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.


7 comments:

  1. 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 :)

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  2. 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.

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  3. Those pics are awesome. Particularly the first one.

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

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  5. That second one seems to sum up schizophrenia.

    So when do we get to read part 2?

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

    Blaze

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

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