MP: Writing What You Don't Know

[nezumiko]

I woke up wondering what it must be like to know, deep down, that you are loved and wanted and deserve the life you have. Now wait, before you go, "OMG Nezu's emo, let's read something else," I'm not, really; I was thinking about this in terms of characters I'm writing. OK, maybe it's a little emo at its roots, but really this isn't about emo so

Comments

[meepodeekin]

Heh heh, you said mathematician, so I have to butt in. :) Speaking as someone who spends a great deal of time thinking about n-dimensional space, for n arbitrary, I find the trick is not to try to visualize it. You know you can't, so you learn things about it, you train your intuition for it, but you secretly still see 3d things when you think about it. Everyone does. It doesn't mean you can't work with it completely functionally, write about it, talk about it, prove things about it.

I don't know if anyone is truly well-adjusted in the sense you are describing. I know I don't feel loved and wanted and deserving. I think that's normal, but I am sure that if you really wanted to (and I don't know if you really want to), you could write a well-adjusted character the same way you write one with PTSD. By putting your careful research and awesome imagination to the challenge at hand.

[drelfina]

Like Meepodeekin said above, I think it's possible. Just like I am basically well, asexual (more or less) yet I can write characters who desire romantic (or sexual) relationships because of what I've read, and all that media.

(May not be the BEST writing but...)

Just like people might be able to write sociopaths, it's completely possible to write a well-adjusted-to-that-point person. Though I suspect that such a person would result in the story being plot driven, rather than character driven. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

[beachpsalms]

I... don't know

OK, I lied, I have more to say

[beachpsalms]

I was still thinking about your post, and remembered another piece of Reformation history (prompted by JB's post). So: Martin Luther was apparently tormented by his conviction that he was not good enough, not deserving of God's love, of salvation. And it was Paul's writings about justification by faith that changed his thinking (and thereafter the shape of the Christian church).

Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.Try and let go of the teaching that faith=belief (ie in the virgin birth, or what have you); and try and imagine what Paul is telling us

[jbmcdragon]

I've met a few people who are as you describe -- really, truly sure that they are deserving to be loved, etc. They're usually religious teachers. Ghandi comes to mind. ;) Dr. Rev. Michael Beckwith is another, from my Agape church in SoCal. I've seen a few other people, so filled with god-love that it just seems to shine out of their pores all the time. They're wonderful to be around; there's something indefinable about them that makes me know it when I see them. They didn't always feel this way. They may have their own troubles, but you sure can't tell!

They'd be boring as all hell to read or write about. ;) There's a reason books about really messed up people outsell books about Ghandi... I want to be that person, but I need someone cracked to provide entertainment. ;-D

J

[double_dear]

I don't know, we both think everyone deserves life, love, and happiness, ourselves included. But thinking we deserve something doesn't mean we think we have it. Even when we don't have it, we believe we'll get it eventually, but we certainly have life now, and we know we'll always have love from God. Happiness is the one we don't always have, but if we always had it, we wouldn't appreciate it when it's there, and we wouldn't ever feel the need to improve ourselves.

Of course, none of that means we're interesting to read about. But I'm sure that not everyone who thinks they deserve life, love, and happiness is boring--Kimi Todo from Fruits Basket is a fantastic example. (She's also an example of how that kind of character isn't always necessarily well-adjusted.)