Me, Myself, and my (many) Shadows...

[Michael Lance]

So! No need to explain much about myself, as I've probably been around long enough to be pretty well-known. This thread is mainly for my own use as a journal/blog, and I'm not entirely sure what I'll be putting here yet, but... I mostly felt that I needed a place where, unlike Deviant Art, where I feel I am constantly being judged and looked down on for my beliefs, I can be a bit more open and honest.

All this being said, let me explain how this is going to work;

The character whose name I use as my screen name - Michael Lance - has a multiple personality disorder. His personality switches are signified by his eye color: generally, only his left eye changes color to match his personality. However, when he's really set off, both eyes may temporarily change color. I won't bother explaining which personality does what, as that will probably become apparent the longer this thread continues.
There are (currently) a total of three personalities: Michael (base/"normal" persona, blue,) Vice ("angry" persona, red,) and Raphael ("wildcard" persona, violet.)
Now, you may be asking yourself "what does this have to do with Michael's journal?" Or "is Michael really psychotic?" Well, no - I may be a bit crazy, but I'm not certifiably mental. Trust me, I've been evaluated. As for what this has to do with my journal: I have a tendency to snap in and out of character at a moment's notice, usually because of how I'm feeling. For example: feeling creative = Michael, bad day = Vice, etc. Again, though, let me remind you: I am not mental. This is just how I write; passionately, recklessly, and free of social inhibitions. From time to time (though I will try to limit such instances to links and snippets) you may see me post excerpts or quotes. They will frequently come from my own projects - most likely Advent: Unleashed or Dimension X - but may come from other sources, should I find myself inspired or intrigued.

And finally... yes, you can comment. You can even ask questions. Just keep in mind, though, that your questions may or may not be answered - and, if they are answered, quite possibly not in the way you expect. As I said before, I've multiple writing persona; catch me on a good day, and you'll probably get a nice, long response - catch me on a bad day, and you might get Vice threatening you with a virtual bullet. All of my writing persona are very diverse from each other, and will act/react differently to almost every situation.

And finally, (ha! Tricked you, didn't I? You thought it was over!) just read. If I said something strange in the chat room, or left an odd - or maybe depressing - post on one of your threads, chances are you can find the reason here. I don't know how often I'll be updating this - probably whenever I feel like it, or whenever I have time, or whenever I remember. The length of each entry is entirely dependent on three things: one, how much I have to write. Two, how motivated I am. And three, how much time I have.

Thank for reading this far, if you managed to stick it out. I'll try not to surprise you too much.

[FllMtl Novelist]

Two thoughts.

1) Since this isn't an interview thread and you plan to be in-character, this should probably be in Writing. Or, since you're using it as a "journal/blog", maybe... put it on a blog?

2) If you're going to write anything about a mental illness, especially one as severe as Dissociative Identity Disorder (there aren't a whole lot of multiple personality disorders, dude), you really need to do your homework first. Mental illnesses are serious problems that affect real people and should not be romanticized.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you don't have any real mental problems (just lolrandom XD). As such, by writing some entity with multiple personalities, you are writing The Other. The Other is basically any person who has a different gender, sexuality, race, nationality, religion (or lack thereof!), physical ability (maybe he/she is disabled), mental state, etc., from your own. If you're going to write The Other it is extremely (extremely, supremely, infinitely!) important that it is accurate. Otherwise, your work is false, alienating, and insulting to those who actually understand the subject you're trying to talk about.

For example, did you know that having multiple personalities is a sophisticated (though unconscious) coping mechanism for extreme and repeated trauma? In fact, many (real!) people with DID were repeatedly raped or otherwise assaulted when they were young. The trauma they experienced was too much to consciously endure, so these victims mentally "stepped out" (rather like how you might zone out during a boring lecture) and another, more capable personality formed to bear the trauma instead. It's not uncommon for a female victim of DID to have a very stereotypically masculine personality that kicks in to protect her whenever she feels endangered.

These personalities might not even all be entirely aware of each other. Imagine realizing you can't remember what you did yesterday afternoon, only to have a friend tell you that you hung out with him all day and acted strangely (oh, if only your eyes really did change colors, so he'd know it wasn't you!). Where did you go? What did you do? What did you say? Did you break any laws? Did you make any plans with anyone? Did you get yourself fired from your job? Where are your keys? Maybe you'll write a note to a personality you do know about, asking him if he's been up to anything, but he is insulted by your questions and is no longer speaking to you. Now you might not be able to keep tabs on him, either. Why do you have to live like this? What will your therapist tell you next Tuesday? Will you ever get a break? Will you be like this your whole life? Why can't you be like normal people?

Do you see why it's important to write mental illness with respect and accuracy, now? It's not a game, it's not cool, it's not fun.

[K. Ayato]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[LastLfan]

While i agree the D.I.D(hope i abbreviated that right) is a tad cliche/over the top/unnessacary, having multiple writing personas isn't unheard of and can actually be very interesting. I would suggest dropping all the extra stuff and simply being you, if you want to have say multiple pseudonyms that would be a less controversial way to express the same idea.

[Okami]

Why do you have to live like this? What will your therapist tell you next Tuesday? Will you ever get a break? Will you be like this your whole life? Why can't you be like normal people?

Do you see why it's important to write mental illness with respect and accuracy, now? It's not a game, it's not cool, it's not fun.

I couldn't agree more with your post, Fu, and this bit....how did you get in my head? That's pretty darn accurate of living with mental health problems.

[Lynna]

Fu said it right. If you intend to write about someone with an actual disorder, it's not something you should take lightly.
If you don't want to do this, I suppose there is another option, though I'm not sure how well it would work, seeing as how you've already strongly associated your character's condition with DID. But since you've also added magic in there, you might make it so your character has a magic-related-only condition, with it's own rules and causes and such. I did something similar to this in my book, where my MC has amnesia, but it is a strictly magically caused amnesia, unlike in real life, where once again, it's often caused by trauma. It doesn't really act anything like real-world amnesia, though. As I said, I'm not sure how well that would work, and you would probably still have to be careful and do some research.
(Also, psycosis and DID are not the same thing)

[Xeno]

1. Put this crap on a blog.
2. Advent: Your ideas are mostly terrible
3.
4. You're an idiot

[FreddyCast]

Xeno, please be respectful of others. You can criticize people's stuff all you want, but don't start calling them idiots. It only makes you look like a jerk.

[Xeno]

Xeno, please be respectful of others. You can criticize people's stuff all you want, but don't start calling them idiots. It only makes you look like a jerk.

You haven't read very many of my posts have you?

[FreddyCast]

Xeno, please be respectful of others. You can criticize people's stuff all you want, but don't start calling them idiots. It only makes you look like a jerk.

You haven't read very many of my posts have you?

No I haven't. But I don't think that excuses you from name-calling people.

[Xeno]

I wasn't calling him a name, I was making a statement of fact. These are not the same thing.

[mechana2015]

Locked. If you have questions why PM me.