I'm writing a fantasy novel from the viewpoint of a young woman with a mental condition that makes her hallucinate (at least, this is what she's told--she's actually just sensitive to an energy that's leaking from another fantasy world). A lot of the conflict is internal at first, as she's trying to hold onto her sense of sanity and keep herself out of an asylum. The problem is that since her condition makes her a target for violence and discrimination in her world, she tries to keep it hidden and limits her own interaction with people. Eventually she finds a portal into the energy-leaking world, but until then, I'm having a hard time getting her to interact with anyone, really. I feel like she needs a friend who she can trust, or someone who helps her along the way, etc., but every time I try to add a character, it feels flat and forced. Is it too boring to have her figure things out solo for the first part of the story, isolated from her peers? Or do you guys have any suggestions about a character type that could mesh well with this type of person? I have an herbalist who helps her discover the world, and she has a broken family that she doesn't connect very well with. All suggestions and/or advice is definitely appreciated!
You could always do something along the lines of mystical projection that she thinks is a hallucination but it's not. Or maybe it's such a good projection she doesn't realize it's not until later. Something along those lines. Just throwing that out there. But for real people she knows is real, hm. Well you already mentioned an herbalist, why not amp up her role? If the herbalist knows about the world, she could gradually gain your MC's trust, plant seeds that maybe she's not hallucinating, maybe it's real, that sort of thing. If she doesn't, eeeehhhh no real ideas for that. Or maybe a best friend that's got a whirlwind 'don't take no for an answer' type of personality.
