Pages

▼

Friday, 9 September 2011

Pic of the Week . . . Schizophrenia

I finished the second part of 'Son of Jack' last night. I didn't think I would, but it was one of those evenings when I kept thinking "Just a little bit more - I'll just finish this bit," and before I knew it - well, at 1am - I finished. 30k. I was more than happy with that.

Normally when writing a novel, I plan my characters out so that I know more about them, thus being able to portray them better and keeping up with continuity. For 'Son of Jack' I haven't had the time to do that. Because I'm on a tight schedule to get the book finished, I've just jumped in the deep end. I hadn't done any prep work for my character Dan Pattman, but knew that he had to have a disorder and had to have a voice in his head.

Now, I'm ashamed to say that I don't know lots about Schizophrenia, and even as I started writing, the disorder never even entered my head. It wasn't until about a week ago whilst looking something up that I come across a website that highlighted the symptoms. It was then that I realised Dan was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. It was a huge surprise to me, and as I looked back at certain points in the story, things started to make sense.

Having put myself in the mind of such a person, I am now more the wiser of what they go through - okay, it may not be much, but I have a better understanding. So today I thought I'd dedicate this week's Pic of the Week to schizophrenia in hopes of creating more awareness.

Have a great weekend.


at

7 comments:

  1. Mike KeytonFriday, 09 September, 2011

    A stunning picture but, for me, a depressing but salutary post. My writing is dripping like cold syrup at the moment - It sometimes happens so it is good to be spurred on by someone on full cylinders. Whatever that metaphor means :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. DRCFriday, 09 September, 2011

    I like your metaphor and I know where you're coming from. I've been struggling through a lot of phases where nothing is happening recently. I done a post about it a while back and blamed the men in black for putting something in the air to quell our creativity. I think the only thing that has really spurred me on is the deadline. I have until the end of october to complete the whole book (It's divided by four separate stories). I hope your writing picks up soon. It's great when it does.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Matthew MacNishFriday, 09 September, 2011

    Those pics are awesome. Particularly the first one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. DRCFriday, 09 September, 2011

    Thanks Matthew. I liked the first one too and just had to include it...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Martin WilloughbySaturday, 10 September, 2011

    That second one seems to sum up schizophrenia.

    So when do we get to read part 2?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Blaze McRobMonday, 12 September, 2011

    I like all of them. The second one the most.

    Blaze

    ReplyDelete
  7. Peggy EddlemanMonday, 12 September, 2011

    Wow! That is an amazing and eery picture! I'm glad you got everything figured out.

    ReplyDelete