Munday sick days
How do you deal with illness in your stories? How often do your characters get sick, and in what ways?
What kinds of medicine are there in your world?
I tend to be the sort of writer who does not spare her characters from illnesses or injuries. I guess part of this is because I'm a medical student, and constantly reading about these sorts of things. For my fantasy arcs and for my fanfiction, I tend to be more brutal when it comes to the severity of illnesses. For one thing my fanfiction is usually set in the 19th century; no antisepsis, no real way of preventing communicable diseases, and little epidemiology.
Since the stories I have about Marce, Emil, and their friends are set in modern day Metro Manila, I'm allowed to use the "double burden of diseases": lots of preventable, communicable diseases juxtaposed with lifestyle illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. Since many of my characters are young, I err towards the former. My story is also rooted somewhat in history so I also deal with real-life pandemics and epidemics within the past 10 years such as AH1N1 or the "swine flu", as well as leptospirosis, gastrointestinal diseases, dengue fever, and more. Aside from physical illnesses, I also deal with psychological illness, specifically depression, PTSD, and psychosis. I've sent several characters to psychiatric care in my storyline.
All my main characters get pretty sick at some point, whether physically or psychologically.
Marce: I usually spare her from communicable illnesses, but I made up for it by having her get stunted physically owing to her impoverished childhood. She's also prone to obstetric and gynecologic complications: the first time she gives birth, she nearly bleeds out, and the second time she ends up giving birth prematurely owing to a condition known as "incompetent cervix". I also gave her a very bad case of PTSD after the worst attempt of her life: she has to go for six months of therapy before being able to take the witness stand at a trial, and she is still prone to flashbacks.
Emil: He gets a major case of adult chickenpox during his college years; he gets so ill that he is very nearly rushed to the hospital for this. He ends up recovering at home, but is so embarrassed about his scars such that he doesn't want to show his face to Marce or his friends for a time.
Ida: She's prone to coughs and colds, like a lot of people are. However the biggest illness I gave her is psychological: her backstory has her suffering from cyclothymic depression and nearly committing suicide when she is sixteen. She still bears the long scars from those days.
Mark: He's famous for actually coming down with the swine flu in the year 2009. He gets it from a classmate of his, and ends up nearly infecting Ida and their friends. He has to spend ten days in an isolation room after.
Darren: He doesn't get much beyond coughs, colds, and the usual stomach upsets from eating badly cooked food.
Lize: Aside from the usual coughs and colds, she gets one episode of 'dissociation'; she loses her senses while dealing with the trauma of her mother's death.
Medicine in these scenarios is just your normal modern day medicine. My characters sometimes resort to alternative medicine: Chinese herbs, massages, acupuncture, etc. As for psychological care, it's ironic that of all the characters, Ida is the one who never receives it. This though drives here to become a therapist when she is older.
What kinds of medicine are there in your world?
I tend to be the sort of writer who does not spare her characters from illnesses or injuries. I guess part of this is because I'm a medical student, and constantly reading about these sorts of things. For my fantasy arcs and for my fanfiction, I tend to be more brutal when it comes to the severity of illnesses. For one thing my fanfiction is usually set in the 19th century; no antisepsis, no real way of preventing communicable diseases, and little epidemiology.
Since the stories I have about Marce, Emil, and their friends are set in modern day Metro Manila, I'm allowed to use the "double burden of diseases": lots of preventable, communicable diseases juxtaposed with lifestyle illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. Since many of my characters are young, I err towards the former. My story is also rooted somewhat in history so I also deal with real-life pandemics and epidemics within the past 10 years such as AH1N1 or the "swine flu", as well as leptospirosis, gastrointestinal diseases, dengue fever, and more. Aside from physical illnesses, I also deal with psychological illness, specifically depression, PTSD, and psychosis. I've sent several characters to psychiatric care in my storyline.
All my main characters get pretty sick at some point, whether physically or psychologically.
Marce: I usually spare her from communicable illnesses, but I made up for it by having her get stunted physically owing to her impoverished childhood. She's also prone to obstetric and gynecologic complications: the first time she gives birth, she nearly bleeds out, and the second time she ends up giving birth prematurely owing to a condition known as "incompetent cervix". I also gave her a very bad case of PTSD after the worst attempt of her life: she has to go for six months of therapy before being able to take the witness stand at a trial, and she is still prone to flashbacks.
Emil: He gets a major case of adult chickenpox during his college years; he gets so ill that he is very nearly rushed to the hospital for this. He ends up recovering at home, but is so embarrassed about his scars such that he doesn't want to show his face to Marce or his friends for a time.
Ida: She's prone to coughs and colds, like a lot of people are. However the biggest illness I gave her is psychological: her backstory has her suffering from cyclothymic depression and nearly committing suicide when she is sixteen. She still bears the long scars from those days.
Mark: He's famous for actually coming down with the swine flu in the year 2009. He gets it from a classmate of his, and ends up nearly infecting Ida and their friends. He has to spend ten days in an isolation room after.
Darren: He doesn't get much beyond coughs, colds, and the usual stomach upsets from eating badly cooked food.
Lize: Aside from the usual coughs and colds, she gets one episode of 'dissociation'; she loses her senses while dealing with the trauma of her mother's death.
Medicine in these scenarios is just your normal modern day medicine. My characters sometimes resort to alternative medicine: Chinese herbs, massages, acupuncture, etc. As for psychological care, it's ironic that of all the characters, Ida is the one who never receives it. This though drives here to become a therapist when she is older.