On Character Building

>>50741674
Depends what the problem is

>>50741674
>So, when building a character with emotional scars/mental illness.
Oh boy here we go.

>How early would you say it'd be ideal to show that the character has them?
That entirely depends on how you show it and how obvious your display is, the illness itself and whether you actually show it or "show" them by just telling the reader through the most obvious display possible that doesn't involve saying "Dave has Autism".

>So as to not come off as cliche or overly edgy?
You know that way you've seen that illness/injury shown on [well-regarded and critically acclaimed media source]? Don't do that, you're making a cliche even if it isn't already there. Also, watch other things that have characters like this, find ways that come off as cliche/edgy to you, and figure out what made you think they were cliche/edgy. Don't do those.

>I should also note that the character isn't particularly edgy or lolsodeep, but rather, her scars play a role in shaping who she is, and also because I want an MC who is more of a fuck up than a Mary Sue
I don't believe you but okay.

>>50742665
>>50742734
>That entirely depends on how you show it and how obvious your display is, the illness itself and whether you actually show it or "show" them by just telling the reader through the most obvious display possible that doesn't involve saying "Dave has Autism".

I was contemplating kicking off the entire story with a dream sequence of showcasing guilt. One that's eerie, and feels very much like real life, before becoming into a nightmarish descent into insanity and then her waking up.

Something that showcases how she feels burdened and guilty by the loss of someone dear to her.

Her entire character arc is about self understanding, and seeking purpose in life, as she's someone rather aimless and purposeless overall. I contrast her by having some of the other central character being very driven characters with very strong and well-defined purposes in life.

>>50744246

Mental and emotional scars are key, as her quest takes her to learn magic, etc... however, the way I've built my magic system is that I've made it so that gaining knowledge and learning arcane arts slowly makes you lose your sense of self the more you learn or the higher you scale (taking the peak levels of this to Lovecrafitan-inspired levels). Developing mental illnesses such as Paranoia, schizophrenia, bipolar, etc... as well as heightening said ailments is quite common with magic learning, the higher you go.

And since once finding purpose, her quest takes her in search of "the philosopher's stone" well, obviously she starts to suffer the consequences of all this.

In terms of character, she's not broody or emo (for the most part), in many ways, she's inspired by a friend I had who had bipolar disorder, as was very aimless herself, as well as the various experiences I've had witnessing schizophrenia and etc... with many members of my family. If we go by MBPT she'd be an ENFP, generally positive, outgoing, and impulsive character. And to compare her to fiction, she's somewhat similar to Asuka from EVA in terms of drives, as well as scars, but she's overall more positive in terms of personality, though due to being bipolar, she can be equally bitchy and standoffish, and can sink into Shinji-like depression.

>>50744269

I was thinking that her bipolar should overall be minor and manageable throughout the story, but already triggered due to childhood scars (I keep going back on what exactly after writing something down, but I feel that the pain of loss might be the best way to go about it). She just keeps these scars locked away in the deep recesses of her mind, almost forgetting they even happened (hence why they crop up in dream sequence) but they start to unravel throughout the course of her journey.

Her arc focuses on her learning to cope with these problems, and well, her overall failure to do so based on how the story ends.

>You know that way you've seen that illness/injury shown on [well-regarded and critically acclaimed media source]? Don't do that, you're making a cliche even if it isn't already there. Also, watch other things that have characters like this, find ways that come off as cliche/edgy to you, and figure out what made you think they were cliche/edgy. Don't do those.

Well, I mentioned Asuka previously, and her mental breakdown sequence in EVA is something I really like, and something that will inspire later breakdowns on Cal's behalf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ0doO3VFjc

I've seen mental breakdowns irl before, and I feel EVA does a good job at kinda showing how they're like. Other films like A Beautiful Mind, and Shutter Island, etc... also do a good job imo.

Her scars start to kinda develop into a sort of schizophrenia, where she kinda sees the people who have died due to her fault, starting with the initial childhood scar, and adding on other characters close to her who died over the course of the story.

File: 24006-aleni.jpg (612KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

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>>50744340

I dunno what else to say, but I can further elaborate, as since she's my MC, I've got quite a lot on her.

The only thing I was not sure about was if I should start the story with a dream sequence or not. As that feels a bit cliche, but at the same time, I feel that not only is it might be important to establish this part of her early on, but also that I can get away with it since she's not an edgy character really. On the other hand, it is a rather long story, so there might also be better spots to show said dream sequence rather than right at the beginning, and wonder if it might be more effective later on, especially since I'm starting the story right at the adventure, as she's a more proactive character, rather than the usual monomyth trope of adventure finding the MC (she escapes from her society and the story starts after she's done so with a certain group on her trail as she's rather "valuable").

Oh yeah, and the whole story is kind of like taking the monomyth and its tropes and playing around with them to break conventions.

MC is Muse Calliope, muse of Epic Poetry, which I see as "inspiring heroes" of whom she meets various ones across her journey,