2WayParadox
Sage
It might be something that I do because I am a psychologist by training, though not a clinical psychologist, but I tend to read non-fiction psychology books speaking about roughly the subject I want to write about.
The only novel I've finished to date has as its core subjects BDSM and sexual addiction. Both are more complicated than the general public thinks, both are things that define people. The complexities that are involved are both fascinating and sad at times. I'm working on a follow up novel that carries on the BDSM subject, but instead of sexual addiction I've opted for (sexual) abuse as my second subject. I did my research and found some materials. To me it's always very important that the book I read has a personal voice, I'm not looking for the strictly scientific view. I want someone who writes with compassion and the thought of helping those in need at the fore.
That's some background, it's probably not relevant to anybody writing fantasy. It's just letting you know where I'm coming from. What is is the following:
I'm currently working on figuring out the scenes I want to have in my first fantasy novel. The MC is part of an assassin organization and accidently poisons some children in the beginning of the story, she struggles with that and at the end of the story, her failure is compounded by an even larger one. (it's harsh, but I guess I'm not the nicest person out there)
To try and understand the struggle of someone who has killed, I read the book 'On killing' by Dave Grossman. It talks about the psychological difficulties involved in killing and the methods that have been found to overcome them. It goes into a lot of depth about the experience Vietnam veterans went through, they were conditioned to kill and returned to scorn and indifference, instead of support. It led to dire consequences.
Is this the kind of thing you guys do during your research phase? I'm just curious.
The only novel I've finished to date has as its core subjects BDSM and sexual addiction. Both are more complicated than the general public thinks, both are things that define people. The complexities that are involved are both fascinating and sad at times. I'm working on a follow up novel that carries on the BDSM subject, but instead of sexual addiction I've opted for (sexual) abuse as my second subject. I did my research and found some materials. To me it's always very important that the book I read has a personal voice, I'm not looking for the strictly scientific view. I want someone who writes with compassion and the thought of helping those in need at the fore.
That's some background, it's probably not relevant to anybody writing fantasy. It's just letting you know where I'm coming from. What is is the following:
I'm currently working on figuring out the scenes I want to have in my first fantasy novel. The MC is part of an assassin organization and accidently poisons some children in the beginning of the story, she struggles with that and at the end of the story, her failure is compounded by an even larger one. (it's harsh, but I guess I'm not the nicest person out there)
To try and understand the struggle of someone who has killed, I read the book 'On killing' by Dave Grossman. It talks about the psychological difficulties involved in killing and the methods that have been found to overcome them. It goes into a lot of depth about the experience Vietnam veterans went through, they were conditioned to kill and returned to scorn and indifference, instead of support. It led to dire consequences.
Is this the kind of thing you guys do during your research phase? I'm just curious.
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