1. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    [1st Time Poster!] My character is about 600. How do I write/portray trauma well?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by XavierThyme, Oct 7, 2022.

    My character is a semi-immortal- he ages extremely slowly but can die from wounds and disease but he is rather resistant to it.

    What he isn't immune to is self doubt and trauma from 4 centuries of battling a Blight that in the last century nearly ended civilization in the land he lives in.

    One issue I have is sometimes I wonder how he functions- how he lives with so much pain and loss, and it makes me unsure how I say he copes. One method I thought up was that the clan Illusion mage, master of the mind, helped put blockers/wards to help keep him from succumbing to panic or the like, at least somewhat.

    He can still have a panic attack and similar afflictions, but memories of battle and seeing men dying around him is something he was helped to be able to overcome, and the blockers basically help guide his mind back to being calm.

    The only issue is that 600 years makes me worried that it's a bit of a stretch to have him have experienced so much.

    How do you guys write your long-living characters dealing with trauma?

    Also to clarify, this character at present is a tabletop/roleplay character that I'm working on making a small collection of journal/diary entries for.

    Here is what I have so far, figured I'd add it for context {link deleted by staff - no off site links to work please]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 14, 2022
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  2. MartinM

    MartinM Banned

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    @XavierThyme

    Welcome and your first post. I didn’t click on the Wattpad link, WF is really the only serious platform you need IMO. Now I don’t normally recommend books, but I suggest you take a look at this one.

    The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi.

    It covers all sorts of psychological trauma from build-up to aftermath and fallout. Also, who else gets pulled into the initial victim’s circle? Anyway, worth a look.

    For your character having 600years of memories would have some form of compounding effect. One battle flows into another. I can tell you he’s vastly experienced above his mortal peers. One on One he’s seen and done it all, simply undefeatable. This will cause a prolific change in him when he executes another young buck chancing his arm against this ageless knight...

    Miyamoto Musashi - Wikipedia

    Musashi is your real-life version. Read his story and The Book of Five Rings. Why did he stop using a katana, instead a wooden bokken? Why at the height of his fame did he retire to a cave as a hermit?

    Hope this help, let us know how you get on…

    MartinM.
     
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  3. Keongxi

    Keongxi Member

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    I don't know if this answers your question but will watching the first Highlander movie or series help?
     
  4. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    It isn't necessarily true that time heals all wounds, but it's largely true. You grow out of old traumas, unless they're really severely implanted. A lot of it comes down to temperament. Some people are very negatively-oriented and find a way to be angry or depressed about things, but many people are positively-oriented. The same things that fill others with rage or grief slide off like water off a duck's back. This is especially true when a person is young and healthy.

    So, it all depends on what kind of person your character is, his temperament, but also on what effects the immortality imparts. Does it keep him functioning like he's young and resilient? Or does he get brittle and emotionally less resilient with the passage of time?

    I mean, we all suffered losses when we were young that felt devastating at the time, but we grew away from them. You lose loved ones, and of course in some way maybe you never fully get over it, but the sorrow fades significantly, especially if other people come into your life to fill the empty spaces. And eventually it's an old memory rather than a trauma.

    But maybe your character concentrates on the negatives and refuses to let himself heal? The corollary to 'time heals all wounds' is that it also wounds all heels. Or maybe the immortality doesn't keep him resilient and able to spring back? I don't know, that's all up to you as the writer. These are just factors to think about. You decide how to apply them.
     
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  5. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Maybe he doesn't react to minor trauma at all. He's seen so much of such severity that at this point very little phases him.

    I believe he'd become deadened to it all. Not shell-shocked and incapacitated by his past, but blasé and indifferent to his present.
     
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  6. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    I actually have wanted to have him become deadened to it, but recently his adopted son has opened up his heart again, chiseled the stone free and he's grown from a grumpy old fox to the most protective dad you'd ever seen. I have my friend to thank for this, and he helped me IRL not be so callous anymore. Thanks to him I'm... a little more happy as a person.
     
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  7. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    His immortality is meant to keep him able to be a warrior as long as needed, but mentally is not something the god took into consideration. He, back then, expected that his warriors would die some day.
     
  8. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    That actually is fitting to him in the past- he was a warrior above others, and many challenged him during the Blighted years because they wished to be proven strong. Nowadays, he commands his own small legion of normal men, trained to a fine edge by himself and his comrades to be the best a mortal can be. Each is picked by him or joins through the War College of Magic in the case of mages, but they in particular are trained harder to give them a taste of battle so they do not flee in fear.

