How would you portray maladaptive daydreaming?

[Skyy]

I was thinking and how would people portray maladaptive daydreaming.
If you don't know what it is it's pretty much constant day dreaming. Some people who have this also act this day dreaming out (my brother has it and he does that). The acting out of these daydreams is a way of emotional processing. Honestly I don't exactly know how I would do it.

[Leyelle]

I currently don't have any released stories where anyone does this, but i do have one in future about a little boy who lives this way. For the whole comic, you almost always see the world the way he views it. People aren't themselves, but random things he imagines them into. sticks become swords, etc. but by the conversations and situations going on, it's pretty clear that thi isn't the real world, just the way he imagines the real world

[Skyy]

Oooh I like that way of portraying it. It adds the child's imagination to the story

[kyupol]

[DokiDokiTsuna]

If you don't know what it is it's pretty much constant day dreaming.

...That's considered maladaptive?? o_O I had no idea...

Well...as someone who apparently also has this...it's not really that big a deal, I don't think? ^^; It just feels like having the TV or radio on 24/7.

In my case, the TV is voluntary-- stuff I particularly want to think about, like my comic scripts and novels, and animations I wish I could do. I can easily turn this on or off...although it will turn itself back on repeatedly if it's an idea I'm really invested in, something that's new or particularly cool (i.e. I actually want to write it down to work on later). I guess this is definitely kinda disruptive...but at its worst, I can usually manage by listening to something IRL to distract myself from my own brain, like a podcast or sthg.

The radio is involuntary-- it just plays in the background of my mind, any song (or a short snippet of a song, or sometimes a spoken quote) that my brain can conjure up at the time. Although it can get very repetitive, it's only annoying if I think about it, like how you don't notice the feeling of your clothes on your skin until you start actively thinking about it.

I don't think there's any trickedy-trick to 'portraying' something like this; to me it doesn't feel any different from having regular thoughts...there's just more of them. ^^; Like, the way people usually portray daydreams in media, with the world dissolving into a fantasy-land, or the things they're thinking about popping up in their vision while they're supposed to be focused on other things...feels fairly accurate already. :T

Personally, my daydreams just look like a transparent screen over my field of vision. But if I were to draw it in an artsier way, I guess I'd do something like: I'm having a conversation with my boss, and there are anime girls fighting in the background, doing parkour all over the countertops and interacting with the setting as if they're actually there. And I'm just conversing normally, more or less paying attention, but also sneaking glances at 'em every once in a while. ^^

[megumibex]

I've never written about it, but when I was younger I probably was a maladaptive daydreamer (taking up writing actually helped me calm it down, so I wouldn't call it maladaptive anymore, but I'll always be a dreamer).

I think how you portray it depends a lot on the role of the maladaptive daydreamer in the story.

If the Maladaptive daydreamer is the POV character, I would try to portray it the narrative voice. Every real event in the story, triggers musings and fantasies that reveal more about the narrators thoughts and feelings. These should be as vivid and emotional as the actual events of the novel.

If it's a supporting character, the same thing should be happening, but the details will not be known to the reader (unless the maladaptive daydreamer explains it in dialogue). Maybe the MC notices their friend mouthing words to themselves, or acting something out.

If you wanted to use this for drama: I think it's very common for maladaptive daydreamers to feel a degree of shame around their habits, so them trying to keep it hidden wouldn't seem odd to me. I also found my mood would worsen if I was forced to go a long time without daydreaming. For example, going on trips with friends would become very taxing if I couldn't go off for a wander alone every couple of days. I can't daydream properly when my friends are around, due to the above mentioned shame, and because daydreaming is a way of processing emotions, after about a week I really notice negative effects.

[Skyy]

Oooh interesting, see almost everything I know about the topics is what I have researched. I would need to ask my brother about how he sees it but yeah. I find that really interesting especially coming from someone who might/does have it.

[Tubacabra]

Huh. I didn't even realize this was a thing. Thanks for the PSA!

As for style, are you looking for a more Don Quixote, or Calvin & Hobbes approach? Because I feel like both would be an accurate representation...

Tubacabra | Tapas Creator

[Skyy]

I don't particularly know, instead of just sharing your story could you just show a snippet of a part describing or showing the topic?

[allisoncandraw]

I used to have a really bad maladaptive daydreaming problem, so maybe I can help?

You could show the character going in and out of their daydream world. The contrast between reality and their daydream should be very clear; usually people do this because they aren't happy with their reality.

I would recommend showing them snapping out of their daydreams, as well. Snapping back to reality after a daydream can be disorienting. I used to get embarrassed when I realized how long I had been "away". There is often some shame that comes with it, so maybe play into that aspect as well?

[Skyy]

I have heard about how people feel ashamed of it but okay. I might add maladaptive daydreaming if I end up bringing an oc with it into my story

[vfaqvrf]

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