#best of scriptshrink

[ask-the-prose]

So it doesn’t look like scriptshrink is answering questions anymore. Could you either answer this question or direct me to someone else who can?:

What character traits would you expect from someone who was forced to be a caregiver for one of their parents while being verbally abused by the other? Is this character developing oppositional defiant tendencies unrealistic?

Thanks for the ask! Sorry it took so long to get to it, as it happens I do have a family member who is a therapist, and I wanted to consult her on this question so I could give you the best answer possible.

The short and uncomplicated answer is that you are comparing apples to oranges. Oppositional defiance doesn't make sense in this context because of the level of acquiescence required to both caretake and endure abuse.

That being said, I went a step further and asked a few questions to get some more information. The nature of the caretaking situation would definitely result in a certain amount of codependency, we see that often in situations where one person is caring for another.

On the other side, we have a verbally abusive parent, and depending on what the parent says and critiques about the child character, the character may develop a few different disorders and neuroses. Including but not limited to eating disorders, obsessing over certain things, and maybe an ingrained instinct to fawn. (This is in relation to the instinct when danger or the body perceives danger: fight, flee, fawn, freeze)

Another route would include aspects of borderline personality disorder. As explained to me the character could develop a need for attention, including negative attention, because their needs were fundamentally ignored when young. It wouldn't be unrealistic to describe this character acting out or making bids for attention in any way they can.

I say this all to those reading this without any judgment or intent to critique mental illness and victims of abuse. There are real people who go through similar situations, and it is not my place, nor is it my intention to place moral judgment on anybody who does exhibit these behaviors. And I would like to caution the writing community against "diagnosing" your characters unless that is specifically necessary for your story. These people are not real, and ascribing real, stigmatizing traits to characters can be incredibly dicey waters. Watch out for how the narrative treats your mentally ill and abused characters.

Hope this helps!

--Indy

[scriptshrink]

Good Psychology: Racter from Shadowrun: Hong Kong

So the Shrink loves videogames. I was recently playing Shadowrun: Hong Kong (check it out here!) when I came across the following dialogue from Racter, one of the companion characters.

[Image:  A portrait of a white-haired man in black smoking, accompanied by the text: “Racter: Absolutely. I was diagnosed as a primary psychopath at the age of eight.”]

Me, upon reading this:

[Gif: Loki arching his eyebrows, sighing, then shaking his head unimpressed and disappointed.]

[Image: “Well... ‘diagnosed’ is probably not the correct word. There is no formal diagnosis of ‘psychopath’ in the DSM. But all the markers were there.

I displayed a complete lack of empathy on the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and I scored a perfect 40 on the PCL-R. A blood test showed that I had inherited a damaged gene that has been linked with aggressive behavior, and the activity level in my ventromedial prefrontal cortex is vanishingly low.”]

[Gif of a sudden pan in on Andy from Parks and Rec, looking extremely shocked and very happy]

Guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, I have never before seen a piece of media properly talk about psychopathy. It’s to the point where I actively discourage people from trying to use it in their work, because I’ve never seen it well handled. 

But holy shit. The writers of this game did their fucking research. 

And guess what? Racter is not a bloodthirsty Hollywood-style “psychopath” who’d stab you as soon as look at you.

Some direct quotes:

“Before I turned to the shadows, I considered myself a ‘prosocial’ psychopath. That is to say, I had the markers for psychopathy, and I expressed some of the expected behaviors. But I never killed anyone... at least, not until it became a job requirement.

Now, I’m not so sure. I will admit that there is a certain thrill to our profession... it’s quite liberating, being paid to hunt and kill other men. But I only indulge in these appetites when I’m on the job, and I never bring my work home with me.”

“People with my condition... my *advantage*... are not incapable of bonding with others. The only difference is that we do so on a cerebral level, rather than an emotional one.

I enjoy our association, and I recognize the advantage in our being allies. I like talking to you. What better reason for us to be friends?”

The writers managed to avoid the near-omnipresent media stereotypes when writing his character. Hats fucking off.

Note - There is more than a little Freudian psych that heavily plays into part of his character. But you know what? It’s actually not too badly handled, and even with my hatred of Freudian psych, the Shrink is willing to give them a pass for this one.

Also note - I was looking through one of the Shadowrun RPG rulebooks and found they had dedicated ~40 pages to operationalizing mental illness for use in a tabletop RPG. It was glorious.

Disclaimer

[pens-swords-stuff]

Hey Undine! I once again turn to you for advice, because you’re such a blessing to this community. That said, you owe me nothing, so feel no shame in deleting this if you don’t care to answer.

I’m writing a story that is not intentionally a metaphor for mental illness, but now something that could easily be understood as mental illness (a form of possession) is central to the plot. I myself have experience with depression and anxiety and feel comfortable representing those, but I’m very concerned about writing something harmful towards people with psychosis or personality disorders. I’ve done general research, but I have a lot of questions about my specific portrayal.

Because I’m 17 and this story either won’t get published or won’t get published for a long time, I can’t really hire a sensitivity reader. Can you point me towards any resources for this? Like, is there an equivalent to the writingwithcolor blog for mental illness? Do you know any individuals who might wanna help me out?

