ckret2
usually pronounced "secret 2"
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- Seen Jan 31, 2010
Sooo... I haven't seen a lot of threads in the Writer's Lounge just for brainstorming ideas, but I've seen enough that I figure it's gotta be legal.
I've had a random little idea for a characterization quirk that started to turn into a few scenes that finally exploded into a W.I.P. oneshot today, so now I kinda need some feedback on the idea: what if Cyrus, Galactic boss and super-creep, is a schizophrenic? By no means am I suggesting that he actually is schizophrenic in canon, so please to not be debating over that. I'm asking, would it be a good/interesting basis for a oneshot? Even though I don't believe Cyrus has schizophrenia in any canon, I'm trying to characterize him in this fic so that schizophrenic Cyrus is as close to canon Cyrus as possible. Probably game Cyrus.
I'm not exactly an expert on schizophrenia. A single-semester psychology course, Wikipedia, a handful of articles from Schizophrenia.com, and the first thirty minutes of Donnie Darko are all I'm going on at this point. However, I'd like to, and I plan to, do a heck of a lot more research before this fic is done.
What I'm hoping for here is advice--from anyone who knows more about schizophrenia than I do, from anyone who thinks my characterization is going too off-base, from anyone who has any sort of ideas at all about how to pull this off. This thing is harder to write than I'd expected, and I'd expected it to be pretty hard. It is nearly impossible to write "voices" that don't sound like... well... like some amateur writer's overly-cliché attempt to write ZOMG HED VOICEZ!!!1! Which isn't the idea here.
The bits of canon characterization and the broad generalizations of schizphrenia I'm drawing on for this characterization:
-- Cyrus is deadpan. He himself completely denounces emotions.
-- People suffering from schizophrenia are also often described as unemotional, cold, and aloof. This is a "negative" symptom of schizophrenia, called affective flattening, which is an extreme decrease in the ability to express emotions. Other negative symptoms include a disinterest in the lives of other people and no ability/interest in socializing.
-- Cyrus's big plan is to destroy and remake the universe with himself as its god.
-- Not a direct connection, but, many schizophrenics have delusions of grandeur, in which they literally believe themselves to be some amazing individuals. In some cases, yes, they can believe themselves to be God or some similar concept. While Cyrus doesn't think he is a god, the fact that he tries to become one is significant in its own way.
It isn't a lot, but it's enough to build a fanfic idea off of. And here's the rest of the idea:
Probably developed it as a teen, a bit of an early case, but not too unusual. Starts with hallucinations: hearing things that he knew couldn't be real because nobody else hears them, unless the people around him are lying. The various topics that the voices like to ramble/shriek about include the fact that Cyrus is lazy, that he should kill himself, that he alone creates the universe, second by second, with every thought, and that he's let it get out of his control, and must make it anew. That's what the voices say. At times there are probably plain delusions as well, when he really DOES believe he creates the universe. Less frequent are visual hallucinations: like his surroundings turning into an abyss, patches of land floating on nothing, gravity that suddenly turns sideways and people walking on walls, water that flows up. On those days, he probably finds somewhere quiet to sit until things calm down.
Then we have modern Cyrus. Probably on some kind of medication at this point, enough to reduce the voices to annoying background dialogue. The other hallucinations, mostly, have been reduced to manageable levels. The freaky landscapes he used to see are restricted mainly to his nightmares now. But that doesn't mean schizophrenia is something in his past, or some handicap he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis as he goes about his other business. It IS his business.
Somehow, he becomes motivated to reconcile the world he knows to be real with the world he thinks to be real. His delusions tell him he is a god while his rational side tells him that he isn't, and so his solution is to make himself into a god, so the delusional and the rational can agree with each other. And there is the grand motivation of Cyrus, ta da.
So, yeah. That's the rough idea. Cue the involvement of more characters, an actual kind of ongoing plot, attempts to confuse the reader as to whether or not Cyrus is insane or if Dialga/Palkia/Giratina/Darkrai/Mesprit/Azelf/Uxie/Slowpoke is just trying to make him think he is, and frustrating attempts to write head voices that aren't boring or preposterous. It would mainly be a backstory and same-time-as-canon fic.
So, any ideas, please? Ways it just doesn't fit together, ways it doesn't make sense? Ways it does? Rules of characterization and/or schizophrenia I'm breaking? Resources? Suggestions? Helpful comments? Assurance that I'm not off my rocker for attempting this?
