Anyone want to help this writer out?

[laurenthemself]

I just found this entry on the nanowrimo community -- the author is asking for information on multiple personalities, and I thought that people from here might be willing to offer advice/assistance/links over there, before the commenting gets too skewed.

Comments

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Personally? i'm not sure they're writing a book about multiplicity.

From the sound of things, it's *fiction*. it may not be fiction to those who actually live with it, but then one does not have to be a serial killer or a vampire in order to write a fictional novel about it.

Then again... what the hell do I know?

I shut up now.

And maybe continue to remind myself why I shouldn't bother opening my stupid mouth to begin with.

C.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

You have every right to speak here as much as anyone else.

Point taken about it being fiction. The only reason we get impatient with fiction with multiple characters in is that it tends to follow a stereotype based on Sybil, which everybody thinks is fact but is actually fiction. Or it goes down the "Raising Cain" route. People read or watch that stuff and come away with the idea that that's what it's really like -- all the "how do I know you don't have a serial killer in there" stuff.

Still and all, we've known people who believed they had no right to, say, write a story with a male lead character because they were female themselves, and that just gets ridiculous. The guy is trying to ask questions about what it's really like, which is what a good writer should do if he hasn't got firsthand experience, and we should be more patient, really.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

From the little blurb the person on the NaNo comm was able to give, the character in question is *not* a serial killer, but someone who, like the rest of us here, is living a normal-for-them life... but the author is a little confused. *wry*

That's all I was really saying.

As for the 'stupid and have no right to say anything'... the response from the initial commenter here is what made me feel like that...

I'm feeling better now, but not all that much...

C.