First of all anon, I think it’s fantastic that you had the self-awareness to realize that there is something in your WIP that you need to be careful of. Cultivating that level of self-reflection and awareness is a really important skill, and so impressive that you’ve managed to start developing it at your age!

I think doing research is a good first step. And when you’re doing research, be sure to find sources from people who experience psychosis or personality disorders! It takes a little bit more digging, but try to find stories, articles, interviews, videos created by the people with psychosis or personality disorders. They are the best source of information because it’s their experience. When you’re looking up mental disorders of any kind, it’s much easier to find scientific articles and things like that — I would know, I’m a clinical social work student! But while all of the knowledge can be helpful, what you really want is to hear from the people, not the clinician.

Next, take a deep breath! When you try to include something that is outside of your experience in your stories, you’re probably going to make mistakes. And that’s okay! Don’t let the fear of making mistakes paralyze you and your writing. Making mistakes is a part of learning, and as long as you are respectful, open-minded and really listen to the feedback that you’re given, it’ll be okay.

If you’re really nervous about accidentally portraying something harmful, don’t show anyone! It won’t get published in the near future probably like you said, so you have plenty of time to learn, make mistakes, and fix anything you need to before you reveal it to the world. And hopefully by then, it’ll have gone through several edits and sensitivity readers so it won’t be a problem!

There are probably more blogs out there but the first and only one that comes to mind for me is @scriptshrink.

That being said, a word of caution: Don’t rely too heavily on blogs like that to answer all your questions. (And I mean this with absolutely NO offense intended! Blogs like @scriptshrink that answer questions about a certain topic are a godsend, and they are such valuable, wonderful resources that you should absolutely check out).

What I mean is this: It is impossible to capture the intricacies of your story in an ask. No matter how good of a job you do explaining it in limited characters, no matter how many really helpful answers they may be able to help provide, portrayal comes down to how it is written. I’m sure they can help answer several questions about mental illnesses, let you know if they think your concept is problematic or not, and even give advice on how to write a specific mental illness, but blogs like that are not a replacement for sensitivity readers. 

I’ve done some similar consultation on representing people of my background before, and a lot of people want answers to questions about whether they are being problematic or not. And often times the answer really just is: It depends on how you write it.

It’s frustrating for both me and the writer to have this conversation. It’s my firm belief that it’s not enough to just talk about it and ask someone when you do have specific questions about portrayal. It really needs to be read in its entirety for a real answer.

That’s why sensitivity readers (plural! Note the plurality!) are so important. 

If hiring a sensitivity reader isn’t an option for you right now for financial reasons, that’s fine. It’s okay to write it, do as much research as you can, edit, revise and brush up on it so that when you can eventually afford to hire someone, you have a much better product for them to judge. Feel free to write it to the best of your ability until then!

Otherwise, I know that there are some people who do trades — instead of offering payment, you could offer your own services to someone. You could maybe offer to be a sensitivity reader for them for one of your identities, offer to be a beta reader for someone, or offer to edit something for them. That might be a more affordable option for you if you can find someone willing to trade with you.

Good luck!

If you’d like to ask me for advice on writing or running a writeblr, please check out my Ask Guidelines and FAQ first.

Ask Guidelines | FAQ | Advice Masterlist

[scriptautistic]

The ScriptX family as of 01/01/2018

Have writing questions, but don’t know who to ask? Check out the ScriptX family of blogs, all of whom provide detailed writing advice on a huge variety of topics!

First, ScriptFeature shares some of the best posts from the ScriptX blogs, as well as giving updates and announcements about the family: @scriptfeature

The rest of the blogs are in alphabetical order in two groups, with active blogs first, and inactive/archived blogs second. If you are looking for something in particular, try searching using Ctrl+F or ⌘+F

Active:

Accountant: @scriptaccountant (Accounting)

Autistic: @scriptautistic (Autistic characters)

Ballerina: @scriptballerina (Ballet and dance)

Canuck: @scriptcanuck (Everything Canadian)

Chemist: @scriptchemist (Chemistry and chemical laboratories)

Criminal justice: @scriptcriminaljustice (Criminal justice system, including court procedures and criminal investigations)

Equestrian: @scriptequestrian (Horseback riding)

Firefighter: @scriptfirefighter (Firefighting, including fire science and safety, forced entry, rescue, HazMat and related topics)

Florist: @scriptflorist (Flowers, florists and flower shops)

Foodie: @scriptfoodie (Food and drink)

Genetics: @scriptgenetics (Genetics and evolutionary biology)

German: @scriptgerman (Everything German)

Hacker: @scripthacker (Data retrieval, steganography, cryptography, white hat hacking, and general purpose computing)

History: @scripthistory (History) [on hiatus]

LGBT: @scriptlgbt (LGBTQ+ characters, community, and issues)

Librarian: @scriptlibrarian (Librarians and libraries)

Medic: @scriptmedic (The original! Medicine, human anatomy/physiology, hospitals, EMTs and paramedics)

Myth: @scriptmyth (Mythology and folklore from around the world)

Pastor: @scriptpastor (Religion and people of faith)

Sailor: @scriptsailor (Navy, sailors and nautical history)

Script a world: @script-a-world (Worldbuilding for science fiction and fantasy)

Script structure: @scriptstructure (Story structure, narrative and themes)

Shrink: @scriptshrink (Clinical psychology, psychiatry, therapy and therapists)

