Trauma and its effect on the person

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by GDLiZy, May 6, 2019.

?

Tragedy good?

  1. All actions must have consequences, no matter how ignorance you are

    30 vote(s)
    85.7%
  2. I could not stand in the presence of grief, Fantasy is suppose to be unreal

    5 vote(s)
    14.3%
  1. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    So, fortunately, I have no childhood trauma and the like, and I felt thankful for that. However, I love tragedy and the aftermath of such, so I was planning to write a character arc where the protagonist would be dealing with his past trauma while struggling to find a purpose to keep him alive. He is alone, in a strange place where he knew none, without any trace of his family, friends, as if the past did not exist at all.

    His trauma was about his loved one, and how he failed to protect her.

    So, I asked you, to share your experience, or how you see the trauma, about how it felt like, how it affected your daily life, and hopefully, how you overcome it.
     
  2. mumfie

    mumfie Well-Known Member

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    " I love tragedy and the aftermath of such"
    by openly/knowingly stating this sentence should be a wake up call for help..
    there are public mental health services available everywhere, so the probability of having one near your location is high.. i heartily suggest you make the call today.. if there are none in the vicinity, i do hope you call the closest doctor for the prescription of drugs for you're problems.. as this might become a seed deep inside you for the purpose of giving the justification for creating tragedy toward others all for you're own amusement in the future..
    this is NOT a healthy mind set by any means of the imagination, so don't deceive yourself anymore with half-baked excuses, and get HELP
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2019
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  3. juniorjawz

    juniorjawz Well-Known Member

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    get help
     
  4. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    I think it's kind of hard to quantify trauma in general, but I also am doubting you had no trauma either. Not all trauma is major incidents. Actually, every experience in your life is a form of trauma. Because trauma is by nature a form of experience. Just trauma happens to be more deeply negative experience.

    But any form of experience works exactly the same way as trauma.

    For example, take your pinkie toe and smash it against a corner of a desk. Do you notice your mind hesitate and try to avoid it? Yup, that's still a form of trauma. Afraid of heights? A form of trauma.

    And you can be afraid of heights even without falling. Why? Because trauma is not only triggered by the event by association. The trauma of heights is the fear of pain and death which you have witnessed in other experiences and associated them together.

    There is no way you have no trauma, you simply don't comprehend you do.
     
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  5. justmehere

    justmehere Well-Known Member

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    In the end in order to overcome any trauma is to have faith in another person.
     
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  6. Amaruna Myu

    Amaruna Myu ugly squid dokja (●´∀`●)

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    add some heartrenching pain
     
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  7. juniorjawz

    juniorjawz Well-Known Member

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    On a side note... have you been reading or listening to any MTL? You don't sound like normal you.
     
  8. lnv

    lnv ✪ Well-Known Hypocrite

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    Ah, no. To overcome trauma, you need positive experiences that overwrite the negative ones. Faith in another person is simply using your experience in said person wanting to help you to alleviate the negative experiences.

    But faith alone won't solve your trauma. Just like when you learn to ride a bike or to swim. Someone holding you up helps because you trust them, but that alone isn't going to get you riding a bike or swimming. You simply use your faith in them holding you up as you accumulate positive experiences of riding/swimming, which then increases your confidence and makes it easier to do so without them.

    Without that last step, your trauma can simply turn into one where you are okay when others are around, but the trauma can resurface when you are alone.
     
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  9. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    The problem with writing tragedy, or just stuff that is supposed to make the reader feel bad in general is getting the right balance. It is sort of like how the bitter taste of coffee is enjoyable, but burnt pizza taste terrible. I am not sure how exactly authors manage to do tragedy right, but I do know how they do it wrong. Which is by slathering it on in excessive amounts. This usually goes one of two ways, either A the protagonist has one really bad thing that happened to them, and they never fucking shut up about it, or B the protagonist is continually met with misfortune after misfortune until you wonder why you're supposed to be rooting for someone the author so obviously hates.

    Now you want a tragic backstory, so you need to be worried about doing A, making a protagonist that never fucking stops obsessing over his tragic past. Remember for people that have genuinely suffered, they will not constantly be dwelling on that pain. Sure it is will still be there, like a wound that never fully healed. Which is more admirable though, the bamf who remains stoic and hides his pain, or snivelling little edgelord who is always crying about it?
     
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  10. Nefasdetestasti

    Nefasdetestasti ❄️Wɪɴᴛᴇʀ's Sᴏɴɢ❄️ ||| [Schrödinger Pantsu]

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    You're either a masochist or a character development fan.

    Either of those, no one will care.
    The only thing we care is that, we hope that your story will be a good one.
     
  11. One Perfect Veteran

    One Perfect Veteran [ICL] [Bureaucat] [Cereal Killer]

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    Realistic tradegies are my favourite element in stories and it's inspiring to see people wanting to write some!

