Well, I am going to have her go in 'a depressive state' during a meltdown but since it's still in the early stage, it's not chronic until later on. She shrugs it off as being an autism thing. I have had states like that so I figured it would be interesting to use that sort of experience.
What I did is have it so she has moments where she feels like dying but has no idea why and shrugs it off as an autism thing.
Also, she does have a favorite teacher and that's her english teacher who is nice to her and understands her struggles. She's even given Jade a few extensions on the writing assignments she does and tells her to finish it without the deadline. THings like that.
There is also a slam page that the mean girls created to 'slam' people like Jade. She looks this page up and sees that she is the one that is slammed the most. It causes her to run off to the bathroom and have these depressive thoughts. Though I might save it for later when I re-write it.
I want to slowly get all the less severe depressive symptoms first before getting into the really big ones. I might keep her 'feeling like dying' thoughts but make them less dramatic and just make it something that comes up.
I was actually thinking that she tries to FIGHT the depression but instead, she makes it worse later in the story when she breaks down. One of her other early stages of it will be losing interest in things she used to love doing. One of those things is her love for writing. But it won't happen until AFTER she writes her assignment because the assignment she is writing is an important part to the story.
Her english class is more like english/literature where she also learns about shakespeare and other famous people. But anyway, her grades start slipping down to D's and F's because she has lost interest in school and her usual activities. So I might just save the depressive thoughts for the third chapter when she has her sudden downfall.
I'm going to research on depression more too. I know there are a few different forms of it so I might try to pick one that fits her the most.
At least I think there are different forms. I want to get the reader thinking what it could be so that it keeps them reading. I don't want it to be really obvious that she is going to end up getting severely depressed because then the reader might lose interest.
I just don't really know how to do that. I like to surprise the reader and there are even times when I don't even let my character say she has autism. I let her call it a disability or condition because I want the reader to get the FEEL for autism without KNOWING it's Autism right away. You know?
That way they can understand it more in the character's pov without being TOLD it's actually autism. To me, it's better to make the autism just happen so the reader can guess what it is instead of just knowing that's really the case. That and I don't really know how to let it 'come up' when her or someone is discussing it without it just coming out of nowhere and being all, "You have Autism, oh shit." or whatever.
Autism and depression is pretty common. I've been told that my depressive traits are actually PART of my autism since I don't meet the requirements for full on depression. Though I do think I have it mildly and it's just not diagnosed. My dad has it and he has to take medication for his. I always wonder if it's something genetic but it probably isn't.
Before I started taking my abilify, I used to get into these severe depressive states where I wanted to die for like no apparent reason. I would try to do everything I love but it just made those states even worse. Music had a little bit of a calming effect so i was constantly listening to music, though later I realized that it didn't help me as much.
I don't know if it was just an autism thing but the thoughts and the emotions I felt were so bad that it was becoming really disabling for me and my psychiatrist shrugged it off and told me it was probably the autism. I do get highly emotional and I'm the type of person that bottles up my emotions since I don't know how to express them like a normal person does.
I have a hard time knowing what I am feeling except for like, basic emotions such as happy, sad, angry, frustration... stuff like that. I can't go up to my parents and be all, "I'm sad because you won't take me to the library like you said you would." I hold it in. I think a lot of that builds up and causes it.
I want to use that for my character and maybe she's had depression all along but yet... she's learned to bottle up her emotions and have trouble with her emotional expression and appropriate responses to her emotions make that depression worse. That could be the moment when she has a nervous breakdown and starts cutting herself. I want the depressive state to last for a little while and have different triggers that make it even worse.
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Re: Hmm...
Date: 2012-09-27 07:08 pm (UTC)From:What I did is have it so she has moments where she feels like dying but has no idea why and shrugs it off as an autism thing.
Also, she does have a favorite teacher and that's her english teacher who is nice to her and understands her struggles. She's even given Jade a few extensions on the writing assignments she does and tells her to finish it without the deadline. THings like that.
There is also a slam page that the mean girls created to 'slam' people like Jade. She looks this page up and sees that she is the one that is slammed the most. It causes her to run off to the bathroom and have these depressive thoughts. Though I might save it for later when I re-write it.
I want to slowly get all the less severe depressive symptoms first before getting into the really big ones. I might keep her 'feeling like dying' thoughts but make them less dramatic and just make it something that comes up.
I was actually thinking that she tries to FIGHT the depression but instead, she makes it worse later in the story when she breaks down. One of her other early stages of it will be losing interest in things she used to love doing. One of those things is her love for writing. But it won't happen until AFTER she writes her assignment because the assignment she is writing is an important part to the story.
Her english class is more like english/literature where she also learns about shakespeare and other famous people. But anyway, her grades start slipping down to D's and F's because she has lost interest in school and her usual activities. So I might just save the depressive thoughts for the third chapter when she has her sudden downfall.
I'm going to research on depression more too. I know there are a few different forms of it so I might try to pick one that fits her the most.
At least I think there are different forms. I want to get the reader thinking what it could be so that it keeps them reading. I don't want it to be really obvious that she is going to end up getting severely depressed because then the reader might lose interest.
I just don't really know how to do that. I like to surprise the reader and there are even times when I don't even let my character say she has autism. I let her call it a disability or condition because I want the reader to get the FEEL for autism without KNOWING it's Autism right away. You know?
That way they can understand it more in the character's pov without being TOLD it's actually autism. To me, it's better to make the autism just happen so the reader can guess what it is instead of just knowing that's really the case. That and I don't really know how to let it 'come up' when her or someone is discussing it without it just coming out of nowhere and being all, "You have Autism, oh shit." or whatever.
Autism and depression is pretty common. I've been told that my depressive traits are actually PART of my autism since I don't meet the requirements for full on depression. Though I do think I have it mildly and it's just not diagnosed. My dad has it and he has to take medication for his. I always wonder if it's something genetic but it probably isn't.
Before I started taking my abilify, I used to get into these severe depressive states where I wanted to die for like no apparent reason. I would try to do everything I love but it just made those states even worse. Music had a little bit of a calming effect so i was constantly listening to music, though later I realized that it didn't help me as much.
I don't know if it was just an autism thing but the thoughts and the emotions I felt were so bad that it was becoming really disabling for me and my psychiatrist shrugged it off and told me it was probably the autism. I do get highly emotional and I'm the type of person that bottles up my emotions since I don't know how to express them like a normal person does.
I have a hard time knowing what I am feeling except for like, basic emotions such as happy, sad, angry, frustration... stuff like that. I can't go up to my parents and be all, "I'm sad because you won't take me to the library like you said you would." I hold it in. I think a lot of that builds up and causes it.
I want to use that for my character and maybe she's had depression all along but yet... she's learned to bottle up her emotions and have trouble with her emotional expression and appropriate responses to her emotions make that depression worse. That could be the moment when she has a nervous breakdown and starts cutting herself. I want the depressive state to last for a little while and have different triggers that make it even worse.