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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: LizW65 on October 01, 2010, 10:36:57 PM
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Okay, so, one of my works in progress is partly from the viewpoint of a character who is currently undergoing a raging bout of delayed PTSD. He's got it all--the shakes, sleep deprivation, alcohol abuse, irritability, paranoia, memory loss, and so on. He's also started hallucinating a guy whose death he accidentally caused several years ago (one of the primary reasons for the PTSD but since he's blocked out the entire incident, he has no memory of it and thinks the guy is just somebody who recently moved in across the hall from him.) Also, he's on edge because someone burglarized his apartment a few days ago.
Now, I've been envisioning this from a very visual and cinematic POV: time slips, weird cuts, wonky, hallucinogenic Steadycam work, theramins on the soundtrack, and so on. My dilemma is how to translate this into verbal terms so that the reader will think: "Okay, this is really weird for a reason," rather than, "Whoa, where the hell was the editor?!" I guess what I'm striving for is the old "unreliable narrator" thing, so my question is: has anyone here read anything similar to this, how well does it work, and do you know of any works that have used this kind of thing? Recommendations?
FWIW, the setting is the late 1940's and PTSD has yet to be diagnosed; plus, it's set in the real, mundane world so the possibility of a paranormal (or science so advanced it might as well be paranormal) reason behind the strangeness is not even a consideration. Also, this is the second in a series, so the character is already pretty well established and any deviations should raise a few red flags with the careful reader. Any thoughts?
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Also include hyperawareness and flashbacks to the list of symptoms.
What was the event that he's reliving? For example, someone suffering PTSD from a car accident will present slightly differently than say a soldier who made it through a year on the front lines.
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There are a series of books about an English Police Detective and during, I think, WW1, he was in charge of a military unit and had to have one of his men shot because the guy would not go out into the trenches in some stupid (and it truly was stupid) manuever dreamed up by the men at the back. Now, he constantly has this guy with him but whether it's a ghost or just his own conscience is hard to tell. I found them interesting. I think the author's last name is Todd, but am not sure.
As much as you want to write the thing weird - you can't do it so good that you lose your audience. Perhaps you need to have your protagonist have a serious PTSD episode - establish that he's not operating with a full deck. Use some small thing from that episode to establish that the "guy across the hall" is in some way connected with the PTSD. A smell or a color or a sound - just a small tell for your readers. Or is this a script?
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Thanks--that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. (FYI--it's prose, not a play or film, so I'm trying to translate primarily visual ideas into words.) I think the way to do it might be to start out fairly realistic and gradually bring the weird...
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Thanks--that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. (FYI--it's prose, not a play or film, so I'm trying to translate primarily visual ideas into words.) I think the way to do it might be to start out fairly realistic and gradually bring the weird...
I think that's a good way to go. If you just toss your audience in at the deep end of the weird - they're gonna be lost immediately and may not decide to stick around to see what happens.
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Thanks--that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. (FYI--it's prose, not a play or film, so I'm trying to translate primarily visual ideas into words.) I think the way to do it might be to start out fairly realistic and gradually bring the weird...
Depending on exactly how you do the weird, you could have it done through other people's reactions. I've seen some TV shows do PTSD like that. It's not quite the same, but the show Mercy had a nurse, back from Iraq, with PTSD, and it showed how she reacted to stuff and how people reacted to her. One episode had a similar situation to Harry when he first meets Sheila/Lash.
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Why didn't I think of this before. On the first couple of season's of the Denis leary show - Rescue Me. You see him talking to people that you later realize are ghosts of people, or they're dead people. You also see how his fellow firemen react when he's talking to one of these dead people.
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Sorry, but Dennis Leary was much closer to psychosis than having PTSD. Visual hallucinations are really rare even when people *are* psychotic, let alone when they aren't. Now flashbacks, hyperawareness, irritability, nightmares, insomnia, much closer to actual PTSD.
And in regards to it "being delayed." All PTSD is, the criteria is starting to show symptoms at least 1 month after the event.
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Sorry, but Dennis Leary was much closer to psychosis than having PTSD. Visual hallucinations are really rare even when people *are* psychotic, let alone when they aren't. Now flashbacks, hyperawareness, irritability, nightmares, insomnia, much closer to actual PTSD.
And in regards to it "being delayed." All PTSD is, the criteria is starting to show symptoms at least 1 month after the event.