Sociology: @scriptsociology (Social sciences applied to world building)

Spoonie: @scriptspoonie (Characters with chronic illness, disability)

Torture: @scripttorture (Torture methods, torture victims, and torturers throughout history)

Trauma Survivors: @scripttraumasurvivors (Writing survivors of psychological trauma)

Veterinarian: @scriptveterinarian (Veterinary medicine for animals domesticated, wild and occasiontally fantastical)

Witchcraft: @scriptwitchcraft (Witchcraft)

Archived/Inactive: These blogs are not currently active but are still a useful resource when researching your stories

Astronomer: @scriptastronomer (Astronomy)

Brain Scientist: @scriptbrainscientist (Neurology) [ARCHIVED]

Brit: @scriptbrit (United Kingdom) [ARCHIVED]

Economist: @scripteconomist (Ecomonics) [ARCHIVED]

Educator: @scripteducator (Schools and teachers)

Kink: @scriptkink (Sex and sexuality)

Lawyer: @scriptlawyer (Legal stuff)

Linguist: @scriptlinguist (Linguistics)

Pharmacist: @scriptpharmacist (Pharmacies and pharmaceuticals)

Politics: @scriptpolitics (Politics, world-building political systems, and international relations) [ARCHIVED]

Publishing industry: @scriptpublishingindustry (Publishing industry, including writers, editors etc)

Service Dogs: @scriptservicedogs (Service dogs, emotional support animals, and therapy dogs)

Social work: @scriptsocialwork (Social workers and the field of social services) [ARCHIVED]

To get the most up-to-date version of this list, be sure to check this link here:  scriptshrink.tumblr.com/scriptfamily

Are you an expert in a topic? Interested in joining the ScriptX family? Apply here!

[scriptstructure]

There are two brothers in my story with a not-so-great family. The oldest brother sees his mother as a manipulative and abusive monster and he could never be free or happy with her in his life. The youngest one (the protagonist) sees her as someone who wanted the best for her sons and failed but still loved them more than anything. I wouldn't say any of them is right or wrong. It's very suggestive. But i dont want the readers to think the youngest one is right just bc he's the protagonist. Help?

I think this is a great opportunity to show this friction in the relationship through conflict. This is the kind of high-stakes but close to home conflict that a lot of people can relate to. Everyone experiences their childhood and personal relationships differently. 

In cases where family violence may come into play, the difference in perception can be quite marked especially when one child was perhaps targeted more for violence than another, and even when the violence was ‘evenly distributed’, some people will interpret actions differently for various reasons.

With the younger sibling being the protagonist (and, I’m guessing, the focalising character), you’re right that a lot of the insights we get are going to be ‘twisted’ to fit that character’s point of view. However. This can be done in such a way that the audience, in putting together the pieces that the character refuses to see or acknowledge for whatever reason, can get an understanding of the circumstances that the character is in, but with a greater insight than the character has.

In this case we have a great ‘opposition’ force in the brother, who can provide us with his side of the story, and can give us a new perspective that would perhaps put in a different light some of the details that don’t seem to fit with the protagonist’s version of events.

I don’t know the extent of how your characters’ family situation was, but I can imagine, for instance, the older brother feeling that he’s being unfairly or overly targeted by the mother in certain instances, and the younger brother justifying or rationalising those same instances because, for example, that is, to him, the way families are, or that in some way the mother’s actions were justified, etc

You can definitely have the two characters with their two opposing views of events, with both of them being ‘right.’ Using the clash between them you can give the reader enough information about the situation to form a full picture of the situation and to have a better understanding, perhaps, than either of the brothers.

If you want to look more into trauma and reactions to it, check out @scripttraumasurvivors and @scriptshrink ‘s back catalogues.

I hope this helps!

[spellboundinks]

Oh plot buddies are people you trade ideas with. For years now, I've gotten used to plotting my stories with someone. Now, things went a little sour so I'm kinda :/. O want to know how not to depend on anyone else's word when plotting my stories (if that makes any sense). Sure, we get ideas from anywhere and everywhere but yeah. Help?

Alright, so I totally get what you mean now. I have a couple writer friends and non-writer friends I can usually turn to for advice and that is incredibly helpful. If you ever want an outsider opinion you can totally shoot me a private message or if you send me your email I can get you added to the WIP Book Club on Slack where there’s a whole group of people you can get to look over your work or brainstorm with you! But I get you’re on anon for a reason so I’m gonna do my best to give you some tips for working things out on your own!

Brainstorming/Ideas on Your Own

In terms of brainstorming, whether this means coming up with the first ideas for your story or events/characters/storylines to include later down the road, one upside to doing this on your own is you can focus on what interests you! Dive into fields that you find absolutely fascinating! J.R.R. Tolkien was heavily interested in languages so he invested in worldbuilding and creating complex languages for the different races. There are also a ton of generators online that can help you brainstorm a ton of different things like character names, scenes, towns, races, etc. 

My favourite website for generators: http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ 

What I like to do for coming up with ideas is to sometimes throw on a playlist and scroll through tumblr or pinterest and make a list of song lyrics and things I see and use that to come up with a story (for example I’m going to try this now: “keeps getting stronger”, dandelion, sorcerer mickey —> I can turn this into a story about a sorcerer who accidentally casts a spell on a dandelion, causing it to grow exponentially, and as the wind blows against the weed it disperses its wish-granting seeds and suddenly the entire town’s wishes are being granted and chaos ensues. Aaaand that’s how you end up with 100+ wip ideas.  