    He wishes to build others up, to make the future better.

    My only issue is that I cannot tell if it is okay for him to have very low moments, moments where he feels stuck in the past.
     
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  9. Louanne Learning

    Louanne Learning Happy Wonderer Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Contest Winner 2022

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    600 Years is a long time. He's had ample time to put everything in perspective, and accept his role in all of it. But I would make him a marijuana smoker. It does wonders to help one relax.
     
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  10. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Does the character even remember what happened 300 years ago?

    No human has ever lived that long, so we don't know if humans even have the capacity to retain 600 years worth of memories. Maybe he's forgotten everything more than 200 years ago. Maybe he's developed the capacity to selectively prune memories, getting rid of the ones he'd rather not keep.
     
  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Ah ok, so he's the war slave of a god? By choice, or no? I can see where that might make him moody and sorrowful.

    I'm reminded of a series of books by Karl Edward Wagner, about a character named Kane. It's never outright stated (IIRC), but implied that he's actually Caine of Biblical infamy—still alive, still marked as the first murderer, and cursed to bear endless grief for his evil deed. I read this book long ago, though I barely remember it now:

    Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner

    I do remember that he was plagued by the unbearable weight of the endless killing he's done, and as I recall it was pretty well written.
     
  12. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    He remembers a lot but specifics can get very blurry. Battles seem to be o e of the few things he remembers clearly from the past.

    To
    This I have to say I have mused on something similar as the timeline is high fantasy, but names are hard to come by, and men like him who are blessed with the blood of their God have a hard time getting drunk and high.

    To the war slave question, technically. He has all the freedom to leave but doing so now would be detrimental to the Kingdom's continued growth.
     
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  13. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein addresses the emotional impact of near-immortality. It's been a long time since I last read it so I don't know how well it's aged (much of Heinlein hasn't done well), but if you've ever had a series of pets you can get an idea of how Lazurus Long feels. There are some people he rarely thinks of, while others are on his mind all the time even though they've been dead for centuries. Adorable Dora, the young orphan (?) he adopted, raised, and later married (problematic!), the woman Mary (?) who became part of an alien hive mind, etc.
     
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  14. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    What is WF if you don’t mind me asking?
     
  15. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    WritingForums.org—it's where we are now.
     
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  16. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Thank you.
     
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  17. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    I didn’t realize we could submit work here
     
  18. Hammer

    Hammer Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Hi @jej_jones - not so much "submit", as share for critique and discussion. We have a workshop area where members can sandbox ideas, or post extracts of (or short pieces of) work for comment from other members. There are rules - you have to give as well as take - but the giving and receiving of critique is an essential part of the writer's journey
     
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  19. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Excellent! This is good to know! Thank you. That’s exciting!
     
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  20. MartinM

    MartinM Banned

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    @XavierThyme

    My only issue is that I cannot tell if it is okay for him to have very low moments, moments where he feels stuck in the past.

    This is why I recommended you read Miyamoto Musashi. He from a very early age devoted himself to this one skill. As a Ronin he perfected his art, travelling wide and far. To the point of near invincibility. How do you think he felt with 45 kills under his belt, and he receives a new challenger?

    The challenger, he just knows doesn’t stand a chance. It's just a young Samurai trying to make a name for himself. He kills him anyway... How do you think that makes him feel? At 65 kills he changes from using a Katana to wooden bokken. Why?

    He becomes Hosokawa’s retainer to train his men. Is he selling out? It did help him formulate his Book of Five Rings. Was this the new purpose in his life? I’d speculate teaching sword fencing to the younger soldiers would bore him to tears.

    I believe he was utterly miserable at finding the complete solution to martial warfare, and it didn’t lift him spiritually.

    Your MC, with his well-trained troops of elite fighting status needs another goal. It needs a goal that will uplift everything, and the troops are just a tool. He would love his men if they believed in the cause and are still mortal?

    Just some thoughts....

    MartinM.
     
  21. XavierThyme

    XavierThyme New Member

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    I love your response.
    The one thing that changed life for my guy was losing his son, and learning that it was due to another tampering with fate.

    Through a long 20 years he learned the truth and turned back time so that his son is able to live. He went back to save him, and faded, his past self absorbing some of those memories.

    He saw what losing his son did to his other self, and took from it that he needs to make the world better, but not stay in the backrow like he was trying to.
     

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