be harmful or beneficial and most go away on their own over time.
They wouldn’t be considered as ‘serious’ as a symptom, however, they can still significantly impact your character, their story, and their dynamics with the characters they interact with.
Following the above example, a character with PTSD would generally suffer from an inability to develop or maintain positive, healthy interpersonal relationships and an inability to trust others. They also often face side effects such as social isolation, chronic feelings of fear, etc.
These are all side effects that would make it hard for a character with PTSD to maintain emotional relationships. You can use this to portray their sudden lack of connection with friends and family, and how they find themselves only associating with people who have either been through or understand their situation.
Stages
A person with cancer, or other such physical illnesses, doesn’t suddenly hit a chronic level overnight. The same logic applies to mental illnesses. Mental illnesses don’t just develop overnight. Your character won’t suddenly wake up one day in chapter ten and have a full-blown panic attack because they developed a panic disorder.
Yes, people can face symptoms or side effects pertaining to a mental illness after facing a traumatic event. However, when writing about such events, it’s very important to do your research and consider whether or not a person would realistically undergo such serious symptoms in such a small timeframe given the circumstances.
Outside of incidents that are a direct result of a traumatic event, it’s important to consider the stages your character would experience as a result of their mental illness.
For example, a person with PTSD goes through five stages, the first being the impact or emergency stage, during which they struggle to process or deal with the situation they have gone through. Then comes the denial or numbing stage.
Following the above example, a numbing stage would be akin to when a character pretends the traumatic event never occurred and throws themselves into their work or school. Then comes a rescue stage, which would be when other characters begin to intervene or when the character comes to terms with the events and starts to better themselves.
Knowing the stages of your character’s mental illness allows you to accurately plan out what happens in your story and create a realistic portrayal of their suffrage. It also helps flesh out your story for your readers and allows you to seamlessly incorporate your character’s illness into the story.
Don’t Define Them By Their Mental Illness
Now that you have a general idea of how to write and research mental illnesses, I would like to end this blog post with a small reminder. People with mental illnesses are human. They have personalities, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and other such traits that often have nothing to do with their mental illness.
When writing with a mental illness, it’s important to take this into account and ensure you don’t constantly define your character by their mental illness, or even worse, reduce them to their mental illness.
I hope this blog on how to write and research mental illnesses will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper, and follow my blog for new blog updates every Monday and Thursday.
Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks?
Are you an author looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Or do you want to learn about how to get a literary agent, get published and properly market your book? Consider checking out the rest of Haya’s book blog where I post writing and marketing tools for authors every Monday and Thursday.
#writing community#haya's book blog#haya blogs#hayatheauthor#haya sameer#writing tools#creative writing#writing tag#writing tips and tricks#writing tips#writing tip#writing troubles#writing things#writing advice#writing resources#writing research#writing inspo#writing improvement#writing help#writing mental illness#writer community#writer things#writer tips#writer speaks#writer struggles#female writers#writer resources#writer advice#writer inspiration#writer tag
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I think I vaguely remember that achilles screamed and cried so loud that thetis was able to hear him from the depths of the sea. I feel like gotham villains would feel a collective jolt out of nowhere 😔 (and tim amd Alfred might feel a bit of an ache in their hearts💔)
… Pls I still need to actually write that part how am I supposed to do that when I’m a sobbing little pile on the floor omg 😭😭😭😭
#I didn’t remember that part but omg#seriously I’m so scared of actually writing dick’s grief#partially because I want to do those emotions justice#and partially because I know I’m gonna end up crying lol#ghost talks#owl song#talon dick grayson#writing troubles#dick grayson#jason todd#batfamily#a death in the family
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I just realised I forgot to include a pretty important scene in my last update of 'It runs in the blood'.
I guess this is what happens when I write without structure or drafts or too many plans, thinking 'I'll remember to add that when the time comes'.
Well, I didn't remember.
I don't know how I'll get myself out of this one 😂
#writing troubles#when the author doesn't get enough sleep#when the author lacks discipline#it runs in the blood
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Hey, got a plot hole that needs fixing?
Well I got your back! Here at Voids-R-Words we got all the concrete you’d ever need to fix those holes!
Don’t know what concrete you need to fill the hole? It’s alright! Just tell us the details of the hole and we’ll find just exactly what you need! We’ll even give you a bunch of different options for concrete filler.
You got the hole, we got the concrete.
Send in your asks or reblog/reply this post with your hole information and we’ll find you the right concrete to ensure that that pesky hole will never see the light of day again! And don’t worry, as our service is free of charge! And no matter how deep of a hole or situation you may have found yourself in, be not afraid, we can still fix it! It may take a bit more time to get back to you but we promise that your plot hole will get fixed!