Creating moodboards on Pinterest is also a great way to foster creativity and find inspiration. I tend to keep mine on secret boards but that’s just me.

Also there are a ton of prompt blogs on tumblr and even ebooks you can get now. 

Research

Alright, so another thing about being a writer is knowing a lot of things so that your story makes sense. You’ve probably seen other writers on tumblr agonizing over finding small details like the amount of blood loss a person can survive or the shelf life of a can of soup. Sometimes you have people you can turn to to ask for questions (I have a fairly medical-savvy friend which is great) but sometimes you don’t.

SCRIPT—–!!! There are a ton of blogs on tumblr that help you out with this problem and it is amazing. You can shoot them asks with questions and they’ll help you out with the knowledge they have. @scriptcreature (for animal questions), @scriptmedic (for medical questions), @scriptshrink (psychological questions), @scripttorture (helpful for science fiction stories with test subjects), @scriptautistic (for help with autistic characters). I just reblogged a masterpost with all the scripts and even though it’s not a recent list, most of the blogs are still active! And even if they’re no longer active you might be able  to find your question answered in an older post.

Look for educational websites where you can and also as old fashioned as it sounds, books can be really helpful.

Character-Specific Help

So sometimes talking to someone about character can help you discover your character’s personality, goals, ambitions, abilities, past, etc. There are a ton of OC question blogs on tumblr you can follow that will give you questions to think about for your ocs. It’s also handy to compile the oc questions you find helpful into a character development sheet that you can use as a guideline for writing your characters, almost like their own wiki article (or you could actually make a wiki, @nerathul​ makes wikis for everything and I love that about her). THIS Mary Sue Test is something I find incredibly helpful: http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm. Not only does the score indicate whether your character is a Mary Sue, but it will also tell you if it thinks your character is underdeveloped. 

Also remember when it comes to characters it’s not just about likes/dislikes. You should be thinking of how their past affects the way they are in the present, motivation/goals/dreams, and FLAWS (characters should not be perfect, not even the protagonists, they should slip up sometimes).

How to plot a character arc: https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/167378454150/silvokrent-source-i-got-a-question-from-an

Plotting + Recognizing Plot Holes on Your Own

In terms of plotting, the best thing about having plot buddies, as you call them, in my opinion, is the ability to have a second opinion to see things that you might overlook. Which means, if you’re going solo, you might want to learn how to see issues before you’re too deep in the story to fix them. One of the key things I’ve noticed in my own work that leads to plot holes is character motivation. If you’re characters don’t have a reason for doing what they’re doing, there isn’t really a reason for the story or certain events and that can be a big problem. 

Here are some resources to help you find the outlining method that’s write for you, as well as some types of plots that help you figure out what kind of story you’re telling:

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/172872205840/snarktheater-a-great-twitter-thread-on 

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/171362313255/20-basic-plots 

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/170464462500/10-outline-techniques-for-writers 

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/170113282360/nano-prep-outline-your-story-like-a-subway-map

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/168666648200/quick-plotting-tip-write-your-story-backwards

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/168524411960/lady-redshield-writes-one-of-my-favorite-things

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/168116646640/creating-plots-with-the-zigzag-method

Sub-plots: https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/165713335045/oliviapaigewrites-heres-a-little-bit-on

This is my favourite outline guide: http://www.eadeverell.com/the-one-page-novel-plot-formula/ 

Self-Editing

https://dontwaitforinspiration.tumblr.com/post/173164102700/self-editing-for-fiction-writers 

HOPE THIS HELPS!!

[heywriters]

I have a fanfiction blog(reader insert to be specific)and i’ve been getting some requests that ask me to write a character with an S/O with a mental illness.I do want to write these requests,but i don’t have any mental illnesses.I’m afraid that if I do write them out, some people might get mad at me for stereotyping or say that people with that illness don’t act that way.Even if I do tons of research,I’m still scared if I will be able to portray the person with a mental illness correctly.Advice?

If you really want to attempt this character, do it! Research is a must (take specific questions to @scriptshrink​), but there will always be someone who doesn’t relate to your character. Hopefully they won’t hold that against you.

Basic Rules:

Don’t focus too much on the mental illness, allow your OC some other reasons for existing.

In crucial situations, don’t forget the illness and how it may be affecting your OC. If a triggering event fails to aggravate your OC’s condition, at least have a good reason.

Avoid portraying mental illness in a romantic or melodramatic light. Likewise, try not to infantilize or curry excessive sympathy for the OC based on the illness. Unless your character wants to be romanticized, infantilized, or to gain sympathy/support because that’s part of their character/illness.

Do your best to be accurate and inoffensive, but don’t force yourself to sanitize anything to the point that it’s boring and you aren’t enjoying writing it. Remember that even being inoffensive can be offensive.

It’s okay to make mistakes. If anyone does (kindly) point out a glaring flaw despite your thorough research, you still get to decide if/how you want to fix it. Quite often their personal experience is not the experience. Be considerate, but discerning.

