Any advice on writing characters with PTSD?

[abigaillmartin]

My character Eric from Cracking Eggs was tortured by the people he works for, The Egg Washers to keep their best American in England. I won’t give any spoilers for my Cracking Eggs sequel but Eric has nightmares and keeps remembering his torture sessions by looking at the cuts on his body. I’m pretty sure he would develop some form of PTSD from those experiences.

I love his character, he’s got people he loves, I’m just wondering if there are any psychologists here. Any advice on how I’d go about writing it as well as showing it?

[abigaillmartin]

Okay actually Eric would most likely have Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)

[MK_Wizard]

My best advice is to do research. Don't just guess how people would act. Actually, research how they would act and react to specific situations. I say this as someone who did that. People with PTSD tend to struggle with self-worth, have issues socializing, can be set off by even trivial things and you often repeat the same conversations again and again.

[abigaillmartin]

I have read about it. I think as long as I know my character which I do it’ll work. I got this! Thanks!

[GumshoeComix]

Note: Not a psychologist, there are psychologists here. I've just been working on this topic of mental health in my comic as well and have ptsd myself so thought i'd pass it down

firstly keep in mind when you write this character that PTSD is different for everyone and shows up differently for everyone so whatever you write is valid

Do research, not just on PTSD, but on the things that happened to your character and think 'how would I react"
Often (not always!) c-ptsd in guys projects more aggressive than scared or sad, they want to push others away, and they lash out at others.
But If he's still working for the people who tortured him he probably has some form of Stockholm syndrome

[abigaillmartin]

By the end of Cracking Eggs (the first one) he does escape England with help from Winston (his partner in crime who they both later escape together and find a life together in America) by the second one Eric has flashbacks from when he was tortured which still haunts him his pain never goes away but keeps blaming himself for it. He then finds out his captors have kidnapped a few people close to him or people he met before so he and Winston go on a rescue mission. The rest are spoilers so I’ll stop right there but thank you so much!

That’s what I was thinking it is different for everyone and in his case, he is out of his cycle of abuse from the Egg Washers but still feels the pain from the horrible things they did to him.

So in a sense. Would this be a revenge story?

I feel like it would be for certain just me though.

Yah know psychology is fascinating to me and I’ve always loved looking into my character’s psychological aspects.

[abigaillmartin]

Also a note on Stockholm Syndrome. He most likely had it in Cracking Eggs (the first one) since he was sort of dependent on his captor which he is indebted to.

[GumshoeComix]

hm, i'd have to read your story to know if its a revenge story, and it sounds interesting but you dont have a link for it here.

[abigaillmartin]

Oh yeah! Well the first one isn’t but you should definitely check it out! It helps a lot!

Read Cracking Eggs by Cila-17 | Tapas Web Comics

[LostKelp]

Hey Abigaill? Are you really gonna have someone be tortured by the egg mafia? Are they gonna have their "eggs" "cracked" (by which I mean kneecaps snapped) in your story about the US hating the UKs nasty Lil unwashed eggs? I'm not even sure if the UK exports eggs to America it seems like the sort of thing only sold locally.

Are unwashed eggs cocaine? Did Eric get addicted to washing eggs for the high of rebellion? Did the egg mafia waterboard him. Did your main characters Winston and Eric tacitly support torture by not standing up for victims while they were with the egg mafia. I really hope you can see the absurdity here. Like it's as if wilie coyote went to therapy after being hit by an anvil. Like there's a problem cuz your audience are gonna be expecting something stupid out of "the egg black market caught on that their egg smugglers have gone clean and are gonna beat the shit out of them to keep em from talking to the egg police" and it's a hard sell to turn that into a serious examination of trauma because it's eggs

why is your examination of trauma orbiting around egg washing? Why not trauma induced by the stress of migration and the threat of deportation in a post brexit Britain? Or childhood neglect in the foster system? Or any other actual problem? That way the absurdity of the egg story could contrast against the seriousness of this subject matter rather than clash against it. Cuz when you introduce torture and CPTSD to the egg mafia you ask the audience to either take the egg mafia seriously or treat torture and CPTSD like a joke, and I don't think that you should.

[abigaillmartin]

Aye aye yah! Yeeeeeeesh!

[abigaillmartin]

I set Cracking Eggs in pre Brexit England it takes place in 2014. This one however I’m writing takes place in 2018. Whenever I write something serious in matter I make it serious. Not all of this is a joke sir. I honestly made this thread at a time where I couldn’t figure it out. Now I am assured I got Eric’s character down. Yes it’ll get dark but I intended this to be a dark comedy in all honesty. I’m a good artist I’m not the best writer I admit and I apologize for taking a serious subject matter lightly. I shouldn’t have done that.

[abigaillmartin]

Alright I’ve cooled down a bit and realized I made a mistake. Eric does not have PTSD I made a mistake. He is just worried and having bad dreams. This thread is so and let me write in peace.

[LostKelp]

I may have been a bit harsh. There is probably a way of handling trauma well through the egg mafia. But I think that it's probably safer to keep the trauma stories for later when you're a more experienced writer. (Though you could totally turn that point back at me because, I am definitely not an experienced writer).

[abigaillmartin]

My solution is just to have Eric worried. I talked with a friend of mine about it and she said that would be a lot better and that way it wouldn’t harm the audience. She had good advice and I got it from here. I understand you were trying to help and I indeed appreciate that.

[system]

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