Should we add a character in a story for realistic effect?
In my novel, the protagonist is divorced and moves from London to another city in Britain. The setting is 2013. The protagonist is depressed and stressed out; in real life, such a person would see a psychiatrist. This will be a realistic scenario.
But, if I introduce a doctor, I will have to create a realistic dialogue exchange which will fill a few pages. This is fine, but not related to the central plot of the story. Dr. Williams, as I am calling him, is not even a supporting character. It's just something I am thinking she will do to get help until the time the next part of the story begins. My protagonist comes out of her depression due to some other things she goes through.
Is it a good practice to introduce such a side story just to make sure the reader thinks the story is realistic?
I would leave it out. There are two kinds of depression; clinical depression for which people ought seek help and depres …
5y ago
I think in real life the vast majority of people that are depressed, or even suicidal, will not go to a doctor at all. …
5y ago
You have a realistic effect that follows from the situation that you've put your character in, but that effect isn't int …
5y ago
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/40971. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
3 answers
I would leave it out. There are two kinds of depression; clinical depression for which people ought seek help and depression that is a natural and normal response to bad things happening.
My mother died and I did not seek therapy since a therapist could not help with the problem - death. I have a cousin who suffers from clinical depression, my brother did also and therapy helped them.
I have financial difficulties and they are very stressful, but I understand that stress so know that talking to a therapist would not help. Petting a cat or dog helps, watching a movie or otherwise giving myself a break helps.
If your MC is the kind of person who believes that therapy is both important (I do believe this) and relevant, then create your doctor, but have that character mean something. They can be the trusted mirror into the soul of your MC, or the listening ear that lets you explore your MC.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40977. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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You have a realistic effect that follows from the situation that you've put your character in, but that effect isn't interesting, nor does it affect the story in any significant way. The solution is have it happen off screen.
You have the MC eat, realistically they'd have to use the toilet. But you don't necessarily write about them using the toilet, right? Same here. If you feel it is necessary for the character to go to a psychologist, and for the reader to be aware of the fact, you can mention it in passing - something might happen while she's on the way to/from a meeting with him. This "something" should be plot-relevant, of course.
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I think in real life the vast majority of people that are depressed, or even suicidal, will not go to a doctor at all.
I don't know what the situation in Britain may be, but here in the USA that would be expensive, time consuming, and it carries a stigma in both employment and society to have been treated for a "mental illness", even depression. The vast majority of people will self-medicate with drugs (legal or not).
If you are intending to sell to American readers, they will not wonder why your character did not visit a psychiatrist; those are for people with money and time that don't have to worry about their jobs.
Even if psychiatry is free in Britain, I'd expect very few depressed people would take advantage of it. Because depression doesn't make one hopeful about being cured from depression, and most depressed people are not even sure their depression IS depression, or if it can be cured or addressed.
In general, forgetting this particular topic, YES, if anything is realistic enough that many readers would wonder why it isn't mentioned, then you need to address that concern. But as Galastel notes; that can be sentence or two of "tell, don't show" off-screen, to save pages and not interrupt your story line. (One of the few instances in which telling is superior to showing).
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