Enjoy the process of creating this character just like you would any of your other characters. Write with the request in mind, but don’t let anyone breathe down your neck. You’re allowed that in fan fiction.

It’s also good to leave a note or foreword stating you are unfamiliar with this kind of character and did your best. People tend to forgive that if you’re honest about it and try to do better.

~ Thanks for your ask, and I hope you enjoy writing this character.

+ HEY, Writers! other social media: Wattpad // Pinterest// Goodreads

+ Buy me a coffee if you enjoy my content and find it helpful. Much obliged!

[fragrant-stars]

Hi there. Thanks for the advice but I decided to just take it out of the bio. I did read over some things regarding that and they were right. If my Oc was to be a Medic nin, she wouldn't be able to get close to patients or others in need of help. They might consider her to be a little unsafe.

Well, I wish you the best of luck in writing your fanfiction! Have fun, and don’t forget to research about stuff you don’t know (mental illnesses, injuries, disabilities, etc).

@scriptmedic and @scriptshrink are both very helpful resources; the former is good for learning about the realistic consequences of injuries, and the latter can hopefully help you get a good grip on what kinds of mental illnesses your OC might struggle with, given her occupation, and how you can portray them accurately and respectfully.

[scriptshrink]

What's the difference between paranoid personality disorder and delusional disorder?

Delusional disorder has the following characteristics:

People with delusional disorder have not always had delusions - they only need to have had delusions for at least one month. 

Their delusions are not always paranoid - there are many different things the delusion can relate to. See here for more info.

The delusion(s) can be completely unrealistic and impossible in reality.

Aside from holding their delusional belief, the character appears to behave normally and functions just fine in society - it doesn’t severely affect their life or cause them distress. 

They only need to exhibit at least one delusion, and it’s not uncommon for that delusion to change topics.

It is not permanent. It can fade / go into remission.

In comparison, in paranoid personality disorder:

The paranoia is pervasive, inflexible, and unchanging. 

Even though there is no reasonable basis for the paranoia, it is theoretically possible for the delusion to be true.

There are specific ways the paranoia is expressed. See the criteria here.

It represents a severe abnormality in how society expects people to think and behave. 

The paranoia causes them significant stress and/or makes their life significantly more difficult.

The paranoia dates at least back to adolescence / early adulthood (and it frequently extend back into childhood too).

It is a permanent, constant feature of a character’s life. It’s their default state of being.

Hope that helps!

Disclaimer

[scriptfeature]

do others in the scriptfamily have their own "tropes I want to see die" posts/lists? I've only seen Aunty Script's and I love those

.....good question! I don’t think I’ve seen many, but I wouldn’t be surprised? (And yes, those posts from @scriptmedic are wonderful~) . There’s some that might be up your alley though depending on what you’re interested in reading up on.On @scriptautistic for instance I think I’ve seen SOMETHING like that (not necessarily with that kind of framing, but talking about representation they’d like to see done less stereotypically at least), but it’s not coming to mind for specifics so you may want to poke around in their recent archive?That book I recommended in the post recommending @scriptcriminaljustice does have a section though on things cops commonly find ridiculous/frustrating in crime drama though (re: accuracy in depicting the profession, often along the lines of “we’d be FIRED if we did that!”); but @scriptcriminaljustice doesn’t to the best of my knowledge have such a list of their own.I wouldn’t be surprised if @scripthacker had something like that, but I don’t know for sure?@scriptshrink might have something like that, though I don’t know if it’s framed in that specific of a fashion. Shrink did at least reblog this thread which is brief but sort of equivalent, as it’s the kind of tropes/representation that mentally ill people are sick of seeing (often because it makes no sense/is offensive/is inaccurate/doesn’t depict the broad experiences of people with X condition), plus there’s a bunch of other stuff (including their justifiably aggravated review of a certain therapy-themed Netflix series with a slur for a name, and a post about the unscientific nature of the Myers-Briggs Personality Test) listed in Shrink’s Bad Psychology tag, as well as some in the Hollywood Psych tag, which may be of interest to you :)Anybody else recall a post of note along those lines? Let me know if you do! XD My memory isn’t always the best, and there’s a LOT of Scriptblogs just in the Official Family alone.

-Mod VorpalgirlFeeling Generous? You Can Click Here to Buy Me a Coffee  :) 

[scriptautistic]

Masterpost: On calling characters autistic

Part 2: What if “autistic” isn’t a term that exists in my story?

Part of the calling characters autistic series

Part 1, “Whether you should explicitly call your character autistic, and how you should go about it” can be found here

So, you’ve read the first post of the series, but it doesn’t quite work with your story.

Maybe your story is set before the diagnosis of “autism” was invented. Maybe your story is set in the distant future and it doesn’t seem realistic for people to still refer to autism with the same vocabulary. Maybe your story is set in a completely different universe or another world. Maybe your character is in another situation where they wouldn’t realistically have access to language about autism.

Suffice to say, your character is still autistic and autism still exists, but the place and time your story takes place in means that either diagnosis is unlikely or the terminology used is unlikely to be the same that we use now. So… what can you do? We have already spoken about why representation is important, and this is true even if your story is set in a different place and time, so here are some ideas (many of which have been adapted from this post by scriptshrink).

General strategies

Here are a few things that can be used in your story, whether the setting is the distant future or the ancient past.

