How do you show trauma in your characters?
Some new character questions for you…
(Carrying on from last week’s post on optimism and pessimism in characters look here )
Remember this quote from J.K. Rowling, “It is our actions that make us who we are.”
For this piece, I consider trauma to be anything from a broken fingernail to all-out pandemic (we are there aren’t we?), but it also includes how they hide and or process emotions.
How does your character hide trauma?
Do they hide fear by being a bully or by shutting out the world? Do they confront their emotions or get so busy they never have to consider them? Does their back go out? Do they get sick to the stomach or with a cold? Do they do drugs or drink or eat or gamble?
Do they volunteer? Do they volunteer at school so much, under the guise of time with their kids, that they have no time for their kids? What is that about? (I have known so many parents like that over my 22 years of having kids.)
For more on this subject, stay tuned for next week’s blog post where I will expand on this idea and tell you a bit more about where it came from.
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