And even if you’re not a writer? Reblog to save a writers life!
#plot holes#writing#writing advice#writers on tumblr#plot hole#writing troubles#author troubles#plot hole fixes
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‼️Looking for a fanfic Co-Writer‼️
I am so confused cause this is like the first time I have ever done anything like this, but I am looking for a Co-Writer on my 'Heliophile' story. It's a Sun/Moon x Reader fic. I have most of the plot and chapters figured out, I just need a little help writing cause personal stuff has me struggling to finish chapters
If you seem interested or anything, pls DM me
#fanfic#fanfic community#cowritten fic#co writing#co written#ao3 writer#writing troubles#writing#writers on tumblr#writeblr#fanfiction#famfiction#fanfic writing#fanfic comments#temmtamm
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Calling upon anyone who will help me bc I am STRUGGLING!!!!
How does one just write stories. Like as a hobby. And also ENJOY writing stories enough to not feel like they're actively dying with every sentence??
I Don't Get It, I want to be writing more but the process feels so excruciating a lot of the time and IDK!! Going off my drawing hobby, I know the beginning of that was extremely similar, where I only drew to show people my art but got so exhausted by The Expectation To Draw Nice So People Will Like It and that SUCKED but then eventually it just Went Away and I could draw in my sketchbook all the time without ever feeling like showing ppl my stuff or stressing too much about it looking bad? And it's super nice cause I just enjoy art for the process of it
Idk when that happened or why but how do I do THAT with WRITING!!!!!
#writing#writing advice#writing troubles#writing tips#uhhhh what other tags can I beg for help from#writing help#writeblr
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As always, the next chapter has, yet again, become the next next chapter. And my brain only decided to start being productive after midnight.
Me: "Please, can what I've already written be next in line."
Brain: "What if domesticity? What if discussion?"
Me: "WHAT IF YOU LET THEM GO TO BED? ME INCLUDED?"
Brain: "What if... no."
I added more to the preamble of what was supposed to be the next chapter of Orice just to, ya know, establish some context. I just need to get Mina and Jonathan in bed to sleep, but noooo, I've written nearly 700 words and still have no clue how to get them to bed! I need to get to bed!
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Ur genuinely one of the best fanfic writers I've ever had the fortune to come across. So i have a question for you, do you have any tips on writing in general? How do you decide what should be sfw and what should be NSFW?
Sorry if it's a weird question, I've gotta pick ur brain about it tho
to answer your question on how i decide what’s sfw or nsfw: tbh, it depends. sometimes i sit down to write something perfectly wholesome and it winds up horny. sometimes i sit down to write something filthy and it gets soft halfway through. sometimes it really rides the line between smut and fluff. it just depends on wherever my idea takes me. i consider anything more than kissing OR anything with saucy dialogue should be tagged with nsfw just to be safe, but this is subjective!
for general writing tips (honestly, i’m tired af rn so i’ll probably come back tomorrow to reblog this with more tips but here’s some i think are very helpful for both sfw and nsfw fic writing):
a lot of times authors (including myself) get stuck writing repetitive or mundane scenes. especially when i write smut bc really sex is just the same thing over and over and over again, sometimes at varying speeds, but still.
if you’re stuck on where to go in a scene, remember to not only describe what the characters are doing; describe how they feel, what they’re thinking, what they’re considering doing. remember to describe the internal point of view as well.
how does this character feel towards the other character? has this changed? if so, why, and how do they feel about it?
how do they feel about whatever action they’re doing with the other character? how does the other character make them feel?
do these characters know each other well? do they notice mundane details about each other? if so, include it.
if a character is thinking, feeling, or doing anything, it can be included.
think very hard about how YOU are imagining this scene. you probably forget to mention a detail or two, like a character looking around or running their hands over marks on a table or absentmindedly kicking at the ground.
every minor detail is important to the atmosphere of a scene. adding or omitting certain things can completely change the way a scene feels
also, be very intentional about word choice. why use “angry” when you can use “furious?” why use “break” when you can use “shatter?” why use “yell” when you could use “shriek?” think hard about that sort of thing, it makes all the difference.
and, last one for now: remember to describe emotions physically. do not just say that a character is angry; describe their brows furrowing, hands balling into fists, or their eyes clouding with fury. do not just say a character is sad; describe the tears they are trying to hold back, the quiver in their voice, or the shake in their hands.
i hope this helps, and any authors who are reading this please feel free to reblog! i’m always here to help:)
and also sorry for any typos it is 1:30 am
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Little pissed that I'm not very good at writing smutty fics because I really want to write some kinda rough, teeth and tongue, nails and bruises Scogan fic called "You Scratch My Back I'll Scratch Yours" solely for the sake of having that name, it's the best thing I've ever come up with and it's totally not fair that I don't quite have the smut skills to back it up.