    I don't have any super dramatic experiences to recount,
    But I've experienced being helpless many times....
    For example, there was a time in my childhood when I played with my great-aunt who I knew for several years(at that time my whole life actually) and I always received sweet pastries from her, that's why I was very attached to her, but one day after playing with toys she went to lie down in her room and I napped close. Then I found my great-aunt with an open mouth and closed eyes on her bed. She wasn't moving and I thought she was sleeping, so I just lied on her belly. It wasn't so warm anymore...

    Grandfather with whom I lived for more than 10 years suddenly began to act strange,
    Usually he is very composed and never phased by anything, so I was shocked when he started rumbling incoherently and roaring at me.
    He actually was a precious person for me, cuz he spent all days amusing me, going out to catch hedgehogs, gather mushrooms, look at fishes in rivers and he taught me the joy of card games and chess, while my grandma never played with me...
    So, I was concerned with him being frantic and called my grandma,
    Several days later, even though my family wanted to conceal it I got the news coincidentally from my grandma talking on phone that he got an Alzheimer...
    It was really hard to take care of him and always be with him, cuz he tried to jump from the balcony saying he wanted to go out to walk on the streets(9th floor...). I won't elaborate further, but know its hard to clean after and care for a patient with an Alzheimer. And I cried really hard at the fateful day...
    There was also a time when I wasn't able to help my grandma. It was the day when we were out for our private apartment outside the city. My grandma cares much about our garden and the peach trees, so we both got on the roof of our house to cater for the trees(cut the sticking out branches and stuff). When we were about to descend from the ladder we placed near the roof it shaked and my grandma fell with the ladder down, I wanted to help, but I was too far and too shocked,
    My grandma breaked her legs at that time and even reminiscing about the event makes me want to suicide...

    :blob_teary:Please write a good story, cuz I usually try to never reminisce about the events I described...
     
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  12. listener

    listener Tony's Friend

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    i can see it... the protagonist is loser and weak willed type character . am i right ?:hmm:
     
  13. Maid Chan

    Maid Chan [Professional]

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    ...how do you know? For all we know, you could've just repressed or memory block it or something....
     
  14. SummerForest

    SummerForest Well-Known Member

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    Who said tragedy and trauma are same?
     
  15. Xian Piete

    Xian Piete Author of many mediocre stories

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    Shame, guilt, feelings of helplessness, post traumatic stress disorder, fear, anger, trouble sleeping, feeling vulnerable, shock, denial... It's your story so you'll have to figure that out for your own character. There isn't going to be a right answer for this, if there was, the world wouldn't need therapists.
     
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  16. Sansome

    Sansome A Kind and Honest Villager X

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    edgy nuffer detected!!
     
  17. Underload

    Underload <I need someone to scratch my back!>

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    As someone who has experienced both Tragedy & Trauma, I'll give you this favorite line of mine, 'Time, heals all.'
     
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  18. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Eh, I have no idea what are you talking about. I like tragedy plays because it's fascinating and emotional. However, I have no intention to create a real-life tragedy myself.
    Sorry for not being clear, but by trauma, I meant the generic trauma that got depicted on social media. The severe trauma that unusually affected the mental state of the person.
    I don't intend to make everything shit for the MC, and I will try to balance his happy moment with tragedy. I hate A and will not do anything about him. However, B is kinda my intention at first but then he evolved into something else.
    This is interesting. In my opinion, it is "Although time healed all wounds, it would leave behind the scars.".
     
  19. zloi medved

    zloi medved Well-Known Green Tea Bitch

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    I don't think there's anything wrong with being interested in trauma within narrative, especially if part of that is an interest in the effects of trauma - too often, people only read/write about the trauma itself and ignore the way that much of trauma comes from the ripple effects it causes.

    But.
    I don't know about this, man.
     
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  20. justmehere

    justmehere Well-Known Member

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    Well let me explain my thought process.

    Any traumas we have right now is due to the fact our current knowledge and whatever we do based on that knowledge never resulted a cure to the trauma.

    To trigger a change we need to change our mindset and do things outside our box, this can not happen without faith (believing something even when you don't know if it's right) to someone or something.

    Of course having blind faith like this can be dangerous, you can limit the risk by believing people you can trust, like your friend or a doctor you know well.

    If we are talking about your bike analogy, you have to have faith on the person to teach you how to ride a bike. If he says he's going to push and keep you steady, you have to believe him in order to go along with it. Is the instructor going to make you be able to ride a bike instantly with your faith in him? Hell no, but believing in his words, Actions and methods (which you don't know if it's going to work for you) , and start training would eventually help you. So yes, faith alone won't fix your trauma. But without faith, you won't even be able to change.

    Please understand that I don't use the word faith in religious sense. I'm using it in the context of logic.