How To Write Trauma With Humanity

How To Write Trauma With Humanity

This short post is for those who think that they might be so focused on writing trauma well that they accidentally forget to write an actual character.

As someone who has an "interest" (read: deeply passionate and completely consuming dedication) for psychology and character analysis, I feel like sometimes writers don't really know how to write a character with trauma.

To quote a quote:

Don't Write A Traumatized Character, Write A Character With Trauma

I'm just trying to talk about those situations where the only interesting thing that we ever learn about this character is the fact that they have trauma and that's sad.

People tend to think that PTSD and trauma in general is just:

sit in dark, crying inconsolably about death

have nightmares

hide the fact that you have PTSD with broodiness

try to revenge

die tragically or happy ever after

Remember: Nobody has time for that

These people have obligations, responsibilities, family members, loved ones, and dreams that don't allow for this type of lifestyle.

Many people with PTSD *seem* like standard members of society. They sometimes participate in community activities. They have hobbies and vague interests that they put on their dating profile but don't really care about.

People with PTSD and trauma are interesting REGARDLESS of their trauma and trauma-related bullshit, not because.

If the only thing that's interesting about a character is what something else did to your character, it's not really interesting.

What's their dreams?

What do they like to eat in the morning?

What's their values?

Stop Trying TO ANSWER These Important Questions With:

"don't care :3 trauma will make this character complete :D"

Writing Prompt: Hanahaki Disease

Hanahaki Disease is a fictional disease in which the affected individual produces flowers from their mouth as a response to believed-to-be unrequited romantic love. The cure is either surgery or a successful love confession.

Here are some different twists and turns in this prompt:

It's revealed that Hanahaki Disease isn't cured by reciprocated love but by overcoming the fear of rejection! So no relying on your friends to deliver the confession :)

An aromantic character seemingly develops Hanahaki. However, in actuality, this individual doesn't have Hanahaki! The flowers were apart of a dubious plan to "convert" this aromantic character to alloromantic by forcing them into a relationship

Hanahaki has other varients such as platonic Hanahaki for a friendship unreciprocated!

The villain pretends to have Hanahaki in an attempt to guilt trip the protagonist into an unhealthy relationship!

An immortal character contracts Hanahaki and isn't forced into revealing their secret affections for another character to avoid death! Unfortunately, this doesn't cure Hanahaki but turns it into an annoying chronic disease.

There is a way to cure Hanahaki using surgery without having to medically eliminate the memories of their beloved. Unfortunately it's only given to the rich. Now, a group of characters try to wrangle enough money to afford this treatment for their friend in a short amount of time.

I hope you enjoy these Hanahaki-based prompts :)

Weird hybrid ask between writing advice and a personal question. Have you ever written from the perspectives of characters who aren't human and think/perceive the world differently than humans? If so, do you enjoy it? Any recommendations to make it feel more accurate or interesting?

I'll finish this post today! Ok?

Examples Include: grap3, unaliving/k*ll, F--ck

My first post on here was Narumitsu

In case you weren't aware, Narumitsu is going against another ship at a yaoi tournament poll and losing by a small margin. Please vote for phoenix and miles here

I "invented" the concept of an internal rhythm to describe how various aspects of character from their beliefs, background, companions, emotions, and everything harmonize together to form a character's orchestral melody. Their identity.

Afterall, it's not just emotions, or thoughts, or beginnings, or companions, or any singular thing that makes us "us". it's the coalescence of all of these aspects.

How To Write Non-Human Characters

From @startheoverseer we have a question about both me and writing!

Here is the quote: "Have you ever written from the perspectives of characters who aren't human and think/perceive the world differently than humans? If so, do you enjoy it? Any recommendations to make it feel more accurate or interesting?"

The structure for this post will be in the same formatting as the question. First, I'll address my perspective and experience and then i'll give some writing advice.

A) My Own Writing Experience

I've definitely written from the perspective of characters who are either biologically inhuman or who perceive the world through a non-standard path. I've written biblical angels, aliens, androids, parasites, and those not considered "sane".

I really enjoy writing from these types of perspectives. It's an interesting thought experiment that demonstrates the fact that what we consider "human" isn't as structured as we tend to think of it.

B) How To Make It Interesting

Think about is "what is the internal rhythm of this character"?

By "internal rhythm", I am talking about the thought processes, philsophy, and values of a character. Even if a character isn't human, presumably they are going to care about something.

Remember: You need to justify this philosophy. Whether or not you believe it or not, you have to be able to convince your audience that this character has the right to have this belief system.

Twist Human Desire And Perspective

A trick I use for conjuring an interesting internal rhythm is to either take a "positive thing" and twist to be disturbing or I take a "negative thing" and make it into a spector of worship.

I'll take two of my characters: Stansevain and Gabriel

Stansevain is an alien character who is based off of "the horror of understandin. Stansevain lives in a "Hive Mind" where he shares the same feelings, desires, and goals of the greater consciousness where Stansevain's individuality is dead.

Gabriel is an angel who worships the ground of suffering. They're someone who delights in experiencing suffering. For angels, if they experience enough unpolished suffering that isn't alleviated by worship, they will eventually "Fracture".

Use Inspiration

For Gabriel, I was inspired by Lana Del Rey's "Kintsugi", specifically the lines "Think by the third of March, I was cracked open. Finally the ground was cold, they wouldn't open. Brought by the sunlight of the spirit to pour into me". I was immediately reminded of the Holy Spirit and the important lessons gained by suffering.

For Stansevain, I was inspired by the thoughts I had towards the mental illness community. The part of the community that tries to pull each other further down into suffering in a desire to find someone who they can relate to. The horror of forced understanding.

Conclusion: I hope this helps you @startheoverseer . I also hope you learned a little bit more about me!