(Untitled)

[seiberwing]

On the heels of claiming my second queer_fest prompt, I kind of wish there was something similar for mental illness issues. The point of the fest is Our Favorite Characters dealing with Our (Queer) Issues, or just to explore how their canons would handle such matters. An interesting thought experiment, but possibly also a way of coping by putting those

Comments

[pockythoughts]

I am entirely in favor of this idea. I've little experience with queerfest (this will be my first year responding), but they seem to be pretty good about telling participants to Be Respectful Dammit. Granted, mental illness is something I think fewer people are genuinely educated about and/or respectful of, but you're right that it could produce some gems. I would certainly jump all over such a thing because good fiction about mental illness is something I always want more of. Also I'm a therapist, soooo...

[seiberwing]

I've done one or two, generally around depression/bipolar since that's my area of expertise. It's fun, if nothing else.

Granted, mental illness is something I think fewer people are genuinely educated about and/or respectful of

Herein lies the problem. I've seen the rare fic dealing with alcoholism or depression, and I've seen people at least try to take a crack at OCD, but it's very rare to have someone who even puts an effort in. Success, of course, being even rarer.

[pockythoughts]

It's a damn shame, really.

If I wasn't already doing stupid amounts of stuff for queerfest, I'd suggest we come up with something to do for Mental Health Month in May. Maybe I'll do a Q&A/discussion post for folks who have an interest in learning about the issue and/or writing it more accurately.

[seiberwing]

Ooh. I would be all for that. Something like this might also be interesting, just a call and response type of deal.

I'm actually pulling double duty on queerfest with one of my prompts. I'm writing 'queer with a mental illness', carrying on some of the stuff I did in " Solve Me", because hey why not.

[rosehiptea]

I'm sorry for dropping by your LJ, but I just wanted to say I think it's a great idea, but unfortunately you're right about the pitfalls.

I just wish there were a way to encourage writing about mental health in fic while keeping it responsible but... too much of a minefield for any number of reasons.

(apologizing again for random comment.)

[seiberwing]

Dude, don't apologize. The more the merrier.

And yeah. I suppose education's the best way to do it.