How would grief of losing not one, but many loved ones affect your psyche?

[Fogged_Creation]

Gonna go straight to the point here.

So I'm world building a story for a book I'm hoping to make, it's a fantasy, science fiction-esque type of story, with many characters and different cultures based on what they learned and were given. Here I am asking how I should kickstart a great start of Chad (the protagonist)'s conflict.
So the beggining of the conflict would start when everyone just suddenly died in his village one day. At this part I had him start denying the fact that his family and friends are all dead, and then he grieves over the corpses of his loved ones, not knowing what he should do, being already hungry and thirsty, refusing to eat or dring anything in his village, packs his things he thinks will be useful and leave to the nearby forest.

Now I have a feeling that a reaction like that would be less realistic, to be honest I would feel pretty bad and I'd kinda break down in tears Lol

For him he does not know what why and how they all died, but slowly he finds out of rumors of what it had caused, finding out that the village has had it's food and water poisoned with some sort of plague and how it was tactically placed in the main agricultural distribution point in the region, because of this fact, allowed the plague to spread upon the neighboring cities of the same faction, this biological attack had proven to've been incredibly devastating to the region and completely shattering for what was once known as a great kingdom to a ghastly town. Many would believe that it was caused from an unfortunate virus outbreak, Chad would believe otherwise and from what he would assume to believe is the fault of another kingdom who were not in good terms with the destroyed kingdom in the first place.
Later he finds out that his assumptions were true, however it was by the hands of hired necromancers who so sneakily tainted the food and water supply with a plague that killed and reanimated the living as zombies that obey to the necromancer's will.

From start to the eventual finish, what would be the initial shock a normal human being would react with? How would he manage to the sudden change and mental conflicts along the way? Would he even think about leaving? At the moment that the whole village died he is currently hungry and thirsty, and he does not consume what is in the village or else he'll die too. Would he even survive going into the forest alone, with moderate preparation and little knowledge in camping and overall survival?

How would someone react who is quirky and modest?
I'd like to hear your people's opinions and advice on the question, even things that aren't about emotional pain necessarily, anything that can help me out in avoiding bad or boring tropes.

Thank you in advance! I await your responses most patiently, feel free to ask questions if there are things you want context for or other!.

 

[Overread]

In many ways how your character reacts would be tempered by how he grew up and the world around him. How isolated is this village? How much contact does it and does he have with the world outside of it. Consider if he's got family living elsewhere, or friends. Once the initial shock is past that might be a key element in what might guide his reaction.

Age is also important, but so too is experiences. If he were a farmer or otherwise had a background in raising livestock he might be more mentally prepared for the concept of death; whilst if he was not really associated with that side of life then even as an older person he might suffer far more shock. This isn't really talking about the initial reaction, but more his thought processes after the effect. Ergo someone used to the concept of mortality might come to terms with things slightly quicker than one for whom its a more recent direct experience (of course both will have increased shock for the size and magnitude of the number of deaths).

As for staying in the village or leaving, if he considers the possibility of tainted water or food being the source of the death then he might well not use village resources and could strike out. Another village nearby; heading across the valley toward another water source (depends on the environment - it could be river based; well; etc...). Again depending on his education and experiences this would guide how he'd potentially react. Remembering that he might take a while to establish how many are dead in the village and that during that period he might well eat and drink and thus cause himself to later reflect on his poor choices. However it might also teach him "safe" sources. Eg if he drank from a storage container or specific well he might consider that "safe" as he is alive. That might give him limited resources to use within the settlement.



One thing I'll sort of caution you on is that depressed characters are very hard to write as lead characters. In part because much of what they might go through, whilst being perfectly natural and understandable, can appear very "weak" as character traits for a lead character in a story. Even a skilled author can have trouble - Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son series is a good series, but nowhere near as favoured as her other series are. That her lead character spends a large portion of the middle of the story as a very passive and depressed character is part of what I've seen people say is a reason they weren't as fond of it.

