the main character in my book is going from prodromal schizophrenia to active schizophrenia, particularly hallucinations both auditory and visual. I've done lots of research to try and make it as realistic as possible.
Now the difficult part is trying to show him having hallucinations since the story is told in his perspective and i don't want to write the hallucinations in a way that would confuse the reader.
At this point of time he isn't aware of his disorder since it was induced by stress and was undiagnosed before everything happened. So i'm not really sure on how to go about continue writing
I'm not sure if this is a universal experience because I don't know what causes this for myself, but at least when it is slightly less severe/vivid hallucinations, these are some things that might be helpful-
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For me at least, it's things being other things. As an example from my experience, furniture looking like something else- namely, shadowy figures or my cat. Human-sized objects appearing as people.
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Things running around is also common. Seeing a bird swooping past or a shadow darting under a table.
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Auditory hallucinations include small things like footsteps, distant voices, and running water.
I can't give much because, a) my experiences are far more subtle than that of others and b) I do not know if I have schizophrenia. However, I would like to say that if you do not have schizophrenia yourself then I wouldn't recommend trying to write something about it, or an MC with it for that matter- even if you have done research.
Hi! I have stress-induced psychosis and experience hallucinations so I can offer up my two cents:
- my most common hallucinations are auditory. when I hear things, it's always things I've heard before. The most common include: repetitive video game music (mario underground cave music is the biggest), birds are also really common (mostly twittering noises or an occasional caw), or a bunch of people muttering (yknow when you walk into a big crowded room with a bunch of people and you just hear that wave of noise. yeah that.)
- when I see things–much less common to me than hearing them–I usually see things out of the corner of my eye. Like what Estoc said, it's usually something moving quickly in the corner of my eye but upon closer look, there's nothing there. "Mice" are fairly common.
So those are my most common hallucinations, but there have been rare instances–like when I'm extremely stressed or upset–when I hear and/or see things much worse than usual. Just the other day when I was home alone (I was super stressed with school and my internship), I thought I heard someone or something pounding on my door downstairs, trying to break into my house. It was nothing, but it was still very scary. Stuff like that is extremely rare.
I agree with Estoc here, but only to a point. Please be very very careful when writing a character who has hallucinations, especially if you haven't experienced them before. But please don't let that discourage you. Do your research, consult people with hallucinations, get a sensitivity reader, and do not demonize a mental illness.
When writing hallucinations, here's a quick guide/tips:
- still describe the hallucinations, but have them disappear soon after they're described. they don't linger.
- don't get hung up on the hallucinations. once they've happened, they've happened.
- make your character confused. if your character is confused at the hallucinations, then the reader will know that the odd hallucinations are intentional. plus, it'll add some fun mystery to the narrative.
- depending on what POV your story is being written in, the hallucinations will be different. if it's omniscient 3rd person, you can toy with the idea that something isn't there, even though the character sees it. If you're writing with 1st person or limited 3rd person, you're really going to have to cement the hallucinations.
Those are just some tips and stuff! Happy to help!
