Sometimes you read something, and you feel seen. The author knows you and has somehow bled your life onto the page in ink. It just happened to me.
This week I read Side Effects by Ted Anderson, Tara O’Connor, and Dave Sharpe. The tagline grabbed my attention immediately: “Hannah doesn’t want to be a hero. She just wants to be well.”
It’s Hannah’s first year of college, and she’s overwhelmed. She begins seeing a therapist, who prescribes medication to help her depression. And though the meds do help her… they also give her superpowers. Hannah really doesn’t need the complications. She doesn’t want to save anyone else. She just wants to be able to get through her day.
The first page by itself translates so well what I experience in my depression. We see Hannah seeming to be okay… and then getting to her room and utterly falling apart.
Again, I felt so incredibly seen.
The writers did a phenomenal job translating not just the depression itself, but struggling through whether or not you think your meds are working, the debate of who to tell and when, and feeling utterly worthless because you’re struggling and you shouldn’t be but you still are but–
Well. Again, I felt seen.
And it’s made me consider my writing. Some of my short stories feature characters that struggle with depression or are introverts in a world that doesn’t allow them. But my novels?
It’s not that I write perfect characters. Madelyn struggles with self-worth. Cade struggles with guilt. These are still very real.
But it’s made me think ahead as I plan out my next books… maybe I need to open up a little more.
How many middle school books deal well with depression? (Side Effects is not a middle school book; it’s simply a very good one that I read this week.) I don’t know that I’ve read any, and yet so many kids struggle with it. I wonder how hidden they feel?
I know so many people struggle with depression, but I so seldom see myself in the fiction I take in. I think the best story I’ve seen that works at that level is Inside Out. (And if you’ve not seen it, I heartily recommend it. I get teary watching the ending every time.)
I think I may have to consider writing a novel dealing with depression. Not sure how. Not sure the setting. Fantasy? Science fiction? Something simply modern day?
Nah. Probably not that one. Not for me, at least.
But… something to think on.
Jonathon Mast: Author 
You may never know how much a character will resonate with a reader for the simplest things. One of my “comfort food” of books is a series with a fantastic FMC. She’s gone through some very dark times in her life, and emerged a strong, kick-butt woman with a strong moral character. I have NOTHING in common with her, and yet when I’m feeling down, weak, or overwhelmed I can crawl into this series to feel better.
Write the characters who are clamoring to escape your brain. Madelyn’s self-worth struggle may help someone find more value in themselves. Maybe a future character may have a two-fold battle…struggling to save the universe while their inner demons try to hold them back. It sounds like you have one that needs their back story and struggle told…what fictional universe do they want as a setting? 💞💞💞
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