It sounds like you're avoiding that, however I think if you are you've got to give your character good reasons to break out of the shock and fear mindset.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

In many ways how your character reacts would be tempered by how he grew up and the world around him. How isolated is this village? How much contact does it and does he have with the world outside of it. Consider if he's got family living elsewhere, or friends. Once the initial shock is past that might be a key element in what might guide his reaction.

Age is also important, but so too is experiences. If he were a farmer or otherwise had a background in raising livestock he might be more mentally prepared for the concept of death; whilst if he was not really associated with that side of life then even as an older person he might suffer far more shock. This isn't really talking about the initial reaction, but more his thought processes after the effect. Ergo someone used to the concept of mortality might come to terms with things slightly quicker than one for whom its a more recent direct experience (of course both will have increased shock for the size and magnitude of the number of deaths).

As for staying in the village or leaving, if he considers the possibility of tainted water or food being the source of the death then he might well not use village resources and could strike out. Another village nearby; heading across the valley toward another water source (depends on the environment - it could be river based; well; etc...). Again depending on his education and experiences this would guide how he'd potentially react. Remembering that he might take a while to establish how many are dead in the village and that during that period he might well eat and drink and thus cause himself to later reflect on his poor choices. However it might also teach him "safe" sources. Eg if he drank from a storage container or specific well he might consider that "safe" as he is alive. That might give him limited resources to use within the settlement.



One thing I'll sort of caution you on is that depressed characters are very hard to write as lead characters. In part because much of what they might go through, whilst being perfectly natural and understandable, can appear very "weak" as character traits for a lead character in a story. Even a skilled author can have trouble - Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son series is a good series, but nowhere near as favoured as her other series are. That her lead character spends a large portion of the middle of the story as a very passive and depressed character is part of what I've seen people say is a reason they weren't as fond of it.

It sounds like you're avoiding that, however I think if you are you've got to give your character good reasons to break out of the shock and fear mindset.

I see I see, well to further the add lime here, I'm trying to make a good start for chapter 1, however I want my character to grow slowly, with the occasional bursts of change he'll find along the way.
I had indeed planned my character with probably a few too many weaknesses, but later on I try and show how he endures and develops as a character with many experiences, not being no chosen one or savior of the world or anything.

I planned that he would meet an unlikely friend along the way (spoiler alert: it's an intelligent spider)
The friend would help him get over his loss, which will help in removing some of his bitterness, and adding fun chapters that don't progress through the main story but is more of a fun endeavour for Chad.

However, now that you mention it, it does seem quite complicated to express strong emotion in writing. All you can really do is describe what he's doing, how he's moving, breathing, blinking, his thoughts and colorful explanations of how the character feels. I believe I should continue practicing on small stories and repeat the beggining a few times an until I think I get it right.

Also part of helpfulness from your information Overread, thanks! Helped reveal some things I didn't quite think of

 

[Fogged_Creation]

Also, my idea is that all of this went down while Chad's age is only 15 years old, going to school and partly helping his mother who is a blacksmith and his farher being a soldier or some kind of guard, city guard thingy

 

[Brian G Turner]

So I'm world building a story for a book I'm hoping to make

No offence, but just write.

It's great that you want to go into all this background, but it's only by writing it that you'll be able to properly tackle your themes. It's during this stage that you'll really encounter the challenges of trying to communicate what you want to say - but again, this will only really happen through the practice of writing.

So I can only suggest you try writing what you want to cover, and make changes as you see them being required by the story.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Yes. What Brian said!

