On Characters with PTSD
One should write what one knows, goes the hoary advice. And it’s true: stories are vibrant, clear, more memorable and more interesting when the writer really knows their subject matter, whether it’s a location, a type of character, or an event.
One of the characters in my current novel in progress has fairly severe PTSD. Enough to function (mostly) in society, but not in great shape. He as flashbacks, hypervigilance, almost paranoid worries… and is living in a post-apocalyptic world where being paranoid was a useful trait.0
My PTSD was nowhere near that although not a fun ride–and I’m finding that writing vivid scenes from his point of view is stirring up my own, old demons. Not enough to affect me, but enough to remind me there there, once, sleeping dragons lay.