True, but it does show her how such a scene is set up in a script and how people on the outside react to it.
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True, personally I think flashbacks would be more jarring. And I'm trying to help with the PTSD facts.
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True, personally I think flashbacks would be more jarring. And I'm trying to help with the PTSD facts.
Yeah, flashbacks unless you handle them just right are a pain in the tuchis.
Good on the PTSD facts. That's what I like about this forum, most everybody tries to help everybody else.
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That and being a psych major I feel it's my duty to help out with all psychological things. ;D
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That and being a psych major I feel it's my duty to help out with all psychological things. ;D
Ah, I didn't know that. Yup, having someone who knows what's what is a good thing.
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Dammit...I just realized I left my DSM IV back in CA.
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Dammit...I just realized I left my DSM IV back in CA.
DSM IV??????
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Oh it's the book that lists all the different symptoms of all the different mental illnesses.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th edition.
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DSM - IV TR, technically. The fifth edition will be out in a couple of years.
(if you get a copy of this book, don't try to diagnose yourself. just don't.)
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DSM - IV TR, technically. The fifth edition will be out in a couple of years.
(if you get a copy of this book, don't try to diagnose yourself. just don't.)
Ah, no, no intentions of getting a copy or in diagnosing myself. I already know I'm a wack job. ;D
It that sorta like people who take a communicable diseases class and come down, apparently, with every symptom know to man??
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DSM - IV TR, technically. The fifth edition will be out in a couple of years.
(if you get a copy of this book, don't try to diagnose yourself. just don't.)
Yes, if we want to get technical. :P
Originally V was supposed to be out at the end of this year but it's getting delayed. Who knows why.
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I think I heard it was because they're trying to match it up to WHO standards? But I'm not positive.
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Hrm...could be, I know there was an issue of gender identity disorders as well. Some wanted them omitted, others wanted them to stay in because then insurance would be willing to pay.
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Ah, no, no intentions of getting a copy or in diagnosing myself. I already know I'm a wack job. ;D
It that sorta like people who take a communicable diseases class and come down, apparently, with every symptom know to man??
Sort of. It's hard not to take an Intro to Psych class and not recognize some of the discussed behaviors and thought patterns in yourself. It's just a very bad idea to try and diagnose yourself when you have no clue what you're doing. :D
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Absolutely, just like doctors shouldn't diagnose themselves, they should go to another doctor.
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Psychiatrists are required to go to at least one therapy session a year with an objective psychiatrist. :D
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Jeno, I think we well and truly derailed this tread. And in only two pages in a board that's normally on topic most times. We rule!
I didn't know that about psychiatrists, is the same thing true for clinical psychologists or MFT's?
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Hrm...could be, I know there was an issue of gender identity disorders as well. Some wanted them omitted, others wanted them to stay in because then insurance would be willing to pay.
Wasn't there also some sort of issue with autism and the stuff that falls under that?
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I think so, but I'm fairly certain that's an ongoing battle.
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Jeno, I think we well and truly derailed this tread. And in only two pages in a board that's normally on topic most times. We rule!
I didn't know that about psychiatrists, is the same thing true for clinical psychologists or MFT's?
\o/ *wins*
I think it only applies to people who administer therapy as part of their practice. Or it might be anyone who's licensed, I forget. :D
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To bring this a bit back on topic, these resources might help to get a better understanding of PTSD and how to show it in fiction. PTSD Resources (http://community.livejournal.com/little_details/2803874.html)
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Rather than flashbacks. It would work to simply jump all over a time cntinuim. Played w this in ya. Adds emotion as you interweave the events. Key I think is carrying the emotional plot forward as the seemingly random events unfold. Making your plot propulsion emotional rather than events in time. Love the idea. Let us know how it works out. Maybe do a test short story?
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While I agree with everything Meg just said, I have to say that flashbacks are one of the hallmark symptoms of PTSD, those people relive past events. It's been known that under the right (worst) conditions those flashbacks can last for a day or more.
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Rather than flashbacks. It would work to simply jump all over a time cntinuim. Played w this in ya. Adds emotion as you interweave the events. Key I think is carrying the emotional plot forward as the seemingly random events unfold. Making your plot propulsion emotional rather than events in time. Love the idea. Let us know how it works out. Maybe do a test short story?
Thanks Meg--that's actually the plan! I love non-linear story lines, but they're tough to do right.