Just call ’em autistic anyway Ok, maybe it is not completely realistic, but it’s your story and your choice. It’s up to you whether you think that this is something that will break your audience’s willing suspension of disbelief.

Call ’em autistic, but only on a meta/narrator level This option has the benefit of allowing you to make it explicit that the character is autistic, but can sound a little clumsy, and can be a bit jarring for readers. Some people can pull it off better than others - it depends on your writing style. Mod Aira previously suggested writing something along the lines of:

“In another time, he would have been called ‘autistic’, but that word hadn’t been invented yet. Lacking such a precise term, he was left with a pervasive feeling of being different from others, but no easy way to describe it…”

Don’t explicitly call them autistic, but make it as clear as possible without using the word in the main text Mod Cat has previously suggested:

“Another way you might make clear your character is autistic without using the word is having the narrator or character explain how he’s always felt different because (autistic traits), and how he’s come to realize he works differently than most people because (autistic traits).”

We’ll go into more detail about making clear “hints” that the character is autistic in our next post in this series.

If you do choose this method, make their autism explicit when discussing the character. Calling your character autistic in the description/summary is a good way of making it clear outside the story itself, and you can also discuss it in comments and interviews.

Using author’s notes Whatever your decision about which terminology to use, adding an author’s note at the beginning of the story gives you the chance to explain your reasoning. It can also be an opportunity to explain some of the history behind the terms that have been used to describe autism. Some authors choose to include a glossary to give a similar result.

Stories set in the past

Autism has only really been recognised relatively recently, and in the early days of it being recognised very few people would have been in a position to be able to access diagnosis. This means that most historical fiction with autistic characters can’t call the characters autistic if you want to use language that is accurate to the period.

Try out the general strategies we suggested. The third post in this series will have more suggestions about how to strongly imply your character is autistic, which may be useful if you choose not to use the word “autistic” in the story itself. Remember that you can combine this with explicitly calling the character autistic when you discuss them outside the story!

Stories set in the future

Aiming for “realistic” use of language in a future setting is tricky – language in general changes very quickly, but the language related to mental diagnoses develops particularly quickly. To give you an idea of the extent of change that we’ve seen in language in general, here is a two-and-a-half minute video about how English has changed in the last 1000 years.

So, this means that you have a lot of creative freedom about your choice of language! Most writers, however, choose to mostly use contemporary language, and only change a few words.

So, what can you try? Here are the ideas we discussed in this post:

You might begin with an author’s note in the introduction about your choice of language relating to autism and other diagnoses - whether this is to keep it the same as in the present day, or to adapt it.

Maybe in your society they do not usually call it autism, but they acknowledge that this is something that used to be called autism, even though it is now called silfran.

Or, if you want it to still be called autism in-universe, there are some other options:

They refer to the “old texts” which tell them about the diagnoses

The term “autistic” has remained in the public consciousness because Sten Illiad, (the inventor of the replicator/founder of the Syndian religion/author of a treatise on economics and philosophy/whatever suits your world building best), was famously autistic

The term autistic is slightly modified to show that the language has changed (“he is autistish”, “she thinks autiswise”)

There was a period of time when the naming of different neurotypes was taboo, so the old names were revived relatively recently

Fantasy settings

As well as the strategies we have already suggested, being set in another world means that you can try some of the following (some of these might also work well for stories set in the future):

Use fancier-sounding existing names “Young Æthelred’s words will not be returning. The thane tells me that his son has dementia infantilis - the merfolk call it childhood disintegration”

Use or adapt other diagnostic terms You could choose to use or adapt other diagnostic terms related to the autism spectrum: pervasive developmental disorder, nonverbal learning disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, etc.

Modify the word “autism” to better suit your setting This could be making small changes (like the “autistish” and “autiswise” examples we used earlier), or you could borrow terms from other languages.

Borrow terms from other languages This could be taking translations which are similar but spelt and pronounced a little differently, like “outisme” (Afrikaans) and “otîzm” (Kurdish) or using less familiar translations like “uathachas” (Gaelic).

Create new words to describe autism This could be as simple as calling something X’s syndrome, but defining in the same way that you would describe autism. Alternatively, you could create your own term for “autism” based on the etymology of the English word:

autism (n.) 1912, from German Autismus, coined 1912 by Swiss psychiatrist Paul Bleuler (1857-1939) from Greek autos “self” (see auto-) + -ismos suffix of action or of state. [via etymonline]

Here are some other prefixes which mean “self” (although you might choose to create a completely new word that doesn’t basically mean “self absorbed”):

Ipse- (Latin)  (which is where we get the word “ipseity”)

Selv- (Norwegian/Danish)

If you do create new words to describe autism, make sure that you make the link to today’s terms clear - either within the story, or using a glossary or author’s note.

That’s it for now! Of course, we haven’t been able to cover every possible situation and setting, but hopefully we have given you ideas that you can adapt to suit your story.

Next time on On calling characters autistic:

Part 3 - hinting We discuss ways to strongly imply that your character is autistic (techniques that you will ideally combine with explicitly calling them autistic)

[scriptmedic]

Is being an emt traumatic? Like one must see so many awful accidents. Do people get flashbacks, nightmares or PTSD? If so how would someone minimalize these?

