Things I Hate About Warriors Fanfiction

Portraying Mental Illnesses

Just a quick little disclaimer that a lot of these chapters were written in 2017 and 2018, and don't reflect my current opinions. I've left them up as there's still some good points there, but just keep in mind a lot of the aggressive, "you can't do this, it's the worst, and it makes you a terrible writer" points are not a good representation of who I am as a person and what I believe about writing. The revised chapters are much more constructive and accurate to my current beliefs.

This isn't just a problem in Warriors fics, it's everywhere! However, I've seen far too many of fics with these issues floating around.

When writing seriously, it's important that you write things correctly. Like, if you're writing a character with a broken leg, you're not going to have it heal in a week. That's not right at all!  So why does it happen with mental illnesses?

It's all too easy to Google "How long does it take for a cat's broken leg to heal?" The information is right there! However, with mental illnesses, it's harder. Whilst there are tons of helpful sites, the majority talk about symptoms. You never quite know how someone is feeling. The main issue is, people are uneducated.

If you're going to write, do your research. It's not hard. I know it's exciting, and you just want to write, but the more research and effort you put into it, the better it'll be. So if you intend on writing about a mental illness, research, research, research. Read a ton of different sites. Ask people you find online wit the mental illness, more often than not, they'll be happy to help. There are Tumblr accounts dedicated to this,
@/script-shrink being a great one.

There is a controversial tip for writers, which is hard to sum up into one sentence. It's basically is "not writing from the point of view of something, like having an anxiety disorder, being a Native American or being gay, if you aren't." It's not as straightforward as that, though. Of course you can have side characters who are these things. But if it's the main character, no. Why? Because no matter how much research, you still don't know what it feels like. I somewhat agree with this, but somewhat don't.

One common misconception is portraying depression as "being full of pain and wanting to die."
I haven't had clinical depression, but I was diagnosed with depressive tendencies, which could have developed into clinical depression. So, I know what I know because of what I've heard and researched about depression.

It's less "Why is my life so painfulll" and more lethargy.
It's less "I'm so saaaaad" and more "I can't seem to experience any positive feelings anymore. This can be anywhere between negative thoughts to complete numbness"

People who are depressed aren't always suicidal. People who are suicidal aren't necessarily depressed, though the majority are.

Do your research, kids. Depression is a mental illness that greatly affects a person's life. From what I have heard of it, clinical depression makes even the smallest tasks seem impossible. You cannot force yourself to do simple things. It's a lack of self esteem, and feeling guilty, and worthless, and like you have no purpose.

It's not emo bangs and crying because your life is so painful.

The next problem is anxiety.
We don't blush cutely and stammer. We don't hide behind our hair.

I've been diagnosed with general anxiety and social anxiety, and I can tell you, it's nothing like it's portrayed. We're jumpy, excessively worrying about things we know are irrational but we just can't stop, we find socialisation hard, and we're really just an anxious mess.

These are the main issues, because according to the Warriors fandom, no one could ever suffer from any other disorder/mental illness, oh no.

Well, in conclusion, y'all need to get your shit together and research your ass off. And any romanticisation? Just no.