It sounds as if you’ve made a great start and you’re aware of the pitfalls. Let your character get on with it now and see where he leads you. I find that when I’m finished a draft and have begun editing, much of the early stuff needs to change anyway.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

A third for write, don’t overthink it. You’ll get to know your character better as you write them. Let their reactions guide you. Your subconscious is often all over this kind of thing

 

[Hugh]

various possible manifestations/combinations.....

survival guilt

displacement

looking for someone to blame

becoming easily triggered by people/events that remind him of his loss

compensation i.e. overactive/ manic behaviours

introversion and despondency

becoming overdependent emotionally on others or the reverse, cut off and distant

spiritual/religious preoccupations

 

[Overread]

Take a lesson from Pixar and Disney and destroy the village in chapter 2.
If you watch their films most of them start out with a period of happy times. They show how things were good, fun, happy etc.... Basically they build a contented character, even if their lot in life might not be the best they are still happy with their life and family and those around them. Then you sweep it out from under them. Then comes the fire or the fight or the murder etc....

It has far more impact because now the reader saw what life they had before and what they've lost. Starting too soon with the loss can cheapen it and also make it harder to relate to the character because the reader has to invent their own backstory.

 

[Hugh]

various possible manifestations/combinations.....

survival guilt

displacement

looking for someone to blame

becoming easily triggered by people/events that remind him of his loss

compensation i.e. overactive/ manic behaviours

introversion and despondency

becoming overdependent emotionally on others or the reverse, cut off and distant

spiritual/religious preoccupations

I forgot to add...

internalised sense of self as bad

tendency to self-injury or put oneself in dangerous situations.

intrusive images of dead bodies

drug or alcohol abuse

 

[Jesse Harris]

From start to the eventual finish, what would be the initial shock a normal human being would react with? How would he manage to the sudden change and mental conflicts along the way? Would he even think about leaving? At the moment that the whole village died he is currently hungry and thirsty, and he does not consume what is in the village or else he'll die too. Would he even survive going into the forest alone, with moderate preparation and little knowledge in camping and overall survival?

I can only speak from personal experience. It takes time for your subconscious to really soak in the reality. In scenario as you describe, I would expect a bit of shock initially, some grief, and normal stuff you see in movies.

Long term, we are talking weeks, months, and years, I would look at @Hugh's initial list. A person get some of these like they get flu symptoms. Some people can some worse than others, some people will not have a few at all, and they might come and go at different times, but it always a mixture of these. @Hugh's second set I cannot personally identity with but you pull from that list as needed to push your plot along.

As far as survival, you would probably die in real life. If the temperature is temperate, and he knows how to get clean water, he could survive several days without eating. I did a 48 hour water fast one weekend. If you want to write realistically, get up one morning, skip breakfast and go walk around in the woods for a few hours. If he is headed to another nearby village, I think he has a good chance. If he needs to become Bear Grylls overnight, then it just isn't realistic.

Also, the only thing to do in the woods is think. You character is going to have a really long internal monologue of emotions and stuff if you do not find a companion for them, doesn't have to be person, or even a living thing.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

What about denial? It might be too much for him to absorb all at once. The tendency could well be to put it aside to think about it later, and just get on with what needs to be done at the moment. (With his entire village dead, it seems like he might have a lot of urgent things to think about and do at first.) Thoughts of his many losses might intrude from time to time with accompanying pangs, but be quickly suppressed. He can't afford to have a breakdown now; he'll deal with all that later. For some time the only way to go on might be to imagine that everyone is really all right. (Though he would really know that they aren't, pretending could keep him going.)

In fact, finally letting grief overwhelm him—and what he does then, and how he determines to go on afterward—might provide the climax of the story.

 

[Overread]

What about livestock and pets - are they dead or alive as well?

One way to cope through the trauma and also perhaps give a focus beyond long internal monologues would be if he had a pet or livestock to care for. There's even a lot of interesting story potential if he's not been raised to care for livestock, but feels and obligation to look after them. It might also give him a place to "live" if he avoids going in the houses (confronting the reality of the dead and the rising smell of decay over time), but instead moves into the barn/stock shelters.

Even if he has a pet or adopts one of the other pets, such as a dog. There's story potential there too. If he left the village his new pet might try to return on the evening (esp if it wasn't "his" to start with). Meanwhile trying to befriend a dog might work for a while, but he could also end up losing them if he focuses on only one and the rest "pack up" and start to go a touch wild.