forum How to write a recluse

Started May 03, 2019 by @NotSoBeautifulDiseaster group

tune

Well, this character is my MC's little brother who has social anxiety, is an agoraphobe who never leaves the house and barely leaves his room

How to portray him right?

Hm, depending on his innate nature, he could be very stand-offish, even mean, with people he interacts with, because he doesn't really have experience with anyone outside his family I assume, and would probably prefer to end the conversation as quickly as possible so he can go back to hiding.

In general he will feel very safe as long as he stays in his own area, then freak out majorly (inwardly or outwardly!) to being forced (keyword) out of his comfort zone. There's an element of control here, and someone with anxiety of any kind will very much relish this feeling of control: in this case it's all the more reason for your character to stay inside and not change, or at least that could be his inner reasoning.

Is there a particular reason for his reclusion? If it's due to trauma, for example, he may have a lot of suppressed curiosity, especially for the things he isn't experiencing, and missing out on. With this there could be a lot of self-loathing, for being too anxious to go outside but feeling too hopeless to do anything about it.

Traits such as cowardly, distrusting, paranoid of all the possible dangers… These are things I would associate with a recluse? Just my thoughts. Make sure to get a second opinion, haha. Hope this helps!

Well, he was cruelly bullied by most of the classmates, his teacher and ignored by his older sister due to her jealousy and him being unpopular due to that he's become distrusting, antisocial, moody, oversensitive and is so distrustful of people, he literally befriended his old dolls (He even named them and plays checkers with them)

Hm I think that all sounds about right, is the friendship with dolls indicative of his mental state? it sounds unstable. What is his role in the story, and is he supposed to get better?

Well, he's just so anthropophobia that he prefer the company of bjd dolls that can't bully him, well he's at more stable that 3/4 of love interests. His role in mostly a side character he does have the fifth and final arc where tries to return to society

Okay! I'm curious if his arc ends successfully: it would make sense for his attempt at re-integration ends in failure, but perhaps not in hopelessness: simply something that needs to be attempted again, because it's unrealistic for him to return to "normal" on his first try. Or maybe it's a totally tragic ending. Good luck either way!

I need a bit more advice, I'm planning to make him super-sensitive due to bullying but he tends to be rude toward his sister (The MC), but how to portray it without making him a crybaby bully

Hm okay. Him being easily butthurt, even due to a past having to do with bullying, is bound to come off crybaby-ish in most cases. Making a character rude without them having many/any redeeming features, or without a reason to forgive them, is tricky and won't garner him many fans. Him having been bullied is not a reason to forgive him, either: the reader will most likely be disappointed that he's continuing the cycle of toxic behavior by being rude to his sister, unless you can somehow frame this as him finally standing up for himself. I'm unclear on how the sister has treated him, and what would warrant him being rude to her. I have very little context here haha.

Well, his sister has helped her friends bully him in vain attempt to be popular, ignored him, or basically stood there while was being humiliated

In that case, have their arguments be a constant back-and-forth: they're rude to each other, which creates a balance, as well as an equality(?) that hadn't been there before, because in the safety of their home no one can judge the shit they say to each other. Has the sister repented at all for her actions? Does she feel bad, and if so has she apologized (either explicitly or implicitly)? Are we at all sympathetic to the main character, or to who she used to be? and if so, even more reason to create a cruelty founded on a grudge, for the brother. Make it so that, depending on the reader and their own past experiences, both siblings can be sympathized with.

She was always jealous of her brother due to him being coddled by her mother and father, which only increased when her father died and bullied him out of jealousy, insecurity and just because everyon was doing it. After she ended up apologlized but he rejected her apologly

Yeah that's coherent, you don't just forgive someone who contributed to making your life miserable just like that, overnight.