#if anybody has tips on how to write sex without it being awkward or uncomfortably graphic PLEASE share your wisdoms#don't usually grumble on here but like#I need some helps#and also you need to see how brilliant that title is#altho I'm sure someone's done a similar fic with that name before#scogan#Logan howlett#Scott summers#wolverine#cyclops#fic writing#writing troubles#smut#heck it doesn't need to be smutty per se idc about the tone I just need the situation#y'know?#martianbugsbunny grumbles#martianbugsbunny ships
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When you’ve had writers block long enough you consider deleting the entire chapter you’re stuck on just to see if rewriting it from memory will spark something new or help you figure out where you went wrong for your brain to glitch so hard.
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Stubborn Fanfics...
Until one cool autumn day when Napoleon had been climbing the tree out back, fingers digging into the scratchy bark with the reckless abandon of a ten-year-old who knows no fear. He had fallen, grip slipping as gravity seized him in it’s cruel talons, hauling him towards the ground. His spine had itched. Then ached. Then he had screamed as, with a searing surge of pain, his skin had torn- wings bursting from his back in a slew of bloodied feathers.
His mother had found him, curled under the tree, sobbing from the pain, his small body shaking, fair skin smeared with scarlet. And all she had dome was hold him and cry. Plead to her Lord to fix her boy, to take away this curse.
This right here? This is when I realized that this fic is doing its own thing. I have no control over the story, and I am just along for the ride.
god, the number of times this has happened to me... I swear
lol <3
#fanfiction#wingfics#A Tale Of Two Captains#writing troubles#what can you do?#suppose we will just have to see where it goes looool <3
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send me "sit down and write" memes, please, executive dysfunction is even MORE of a bitch when it's stopping me from doing things i want to do. and it's the start of my weekend, too, i want to write.
#shoulder the sky#executive dysfunction#is a bitch#personal#writing troubles#my nanowrimo goal is to just write a little bit every day#and i will make it happen#i WILL
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I have IDEAS and PLANS regarding my fanfic series Speaking with Flowers - specifically regarding Colress and Kyurem - but I can't put them down, nor can I edit the next chapter of A Funeral of Flowers, because my laptop is LOST in the ABYSS known as My Stuff! DX
(I should really go hunting for it - it's around here SOMEWHERE and I can't edit properly on my phone.)
#Text post#Does this count as a vent?#Writing troubles#Fanfic writing#Laptop please WHERE ARE YOU???#I HAVE IDEAS BUT I CAN'T UTILISE THEM YET DX#Colress#Kyurem#On a more positive note I did manage to draw this idea regarding Colress#But I shan't post it yet - I don't want to spoil it!
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every day i wish i were a good enough writer and didn't have extreme crippling anxiety to be able to post some of my works online </3
another factor is how i write mostly about my ocs which i dont think anyone would be interested in reading about 3:
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I used to write...
Hello,
I'm Nag, I'm 21 and I miss writing.
During the pandemic, I began writing short stories and even an attempt to write a novel, which I finished but I now know that I need to check a few things. Anyway, later in 2021, I stopped writing. I stopped doing many things I used to do, but writing is the one I miss the most. Now, everything went back to normal. I go to school and I feel like I am barely doing anything with my time. I have no creativity and I miss the writer I once was. That is why I am writing this. I want to go back in time to 2020, where google docs was my best friend, where my writing playlist appeared in my Spotify wrapped and where my only interaction with my friends was “Hey, I wrote another story!”
So if you can help me in any way, I’m all ears.
#writing#writers of tumblr#writers#women writers#female writers#writerslife#writer's struggles#writer's block#writer's problems#writer's blog#writers problems#writer's thoughts#writing troubles#writing problems#writing help#writing tips#writeblr#writing advice#writer problems
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You ever write a chapter and it’s so close to perfect but there’s just one word that you need, but it doesn’t exist. Introducing: Chat GPT. I now use words like parafond (a word for when you like something but you don’t like it, as in you know it’s good, but you don’t like it), forgetory (knowing you’ve forgotten something, and you know exactly what it is, but you don’t know) and puzzlesation (when you’re talking to someone but you have no clue what to talk about, so you talk about something so random that not even you know what you’re saying.)
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