Current Issue

Well, what part are you having trouble with? Your post is kind of general, really. All I can tell you is research to the max. Read not only lists of symptoms and general descriptions of Depression, read accounts written by people who've been there, done that, bought the ugly t-shirt.

Though if you want to do a little more showing regarding Depression, rather than the obvious tell along the lines of "Anna felt especially depressed today. As her children ran around her feet, she looked at her veins and contemplated opening them" try mentioning stuff like the dirty laundry and dishes piled all over the place because she doesn't have the energy to do them. You could also focus on her children. Obviously, if the mother's depressed, she's not going to be at her attentive best. Are her kids running around in nothing but soiled diapers? To what extent is she aware and paying attention to them? Are they just running around with very little supervision? It's also possible that she may develop feelings of anger towards them. One of the things people forget about Depression is how often anger and sadness intertwine with one another until it's hard to tell where one begins and the other begins. It's possible the mother could eventually come to blame the children for her issues. At the time she's doing this, she may know how deeply irrational her thoughts/behaviors are, but feels ashamed of them and afraid to tell anyone because what would her friends/relatives think if she wasn't the perfect, caring mother?

Again, I'm just throwing some ideas out there to get the creative juices flowing. I myself, have experienced Major Depression, but I admit I haven't had kids, so I can't provide any information on what it's like to be Depressed while struggling to raise small children. If anyone wants to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, feel free.

For anyone trying to evoke the difficulties a person with depression or other mental illnesses may experience, I recommend reading five classic short stories:

"The Black Monk", by Anton Chekhov
"The Horla", by Guy de Maupassant
"The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"The Rocking-Horse Winner", by D.H. Lawrence
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow", by Conrad Aiken

All are great and powerful, but the last on that list is one of my absolutest favoritest most bestest short stories of all time.

caw

How do you feel when you get depressed? Maybe you get irritable and snap at the people around you? No energy, no motivation? Drinking a bit too much? Does it show in your appearance - perhaps you can't be bothered to look after yourself?

Perhaps you'd go to a friend to ask for help. Or just a shoulder to cry on. Or perhaps you would be afraid to ask for help because you think you ought to be able to cope. Society can put a lot of pressure on people if they think that they are failures if they ask for help.

How might your relationship with your partner suffer? A bit frosty? Not much happening in the bedroom department? Having silly arguments with the slightest provocation.

Research can certainly help. But equally you can reach inside yourself and look for similar experiences and feelings.

There's a technique I'm experimenting with at the moment. I don't know if it's a good technique because I am making it up as I go along!

Instead of writing a scene directly, I'm allowing the entire scene to play out in my head as if it was a scene in a movie. Then rewind and watch the scene again, paying attention to what the different characters are doing and saying. If it doesn't make sense or it's not impactful enough, then you can unleash your inner Tarantino and change the scene.

And only when I've got an image of the entire scene do I pick up my pen (or in my case fire up Word) and start describing what I have just seen.

You see, when we are writing we can get a tendency to put things on paper in the order in which they first occur to us. This happened and then this happened and then this happened. Fred was depressed. What we need to do - I think! - is step away from the scene and see it from a distance. Don't write it in the way that you thought it - edit it so that you are writing it in the way that is most impactful for your readers.

Does that make sense? I dunno, I'm making this up as I go along.

Or if thinking about yourself is too internal--think about your sister, mother, or good friend. How would she have to behave for you to think, "Could she be depressed?"

Even though they're different people from your character, it might help you get a feel for what you would see. Then you can apply that same logic to your character's personality. Do they have a beloved pet who might show signs of being starved for attention? Is your sister a clean freak and it would be majorly indicative of a problem if she had a sink full of dishes? If your mom absolutely loves cooking and you noticed takeout boxes everywhere, would that mean something?

Here is the short list of novels where suffering from depression is described pretty well https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090511214906AAJwc3k. Hope this helps.

A few suggestions:

The kids are coloring on the walls with crayons. Instead of cleaning it off or telling the kids to stop, she moves the kitchen table where she's sitting a few feet so she doesn't have to look at it (because looking at it is a reminder of her failures.)

She makes a peanut butter sandwich using a spoon to spread it because it was the last clean dish in the kitchen. Then she gives the jar and spoon to the kids for their lunch, who are thrilled.

A friend calls and asks her out to coffee to talk. She says no, that she doesn't want to do anything . . . ever again.

Just a few ideas. Good luck!

Just want to say - thinking of the show rather than than the tell is a challenge, at least for me. But give yourself kudos for recognizing that you need show at this point in your WIP. Someone suggested this to me - you could write down all kinds of words & fragments that you think suggest depression. The list itself might clarify things for you, but the *act of making a list* (which is done by the criticial/linear part) is very freeing for the associative part of your mind/brain, so you have two chances to up your thinking.