Jeremy Miranda (American,b. 1980)

strolling thru the streets of bali, may 2023

Spring in Kyoto.

Hello hello! I love your blog and its really helping me get back into writing after an uncomfortably long burnout break. My question is how would you write a character slowly going insane because of their circumstances and the things they are forced to endure to go through them? Thank you so much in advance?

Hi, I'm so glad you've been finding it helpful! I went over some of this in a bit more detail in my previous post answering a similar question (how to write a character slowly going insane from their world going out of their control), but it won't hurt to address it again.

Have a Baseline:

When writing a character who is slowly going insane due to external factors and challenges, it's important to start by introducing your character at a point where they're relatively stable mentally, showing their personality, goals, and relationships to give a general idea of how their life normally was before the deterioration of their mental stability. This will allow the readers to see for themselves what changes and shifts occurred, as well as their consequences.

Stressors:

Identify the key events or circumstances that will gradually wear down your character's sanity—whether it be external factors (intense stress, a traumatic experience, isolation, facing a series of challenges they aren't equipped or prepared to handle), internal, or both. In any case, it's important to have a clear reason in place.

Internal Struggle:

As the character starts to feel more and more pressure and stress, the initial signs of distress will start to show, both in their thoughts and behaviour. Using internal monologue or stream-of-consciousness narration to show their mental state. It may start with the character questioning themselves and behaving irrationally, then change to risky or self-destructive behaviour as their perceptions become increasingly distorted.

Thanks for asking! Happy writing ❤

Writing Weapons (1): Swords

The Thrusting Sword

Type of fight scene: entertaining, duels, non-lethal fights, non-gory deaths, swashbuckling adventure

Mostly used in: Europe, including Renaissance and Regency periods

Typical User: silm, male or female, good aerobic fitness

Main action: thrust, pierce, stab

Main motion: horizontal with the tip forward

Shape: straight, often thin, may be lightweight

Typical Injury: seeping blood, blood stains spreading

Strategy: target gaps in the armous, pierce a vital organ

Disadvantage: cannot slice through bone or armour

Examples: foil, epee, rapier, gladius

The Cleaving Sword

Type of fight scene: gritty, brutal, battles, cutting through armour

Typical user: tall brawny male with broad shulders and bulging biceps

Mostly used in: Medieval Europe

Main action: cleave, hack, chop, cut, split

Main motion: downwards

Shape: broad, straight, heavy, solid, sometime huge, sometimes need to be held in both hands, both sides sharpened

Typical Injury: severed large limbs

Strategy: hack off a leg, them decapitate; or split the skull

Disadvantage: too big to carry concealed, too heavy to carry in daily lifem too slow to draw for spontaneous action

Examples: Medieval greatsword, Scottish claymore, machete, falchion

The Slashing Sword

Type of fight scene: gritty or entertaining, executions, cavalry charge, on board a ship

Mostly used in: Asia, Middle East

Typical user: male (female is plausible), any body shape, Arab, Asian, mounted warrior, cavalryman, sailor, pirate

Main action: slash, cut, slice

Main motion: fluid, continuous, curving, eg.figure-eight

Shape: curved, often slender, extremely sharp on the outer edge

Typical Injury: severed limbs, lots of spurting blood

Strategy: first disable opponent's sword hand (cut it off or slice into tendons inside the elbow)

Disadvantage: unable to cut thorugh hard objects (e.g. metal armor)

Examples: scimitar, sabre, saif, shamshir, cutlass, katana

Blunders to Avoid:

Weapons performing what they shouldn't be able to do (e.g. a foil slashing metal armour)

Protagonists fighting with weapons for which they don't have the strength or build to handle

The hero carrying a huge sword all the time as if it's a wallet

Drawing a big sword form a sheath on the back (a physical impossiblity, unless your hero is a giant...)

Generic sword which can slash, stab, cleave, slash, block, pierce, thrust, whirl through the air, cut a few limbs, etc...as if that's plausible

adapted from <Writer's Craft> by Rayne Hall

Bothersome beast, comforting friend

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natalia vodianova for vogue's alice in wonderland series, december 2003 ✧∘⋆｡˚

𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖔𝖎𝖓?

Mary Blair - Cinderella Concept Art