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Ok, i have a charrie who’s 13, usually playful and mischievous, but she’s /very/ sickly. She has a made-up condition that she was born with (that has no name) that starts out by causing her to be hypersensitive to pain, but will eventually cause memory loss, seizures and eventually death.
Which leads to my question. How should a sickly character behave differently from a healthy one while still being 3-D and interesting?
Good question! I would think that a person with the condition you’ve described would get tired and fatigued easily. Anytime a person experiences pain, it is tiring. You could keep her 3-D by describing the pain, showing how she hated to stop playing/teasing because the pain either momentarily or for several minutes made it difficult to think clearly.
Memory loss is a hard one. Will she have long-term memory loss or short-term memory loss? That will determine how you play it out. In my experience, folks who are experiencing memory loss get frustrated easily.
Seizures and death…those are trickier. The after-feeling of a seizure is pure and utter exhaustion. I’ve not had one myself (thank goodness) but I know people who have, and they tell me that even things like speaking and rolling over become difficult for hours and even days after a seizure. Think of a time when you were the sickest you’ve ever been in your life. Not wanting to move, every time you move something hurts, you wish you could stop breathing because even that movement hurts…that’s what my mom tells me it’s like.
You could really get into your character’s head and show what she is feeling, physically and emotionally. I’m assuming she’s the MC…but if not, have other people who love her {i.e. parents, grandparents, siblings} know when she is feeling crummy by her behavior and actions. That should keep up the 3-D feeling.
Good luck!
Thank You! That is very helpful:)
She’s almost the MC, her adoptive parents are the MCs though. I’m thinking it’ll be mostly short term memory loss.
Thank you so much for your helpfulness:)!
My pleasure! Glad I could help!
How cool that you are including adoption in your story! Four of my six siblings are adopted. I love including adoption in my books in hopes that it will ‘normalize’ the idea for other people. 🙂
You could also show how she deals with the pain; she might have developed some interesting quirks…things she’ll do or not do that health people wouldn’t think twice about. Maybe she doesn’t like leaving home or going more than a certain distance outside. Maybe she has an imaginary friend she talks to and plays with since she can’t always play with real kids.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Hmmm. yeah! @hope ! She’s the oldest of 6 i think… but she was the only child for a while (before her adoptive dad got married and she became a big sister suddenlyxP) and her main quirk is she’s very possessive of her daddy, a bit immature and she loves to climb and stuffxP
@Ivy in this story, the MCs’ family is mostly adopted. They only have one biological kid.
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