Writing Schizophrenia

For a short story WIP my MC suffers from Schizoid Personality Disorder. It's kind of essential to the plot that she does, without giving anything away here.

One of the main symptoms of SPD is that the sufferer feels very little - and commonly no - emotions. I used to work with someone who suffered from Schizophrenia (though not SPD) and I've read through some case studies and interviews to get the proper feel for the character. SPD sufferers seem to have a very "grey" experience of the world, with no colour, and no emotional deviations at all, no ups, no downs, just a lot of apathy.

So my question as a writer is - and you may have guessed - is the lack of emotion going to be a major hindrance to the reader experience? I'm a thousand or so words in at present, and am working on substituting the emotional experience for intrigue and mystery, which her analytical mind (and, by extension, the reader) is trying to unravel. I'll probably put something up on crits at some point, though not just yet.

By the way, I should probably add that she is not the hackneyed cliche of a "Psycho" killer, violent and unstable etc - she's got a job (cyber engineer) which she's good at, and can function pretty well in society, save for being emotionally 'not there.'

So, does all this add up to an engaging reader experience?

One of the main POV characters in my first fantasy had a kind of PTSD, and as a consequence I wrote him as very blank emotion-wise as he shut himself off, with the idea that his character arc would allow for the slow release of his emotions. The main female character was also heavily under emotional wraps as a result of various childhood traumas, and was similarly going to blossom as the trilogy progressed. The result, though, was... well... less than gripping. Now that was probably my failure to write the characters properly, and having both of them as blanks added to the problem, (and the missing plot, but that's another issue), but the lack of an emotional contact for the reader certainly didn't help.

I think in literary fiction it's easier to get away with this kind of stuff, but in genre it's something of an uphill struggle, and it's worse nowadays than it would have been even 20 years ago I think -- hence the domination of close third POV in place of omniscient, and increasingly of first person indeed, and the desire of the (particularly young) readership to be involved rather than just entertained. Nonetheless, it's certainly worth pursuing, particularly in a short, and the idea of an analytical problem-solving plot sounds to me the best way to deal with it. So get on and try. Good luck!

TJ was on to somethign there. I think the POV you choose will play a huge part in this. If you're doing 3rd close or 1st, then the emotional blankness will be heavily noticed (this might be what you want for character, but might not connect with readers). In omniscient, less so. Objective limited omniscient might mask that absence and colour the whole story with a SPD feel without calling your MC out for it. Think of your MC as a robot if you want. God knows there have been very engaging ones (Terminator, Mike from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Hal...).

I have quite a few friends with Aspbergers and we often have chatted about how funny the condition they have can be when they have spoken too-honestly at impolitic moments. It's something The Big Bang Theory used to do well with Sheldon Cooper. Also mental health is still undefined and most terms come on a spectrum scale.

I'd say contact with the human-ness of your character first and then her/his greyness. If you think of him/her as a mirror, s/he will therefore only show up on the RADAR when s/he interacts with others, offering a response that falls outside of social bounds. It's like the reader actively learning about the character along with him/her with each confrontation/meeting. I'd respect it can also be fertile ground for some relief moments in your beats, some increase tension, and some timebomb elements when the audience know what is going to happen by the character doesn't - or can't.

To summarise, I'd say make them a person who suffers a condition rather than a condition attached to a person.

pH

I think it can be done well, as long as you set your expectations properly, and provide other plot threads to engage the reader. You want to be careful to set your promises so the reader does not assume this emotionless-ness should be or needs to be overcome... that is not the nature of the disorder. In Brandon Sanderson's terminology, be sure to establish it as a handicap (a part of the character they must work with) and not a flaw (a failing in the character to be surmounted).

Back in grade school I read The Stranger, which follows a character with basically no emotions and a totally existential worldview. The author adjusted the storytelling so that most of the tension and the emotional ride came as a result of us, the reader, seeing and understanding things the MC did not, and then watching how that discrepancy unraveled. In other words, the author was careful to still give us an emotional ride, even though it was not the same ride experienced by the character.

P.S., glad to see you are tackling these real world disorders without just turning the characters into crazed axe murderers

Just go to MacDonalds and observe the crakheds to see this type of personality/attitude. It's everywhere, tho they usually don't serial kill; if that is your character its better to use the hideous event early in their life to make them 'schiz'.

I'd go along with the majority of comments here - to reiterate, this is a short story, so there's really only one plot thread, but 10,000 words (max) seems to be a good length to create this mental and physical vignette of a person in trouble, and using their very specific characteristics (which otherwise might be debilitating) to overcome the threat. I'm not sure I have the skill or clinical knowledge to make a full length novel of this (nor have I the intention of doing so).

The Judge said:

hence the domination of close third POV in place of omniscient, and increasingly of first person indeed, and the desire of the (particularly young) readership to be involved rather than just entertained.

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Ihe said:

Objective limited omniscient might mask that absence and colour the whole story with a SPD feel without calling your MC out for it.

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Interesting. I've started it in close 3rd. I hope my MC is interesting, without being emotive. I think she is, but perhaps I'm biased. I havent' written omni for about 4 years, but perhaps this is a good place to relearn that skill.

Phyrebrat said:

I'd say contact with the human-ness of your character first and then her/his greyness. If you think of him/her as a mirror, s/he will therefore only show up on the RADAR when s/he interacts with others, offering a response that falls outside of social bounds.

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I agree with the sentiment, but her first "human" interaction isn't strictly speaking with a human, so that colours things somewhat. And what's RADAR? Not some spy thing I've missed out on, is it?

Phyrebrat said:

I'd respect it can also be fertile ground for some relief moments in your beats, some increase tension, and some timebomb elements when the audience know what is going to happen by the character doesn't - or can't.

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That's really interesting, and I'll try to incorporate some of that into the text. One of the scenes is going to be a dinner party type setting, so potential for humour abound.

zmunkz said:

You want to be careful to set your promises so the reader does not assume this emotionless-ness should be or needs to be overcome... that is not the nature of the disorder. In Brandon Sanderson's terminology, be sure to establish it as a handicap (a part of the character they must work with) and not a flaw (a failing in the character to be surmounted).

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I'd not read this definition before, but I wholeheartedly agree - this is not something to be overcome - it's a part of who she is, and there are certain ironies in that. Certainly not a flaw - and in actual fact an advantage.

J Riff said:

Just go to MacDonalds and observe the crakheds to see this type of personality/attitude. It's everywhere, tho they usually don't serial kill; if that is your character its better to use the hideous event early in their life to make them 'schiz'.

Click to expand...

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