Trauma: Fantasy or Reality

[Salmastryon]

New thread time!! *crosses off one of her thread ideas from her list*

When an author decides to include some form of mental or physical trauma in a fic should they research it first? Also, how close to reality should it be portrayed?

By trauma, I'm talking rape, abuse, mental health issues and debilitating injuries or disease.

Personally, I think if you are going to include it in your story you should do some research on it first no matter how realistic you decide to portray it in the end. Get an idea of what the real thing is like before propagating societal misconceptions.

So, any thoughts and comments?

[Me-Nuriko]

Trickier question than it seems. Research is of course very good, and the fic indoubtly gets better if the author knows what she's talking about. But some things you may have first hand experience of, yourself or close family/friend. In that case you could use that experience even if it's not what the books says should be the right reactions. There are always individual differences. But that could count as research, I guess.
It also depends on how much the event, or the reaction on the event, is described.
Sometimes it's not necessary to have everything right, because most people don't know themselves. On the other hand, those who do know, get very annoyed by all the mistakes.

If you're trying to give a message, 'don't do drugs', then it is essential with research, of course.

If the character that suffers from the trauma isn't human, then you have more freedom to write something from your own mind, too. How do a youkai, a fairy, an ogre, an elf, or whatever, react on different traumas, and that can differ in different worlds, too.

As always, the answer is, 'it depends'.

Argh, I'm starting rambling.

[Salmastryon]

No I think that is very good point. It depends on what your goal is with the piece of fiction. Also, one should always take all research with a grain of salt. However, with such touchy subjects I think the realm of poetic license is a smaller and more fragile then most.

If you aren't careful and don't have a some knowledge about the subject you might accidently send a message that you didn't mean to.

Hmm.... I'm going to have to think on this some more.

[kanshu]

Research is a MUST. There are, of course, some things that you can extrapolate from your own experience, but if you go for a bigger issue, then information is required to make the story realistic.
I won't even go into the problem of anatomic impossibilities in certain R and NC-17 fics, but one should also take into account that issues like rape do happen to people.
With a fic, you transport a message, and by "just writing what everyone writes", that message can have the wrong impact on your audience. It also can work as a slap in the face, a 'What are you complaining about if you are in your situation? You should be happily in love with your rapist, because you secretly wanted it'.

Diseases/injuries can be tricky, too. Some sound really cool and harmless when you read about them in the medic guide. But who ever had a cold knows that the character should not be up and running around 100% healthy after a good night's sleep. And broken ribs make breathing painful for weeks after the injury. And I'm certain that who ever had a broken arm or leg will not believe the stunts your character pulls with such injuries.

Then again, too much details in a row are boring for the reader. So, while it's important to do research to try to get your character acting properly, the amount of information in the story should be carefully dosaged.
Part of doctor's instructions told to the hero could be helpful. Sometimes, it's neccessary to rephrase things to layman's terms, use simple examples to make the reader (and the other characters) understand.
It is also important that you as the author understand what you are writing about. It's never wrong to ask.

[Me-Nuriko]

OptiMoose said:

'What are you complaining about if you are in your situation? You should be happily in love with your rapist, because you secretly wanted it'.

The above described is something that has bothered me quite a few times. Unfortunately it seems that in real life even court judges believes that raped girls secretly wanted it, and therefor only have themselves to blame. Of course, not all judges believes this.
By writing such things in stories of any kind, that thought only gets strengthened in society.

When it comes to injuries, I do think that there are differences in how we react. And even if I don't think you can do handstances with a broken arm, I know for sure that some people are better than others in suppressing the pain and act like nothing. So it depends on what kind of person the character is, but also on the kind of injury. And I must admit that it seems a little strange that every character in a story, all have the ability to suppress the pain.
But this goes for canon, too. Goku is doing quite well with a broken leg, don't you think? But in his case it's easy to think, 'It's because he's not human'.

As OptiMoose said, overdescription is boring. Letting the readers and the characters know about the injury by the words of a doctor, or the likes, is a very good idea.

[Terra Fire]

I'd have to agree with Me-Nuriko, It all has to do with the way a character can suppress their pain, though the reader has to know it.

When I write stories on rape, I tend to write it the way I want it. I know research is a must, but I write it from the perspective of someone I know. A good friend of mine was raped a few years back and they seem to be doing fine, at least on the out side. On the in side, I have no idea what they're feeling. I only get glimpse of it sometimes.

Anyway, what my point is, that one doesn't know how it feels to be raped unless were so. Even if you do get research, how do you really know the turmoil someone's going through if you hadn't been raped?

All right, it seems like I'm starting to ramble and no making sense. It was just something I was thinking about after I read this thread.

[kanshu]

Pain treshhold, okay... but even when you can deal with pain, it's still there and you will have to fight it one way or the other. And Gokus (no matter what universe) generally have the tendency to be different. Even though I liked how Toriyama built up Goku's pain treshhold over the course of the series - that was realistically done, including the months the hero spent immobilized in a hospital because the magic beans were not ready for harvest yet. Erm.

As for the rape-fics... Well, you could ask your friend if the portrayal of rape and the aftereffects in your stories is realistic.
But I seriously doubt that your friend is doing as well on the inside. Please believe me when I tell you that even with professional help, and after decades, the nightmares never fully go away. One does a show for the outside, but the person on the inside gets hurt so deeply that sometimes healing is impossible.
Sure, you will never know how it truly feels when you do research. Feelings of anger, hate, self-hatred, helplessness, fear, depression... even amngst the victims, each experience is different, and the aftermath is handled with more or less good. But at least with research, you will not make something look like it's all right when in reality it's something that causes pain and desperation.

*grumbles* I'm getting entirely too emotional over this. Ah well. Back to writing.