Hey there nonny! I’m going to talk about EMS in general and then

Yes, EMS workers suffer rather ridiculous rates of PTSD, though it’s worth noting that not all EMS employees have it. PTSD development isn’t my area of expertise -- talk to @scriptshrink​ and particularly @scripttraumasurvivors​ about that one. But I’ll share my thoughts and observations from 10 years in the service:

PTSD is a significant issue in EMS. I’m fortunate enough not to have it, but the job scars us all in different ways. Dead kids, horrendous accidents and more. That said, a lot of it is in how you see things. For me, I think what increases my resilience is that I understand that I’m there to help. The awful thing that happened has happened -- not my fault. But I can help, or at least try to help, or give someone the dignity of a sheet over their body. It’s an emergency, but it’s not my emergency. And the sense of being able to do something really helps.

PTSD is a problem, but it isn’t as big of an issue as burnout in our community. Compassion fatigue is a real thing. The job can be shockingly abusive to those attempting to work it.

PTSD is real and people get it. EMS has a particularly macho culture, with phrases like “suck it up, buttercup” getting thrown around a LOT. So once someone starts to struggle, they can run into significant problems trying to get support from their group. 

What’s interesting is this: one on one, we do pretty well. My friend Kelly Grayson calls this his Nachos And Beer therapy: take the coworker out, one on one, and talk, and eat nachos, and drink beer, and try to come to terms with what they’ve experienced.

If you want to read some stories from some real-life responders about their experiences and trauma, check out http://codegreencampaign.org/category/stories/ .

Also, if you can, send a little money their way. Code Green Campaign is literally trying to get us to call a metaphorical code on our mental health, because responders commit suicide in pretty drastic numbers.

It’s changing, but the culture around mental illness in EMS has been “repress, repress, it’s for the best.”

That said, my personal mental health issues don’t stem from work so much as they do from my natural disposition: I get depressed easily and often, and I’ve battled suicidal ideation from the time I was 6 years old. EMS isn’t responsible for that. In fact, it’s helped give me a sense of purpose and a sense that I get to do positive things in the world, that my contributions (and therefor my life) matter.

A terrible form of validation, but it helps me.

As for character construction, you’re dealing  with a group of characters that have Seen Some Shit(TM). Consider some coping mechanisms, like:

Swearing loudly and often

Very, very, very dark humor. I have been such a filter for you guys, you would not believe.

Lots of drinking, dancing, and partying, in order to “feel alive”

Talking things out quietly in corners

Partners making each other playlists to brighten their days

Finding someone outside of work to talk to in order to ground your character

One other note: things seem to actually get slightly better as medics  progress in their careers. That’s not saying us old-timers are jaded fucks (though some are), but rather, we have a different perspective. We see things less personally. We trade the crushing weight of individual tragedies for the crushing weight of The Broken System and our years of  clawing at the walls being unable to change it. As I said, it’s burnout, not PTSD (for a great many of us; your characters’ mileage may vary).

Good luck with your story!

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

disclaimer    

Becoming a Patron lets you see the freaking future. Have youconsidered becoming a clairvoyant?

FreeeBook: 10 BS “Medical” Tropes that Need to Die TODAY!  

[writing-ideas-inc]

hello! i love your prompts ^-^ i'm writing a story where the protagonist finds out her best friend is a psychopath. although, i don't know how to write this kind of stuff. any tips? dialogue, maybe? thank you in advance! <3

Hey there! ♤First off, I'd do ALOT of research. Its also important to figure out whether you really want your character to be a psychopath rather than a sociopath. Here's some places to start: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mindmelding/201301/what-is-psychopath-0%3Famphttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201401/how-tell-sociopath-psychopath%3Famphttp://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/sociopath-psychopath-differencehttps://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/signs-someone-is-a-psychopathhttps://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2015/02/12/differences-between-a-psychopath-vs-sociopath/♤ A blog you should really check out and search their archive is @scriptshrink ♤ Assuming you truly want your character to be a psychopath (not a sociopath or someone with a different mental illness), here's the basics: • Can't form emotional attachments• Can't feel empathy • Often charming and manipulative • Can easily gain people's trust• Meticulous, calm, and organized• The result of genetics • Don't feel remorse or guilt ♤ Sociopaths, on the otherhand, can rarely feel empathy or form emotional attachments, are disorganized, are easily agitated, are erratic, usually cannot hold down a job, and can be made as a result of past trauma. Both have a disregard for society's rules, but psychopaths are better at dissociating from their actions. ♤ One common analogy to distinguish the two are that psychopaths at cold hearted and socipaths are hot headed. ♤ Again, if your character really is a psychopath, then they don't have a true relationship with the protag. The protag might think they do, but they're actually being used. ♤ Dialogue: • "You're a psychopath? Like Sherlock Holmes?" "Sherlock is a sociopath at least according to his own words. They're very different; get it straight." • "So, what we have, it's never been real?" Their friend shrugged. "Nope. Just using you to my benefit." "How can you not feel the least bit bad?" "Psychopath, remember? Guilt isn't in my vocabulary." • "Are you going to kill me?" "Not all psychopaths are violent. And if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it already." • "You should become an actor." "Why?" "You've done an amazing job at pretending you care about me." "Pretending? What do you mean?" "People like you are supposed to be smart. What do you think?" "You were never supposed to find that out." • "Isn't it nice, not having a conscious to hold you back?" "I suppose. I've never quite understood how people let a silly thing restrict them when they could just do whatever the hell they want." • "How could you never tell me this?" "It's not important." "You lacking the moral barrier that prevents you from killing me in my sleep is important." "Knowledge wouldn't change anything if I wanted you dead." • "You feel nothing towards me? All those years of friendship, promises to watch each other's backs, good memories. . . and you don't care about me at all?" "Let's just say that if you were shot in the head right now, I wouldn't flinch."

