1. How do you tackle problematic situations within your writing? What sorts of situations do you portray and do you try to portray them realistically? Why or why not? 2. What are some of your resources for information regarding the situation (or situations)? __ When I talk about problematic situations, I'm talking about a variety of situations. Some of them are associated with "trigger warnings" on social media such as rape, abuse, and depression, but I'm also talking about other situations that are necessarily on people's radars. These include things like consensual incest relationships, general violence, and (for some people) homosexuality. For one of my works-in-progress I am trying to tackle a variety of situations that may (or may not) be considered problematic. This includes (but is not limited to) general violence (the main character is a gun-for-hire), consensual incest (his primary lover is his brother), and homosexuality (he's gay). The first two are all subplots to the primary plot with the third only being key because of his cover job ("exotic dancer", stripper). My goal is to not make anything over-the-top and to weave everything that touches on his personal life in a more realistic and healthy manner. (The general violence will never be healthy and the results will never be healthy.) As a result, this means I have to do research. Not only do I need to know the weight of a bullet for a variety of guns, but I also need to know how violence can affect others, how homosexuality is viewed in different areas of the United States, different psychological make-ups, psychological repercussions, physical repercussions, etc. I have a vast amount of resources at my hands because I can access academic articles through my school, but not everyone is capable of accessing those sources which brings me to my second question: What sources do you use in your research particularly in relation to problematic situations that you may deal with within your writings? Google is great, but specific websites (such as WebMD for self-help or Field and Stream for types of guns) are even better.
The question of resources is incredibly broad and dependent on case-by-case bases. Whenever I do any kind of research, I just try to find as many credible sources as I can for fact-based things, and a lot of different, well-reasoned opinions (often blogs and, well, opinion pieces) for stuff that's more subjective. I definitely do try to portray things realistically. I write about mental illness a lot, which means a ton of research even if it's one that I have. And I don't romanticize things. Sometimes this shit is ugly, and we behave horribly, and I don't want to make excuses or justify - only explain. At the same time I'm both wary of making villains/antags clearly mentally ill as some sort of explanation for their villainous behavior, because it's a pretty harmful and common conception that people with the 'uglier' mental illnesses like schizophrenia are more likely to be violent/abusive (in reality they're much more likely to be victims of abuse). If I have a mentally ill antag I try to make them antagonistic in a way that isn't related to their illness. They can have OCD and also just be a real jackass as a complete aside. I enjoy writing violence, on one hand, but on the other I'm interested in portraying the damage it causes in a sympathetic way. That one's tricky for me, because I again I don't want to romanticize it ... but I do really, really like writing it. The self-indulgent gore-porn doesn't have to be in the finished product - I just try to be tactful on that front. I exclusively write Queer Content™ and in dealing with that I'm uninterested in whatever offense may be taken by the fact that the characters are queer, but again I do a lot of research to make sure I'm not stepping on anyone's toes with thoughtless employment of stereotype. I am not the entire umbrella - I don't have personal experience to draw off of and make calls with for everything. So I listen to other people. I've written characters involved with sex work, characters who are serial killers, characters with physical disabilities, characters with chronic illnesses, characters who have experienced and inflicted trauma, characters with complicated relationships from codependent to mutually-abusive in familial, platonic, and romantic contexts - assorted things that could be considered delicate, problematic (which I'm here saying to mean 'content that people may have problems with'), etc. I just try to be well-educated, respectful, genuine, and generally sympathetic to whatever actual or fictional humans are affected. And if I don't feel like I can pull it off in a realistic and compassionate way, I don't try. I always got more ideas. I can pass up on a few if they turn out to be duds.
Honestly, I think this is the only advice that you need. If you have, to the best of your abilities, depicted something as realistically as you can then you need not worry about anything else. That doesn't mean that you've lifted something out of the real world. Just that you've sat and thought about these characters and how they act and think and believe that this is what they would do if they were a real person then that's the most you can ever do. The best resources will always be people. Talk to people. Ask them what it's actually like in practise. Trust me man, there's a lot the doctors don't tell you about illnesses and mental illnesses. There's lots they don't tell you about how drugs actually feel in practise. You can read the leaflet that says this has a billion possible side effects but it's totally different to actually have them. Talking to people who have actually dealt with the specific subject matter will be so much better than any written resource. At least when you can talk to people you can ask, you know? You can ask how they would deal with this situation themselves and let them tell you if they think it's just flat wrong.
I have a lot of situations in my WIP that have the main character dealing with depression and wanting to die in some instances. Also, at some point he gets a severe injury. I just try to portray them the best I can and as realistically as possible. This I feel very strongly about. I definitely do not want to romanticize depression and suicide. When my main character dies in the end, it isn't pretty, it isn't a beautiful end to his love story, it's him dying out of sheer guilt and hopelessness. It would make me sick if I romanticized that because that's so far from the end's truth. I have referred a lot to those medical websites like WebMD and Mayo Clinic for the injury matters of my WIP, even with the backstory that isn't necessarily in writing. I can't really think of any other websites I've used specifically for anything. I guess Google is my friend for most of my research matters.
I think you have to do your research on the "real world", but you also have to consider the fictional milieu in which you're writing. Like, if your project is Supernatural fanfiction, you should be aware of the traditions within that community and consider them at least as much as you consider reality. I'm not saying someone couldn't write a kick-ass fanfic in which brothers having sex, killing lots of people, and generally lying to everyone they meet is presented as really problematic, psychopathic behaviour; I've read some fics that definitely presented the characters in a dark way. But then the rest of the tone of the story should match that darkness. On the other hand, I've also read fics in which incest and killing and totally unrealistic undercover work is just sort of glossed over and taken for granted. In fiction for a general audience, that probably wouldn't work, but for the Supernatural fandom it works just fine, because other authors have already established that framework for you. Supernatural is just an example, obviously, getting to the point that there is an element of willing suspension of disbelief in most genres. That doesn't mean you have to require your readers to suspend their disbelief all the time, but it means you can, if that's what works for you. So, yes, research is important and valuable, but so is knowing your genre. We treat "comic book characters" as an insult, but if you're writing a comic book, they may not be that much of a problem!
I try to portray things realistically and as is necessary for the story and it's world. I never shy away from these topics though. They're too important to me and my writings. I simply recommend first hand sources when available and also look for good examples of what you want to do and try to learn from them. Other than that, just don't try to please everyone. You will never please everyone. Aim for your target audience.