I've had a random little idea for a characterization quirk that started to turn into a few scenes that finally exploded into a W.I.P. oneshot today, so now I kinda need some feedback on the idea: what if Cyrus, Galactic boss and super-creep, is a schizophrenic? By no means am I suggesting that he actually is schizophrenic in canon, so please to not be debating over that. I'm asking, would it be a good/interesting basis for a oneshot? Even though I don't believe Cyrus has schizophrenia in any canon, I'm trying to characterize him in this fic so that schizophrenic Cyrus is as close to canon Cyrus as possible. Probably game Cyrus.
I'm not exactly an expert on schizophrenia. A single-semester psychology course, Wikipedia, a handful of articles from Schizophrenia.com, and the first thirty minutes of Donnie Darko are all I'm going on at this point. However, I'd like to, and I plan to, do a heck of a lot more research before this fic is done.
What I'm hoping for here is advice--from anyone who knows more about schizophrenia than I do, from anyone who thinks my characterization is going too off-base, from anyone who has any sort of ideas at all about how to pull this off. This thing is harder to write than I'd expected, and I'd expected it to be pretty hard. It is nearly impossible to write "voices" that don't sound like... well... like some amateur writer's overly-cliché attempt to write ZOMG HED VOICEZ!!!1! Which isn't the idea here.
The bits of canon characterization and the broad generalizations of schizphrenia I'm drawing on for this characterization:
-- Cyrus is deadpan. He himself completely denounces emotions.
-- People suffering from schizophrenia are also often described as unemotional, cold, and aloof. This is a "negative" symptom of schizophrenia, called affective flattening, which is an extreme decrease in the ability to express emotions. Other negative symptoms include a disinterest in the lives of other people and no ability/interest in socializing.
-- Cyrus's big plan is to destroy and remake the universe with himself as its god.
-- Not a direct connection, but, many schizophrenics have delusions of grandeur, in which they literally believe themselves to be some amazing individuals. In some cases, yes, they can believe themselves to be God or some similar concept. While Cyrus doesn't think he is a god, the fact that he tries to become one is significant in its own way.
It isn't a lot, but it's enough to build a fanfic idea off of. And here's the rest of the idea:
Probably developed it as a teen, a bit of an early case, but not too unusual. Starts with hallucinations: hearing things that he knew couldn't be real because nobody else hears them, unless the people around him are lying. The various topics that the voices like to ramble/shriek about include the fact that Cyrus is lazy, that he should kill himself, that he alone creates the universe, second by second, with every thought, and that he's let it get out of his control, and must make it anew. That's what the voices say. At times there are probably plain delusions as well, when he really DOES believe he creates the universe. Less frequent are visual hallucinations: like his surroundings turning into an abyss, patches of land floating on nothing, gravity that suddenly turns sideways and people walking on walls, water that flows up. On those days, he probably finds somewhere quiet to sit until things calm down.
Then we have modern Cyrus. Probably on some kind of medication at this point, enough to reduce the voices to annoying background dialogue. The other hallucinations, mostly, have been reduced to manageable levels. The freaky landscapes he used to see are restricted mainly to his nightmares now. But that doesn't mean schizophrenia is something in his past, or some handicap he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis as he goes about his other business. It IS his business.
Somehow, he becomes motivated to reconcile the world he knows to be real with the world he thinks to be real. His delusions tell him he is a god while his rational side tells him that he isn't, and so his solution is to make himself into a god, so the delusional and the rational can agree with each other. And there is the grand motivation of Cyrus, ta da.
So, yeah. That's the rough idea. Cue the involvement of more characters, an actual kind of ongoing plot, attempts to confuse the reader as to whether or not Cyrus is insane or if Dialga/Palkia/Giratina/Darkrai/Mesprit/Azelf/Uxie/Slowpoke is just trying to make him think he is, and frustrating attempts to write head voices that aren't boring or preposterous. It would mainly be a backstory and same-time-as-canon fic.
So, any ideas, please? Ways it just doesn't fit together, ways it doesn't make sense? Ways it does? Rules of characterization and/or schizophrenia I'm breaking? Resources? Suggestions? Helpful comments? Assurance that I'm not off my rocker for attempting this?