[ibijus]

For the Noblesse Ask: Regis :)

Regis: what do you want to learn moreabout?

oooooh godI’m that sucker that wants to know EVERYTHING but currently I’ve been interestedin severe physical trauma and child abuse (because I’m such a ray of sunshineand when people ask me what I’ve been reading I just nervously laugh and changethe subject NOT AWKWARD AT ALL).

In thatline, The Script Family is just… The best thing. They are the best and they dothe best thing. scriptmedic and scriptshrink are my favorites but damn they allgood

[scriptstructure]

Hi! I've got a story written in present tense. There's a scene that my POV character doesn't remember in the next scene. How would I write the scene he has forgotten? Would I stop the scene where his memory fails him and have other characters tell him what happened? Or would I write the scene and make it clear in the next that he doesn't remember it? Or something else?

I think this is the sort of question where I can’t really give you an answer -- it’s going to depend on your story and how you want to do it, what kind of effect you’re going for.

It sounds pretty cool to me, the idea of cutting off the narrative when he loses his memory and then picking it up later, you could have the character realising he’s lost time but not knowing what happened or how, and having to go back and pick up pieces to tell him what he did. I’d suggest asking @scriptshrink about memory loss and recovery, or looking through their posts on the topic, I think I recall there being a couple already.

Writing the scene through and then making it clear that the character doesn’t remember what’s just happened could be interesting too, it could really ratchet the tension up when the character gets to a situation that the reader knows the cause of and possibly part of the solution to from the lost time, but the character doesn’t have that information and screws up somehow.

Either way you go, I’d be careful of not overusing the ‘other characters telling the protag what he missed’ because it can take the wind out of your sails with the tension you’re building, and it can feel a little forced -- after all, how likely are these characters to know and understand the extent of memory loss that the protag suffered? How likely is it that they know the relevant information from the memory he lost?

Some questions to consider when you’re figuring this out:

What does it add to the story if the reader sees the ‘lost’ scene play out?

What does it add to the story if the reader doesn’t see the ‘lost’ scene play out?

Do you feel like it’s more important that the reader sees what happens, or that their experience is close to that of the protagonist with regard to finding out what happened?

How is the lost memory going to impact the narrative as it goes on from that point?

How is the protagonist going to regain the important information he lost?

How is he going to regain information that no other character can tell him?

Is he going to have memories, or parts of memories return over time?

Why doesn’t he remember? (Could be a reaction to trauma, the effect of drugs, ~magic, etc)

My suggestion, if you don’t have a clear idea of which is best, is to write it both ways. Write out the entire scene, and then going into the next, where he has lost his memory. This way you’ll have the whole scene there for your reference. Then pick the point at which his memory is lost. Where does it cut off, and why?

Compare the scene in its entirety to the scene where it cuts off. Which one has more drama? Which one makes you curious to keep reading to find out what happened?

[transcriptroopers]

In my story, characters with supernatural abilities, are abducted, imprisoned, and trained to be weapons to be an army to storm the government and take over. (Not actually the plan, but that's the lie they're told.) They're told that if they cooperate, things will go better for them during training and after. If not, they're mistreated and run ragged. They're told "It doesn't have to be this way". Those who cooperate hold power over those who don't. Is this a realistic tactic? (Word limit sucks)

Well, I think you might want to consider consulting @scriptshrink if you haven’t already, although her caseload is already pretty hefty so I’ll see what I can do.

I’d like to point out the similarity of this scenario to the Jewish Order Police established in the ghettos in WWII. In short, Jewish people who were also imprisoned in the ghettos but who were given special privileges and power over the rest provided they followed orders and served as extensions of the Germans within the ghetto. The link I provided up there is only one small article, so I recommend reading more into it; it’s a very long and complicated history, but it’s still worth a read.A lot of this psychological consideration is dependent on the personalities of the imprisoned. Some might immediately cooperate, some might cooperate after a reasonable amount of threatening, and some might never cooperate and would rather die. But it’s worth remembering that these tactics are only as useful as long as those in power remain in power. At the first sign of weakness, should the imprisoned have any strength or resources to do so, most of the imprisoned would probably revolt. Militaries are best built on positive foundations, where soldiers have morale and belief in a cause and trust in their superiors. So the people doing this likely either have no idea how to keep an army satisfied, or they’re completely banking on the fact that they cannot be thrown from power, which of course as anyone in power will tell you is a very foolish belief.Either way, personally I would recommend that even if the forces are poorly treated, they would work much better if they were motivated to perform rather than scared to not perform. So while the tactic you’ve described is theoretically a valid tactic, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a good one. -Spc. Kingsley

Was this post informative? Entertaining? Eye-opening? Then consider supporting SPC Kingsley on Patreon!