Tip 3- How to handle a character's depression
Alright, this one.
Let me get something straight; NO. FUCKING. CUTTING. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I will go over how to CORRECTLY handle cutting, but NO, NO FUCKING CUTTING IF A CHARACTER IS MINORLY SAD. THIS PISSES ME OFF AND I DON'T KNOW WHY.
ANYWAYS! How does depression really feel besides "Boo-Hoo I sad feel bad for me"? Well, make the character extremely tired, unmotivated, and sorta detached from the world. A good idea for a depressed character is one that is constantly searching for love, and attention. They're lazy, yet the first sign of affection they are given, they become the person's loyal servant. Make the character find somebody that loves them, and the first time the two have sex, the character finally feels happiness, and wants it more, and more, until the character becomes addicted to sex. They didn't say anything about their feelings, and eventually see they're being used, yet, they don't want to stop, finally finding a way to escape reality, trying to make their worth to the one who gives them pleasure. On the surface, the character doesn't seem depressed, but they feel worthless, wanting to prove they are worthy. The idea came from the cover of this song lol:
[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]
Writing a character that is desperately looking for some sort of escape and worth in the world, ending up finding nothing because their standards for who they want to be is to high, they don't wanna get up in the morning, sleeping more then the average person. They feel happiness, but mainly sadness. Yet they don't recognized the sadness, because it's unbalanced chemicals in their brain, making them feel emotionless because the sadness takes over their happiness instead of the balance. Depressed characters have very short temper, and are easily angry. They are not always easily offended, but easily pissed off. They make themselves seem bigger then they actually are, trying to feel as if they rain power, wanting to feel special in a world where we're all just background characters in somebody else's shitty movie.
Now, how to handle cutting correctly;
Good when-
The character is NOT sad, rather over whelmed with stress and sadness, to the point they want to feel relief by taking it out on themselves.
Bad when-
Something makes the character sad, SO THE CHARACTER FUCKING GOES IN THE BATHROOM TO CUT THEMSELVES. NO, THAT'S NOT HOW IT FUCKING WORKS, I'M NOT EVEN TALKING ABOUT ONE STORY IN PARTICULAR, BECAUSE SO MANY FUCKING DO THIS AND IT MAKES ME FURIOUS. JUST BECAUSE YOUR SAD DOESN'T MEAN YOU CUT YOURSELF!
I'm comparing cutting to my trichotillomania, a mental disorder where I have an uncontrollable urge to pull out my hair. I pull out a strand of my hair, if it has that white thing or a bulb I typically put it in my mouth, bite it off, then throw the hair on my lap or on the floor. This usually happens when I'm bored, stressed, or anxious, occasionally when I'm lost in thought.
I do not EVER pull my hair when I'm sad, because I'm to focused on me being sat rather then me yanking out a strand of my hair. But when I'm overwhelmed and stressed? Hell yeah I do! I'm trying to stop, but occasionally I pull out a strand here and there. I think that's why I write so much at night, so my hands are busy. If you wanna know how bad it was a month and a half ago, I have a bald spot along my scalp and side burns. Yeah. Tens of thousands of hairs are gone. if you look at pictures of me, you'll notice my hairline isn't thickly packed with hair unlike most of my scalp.
Cutting is more related to anxiety rather then depression, but it's so fucking overused I suggest not even going for it. There's one author I'm mainly talking about, but I forgot their name. All I know is that they're a Sanscest writer who makes their stories to long, boring, dramatic, and god damn there's a lot of cutting... they do plan their stories out but viewer influence has caused them to fuck up the story to the point it makes no sense, [WARNING, I BEGIN GOING ON A RANT HERE LOL] like in their ErrorInk book they were originally planning on Cross being depressed and Dream making him happy again, Blue broke up with Dust and was supposed to get with Fell after Fell breaks up with Sci, to which Sci would get with Outer, BUT NOOOO. WE GOT DREAMBERRY, which by the way, I fucking hate that ship because the two are more of best friends then lovers, FELL AND SCI STAY TOGETHER, CROSS STAYS FUCKING DEPRESSED, OUTER NEVER COMES IN THE STORY, ETC. I MEAN, DREAM AND BLUE SHOWED NO ATTRACTION FOR THE OTHER UNTIL HE THREW IT IN, AND I RAGE QUIT.
If you know what fanfic I'm talking about, you probably will not agree, but I hate their writing style. They got the characters in a romantic relationship at like chapter 10 when there's 70. FUCKING. CHAPTERS. And they're bad at writing relationships! I'm going to be fucking honest here! Silly Petals at least knows how to write it to where it's still adorable but not to the point where it gets god awful boring. The person's relationship goes like;
"'i love you' 'same' *make out*"
Just- I don't like it. I don't know why I have such a big problem with it, it just feels soulless. Silly Petals' writing has Albert actually caring for Selozar, and everything is done with consent.
UPDATE BEFORE PUBLISH:The guy took down his stories, knowing it was bad. He got a burst of self hate, and yeah, that's sad, but I'm not taking back my opinion because of pity. And if he does ever publish them again, don't make fun of him. I might be an absolute dick for saying this, but I can't help but use it as an example. No hate on the guy himself, I just didn't like his writing style, it always infuriated me for some reason.
SHIT, I WENT ON AN OVERLY LONG RANT.
SORRY ABOUT THAT!
I ADDED A WARNING.
But that's about it, OH! AND IF YOUR CHARACTER IS DEPRESSED TO THE POINT OF SUICIDE, FUCKING THERAPY.
I have never seen a writer put their depressed character into therapy, because trust me, I've been having therapy for three years, and it helps A LOT. Along with medication, but that's it.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro