Date: Nov 08, 2014 07:30 pm Title: Prologue
Flawed people are REAL people. I'll take someone who has a few demons over someone without any, any day of the week.
Date: Nov 08, 2014 07:19 pm Title: Chapter 11: Vignettes of a life lived in twenty years
Yeah, I agree, very interesting. Yeah, I understand that you can't just reveal all this stuff at once. Michael isn't just going to tell Julia this. It'll take a bit more of developing their relationship, and some of it, she'll even have to figure out herself. And, I actually find that all the demons he had and how he tried to overcome them make him a more loveable person. I like flawed people. I know that's a bit strange, but I find that they tend to be deeper thinkers and love more deeply than others, and as a result of their incredible gifts and talents, they're more flawed.





Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:46 pm Title: Chapter 11: Vignettes of a life lived in twenty years
Woah, I just read everything in one fell swoop! This chapter was very powerful. I'm glad you decided to make a chapter in Michael's POV as it gives more understanding to his actions. I think your timeline is pretty darn accurate. Maybe to get a bit of a better handle on it, skim through Michael's autobiography and his mother's? I don't know lol. Just a suggestion. Since you've decided to broach the topic of PTSD, his vitiligo, childhood abuse, insecurities, etc., are you also going to include his Lupus diagnosis (which I believe he was diagnosed with in 1984) and his eating difficulties?
Here's some links to maybe help out with the timeline of the vitiligo and lupus and some other things to provide insight into his personality:
http://rhythmofthetide.com/category/michaels-appearance/feeling-ugly/
http://rhythmofthetide.com/category/michaels-appearance/lupus-michaels-appearance/
http://rhythmofthetide.com/category/michaels-appearance/vitiligo-photo-timeline-michaels-appearance
http://www.mj-777.com/?p=5135
The last link, I don't agree with some of the author's insight's, but a lot of the stuff provided are actual confirmed quotes from Michael and the people who knew him.
Author's Response:
You called it---Lupus and the eating disorders on board next!
I've mulled over the first few links multiple times, but I just DEVOURED that last link. really interesting stuff there.
the hardest part about Michael is portraying his demons and still making him a loveable person. Also, since the story is from Julia's perspective primarily (I have only one or two other Michael chapters in mind) she won't find out or see all of this stuff right away. Michael IRL isn't gonna let someone in to his life right away (no matter how much he claims to like her/want to be friends), so Michael LAWIP isn't either :P
thanks for the great review!!
please keep reading!
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:38 pm Title: Prologue
Ah! You both are dreams! Thanks for all the input!! (and not for one second did I think either of you were being annoying or critical. it's all in good fun here!!)
I think I have an idea for getting everything to flow back together... Time to flesh it out :)
I LOVE trying to get the story to fit the puzzle pieces of what we know of his life---it's like an extra little game for me!
Off to write a bit....
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:31 pm Title: Prologue
Historically accurate: IDK if he knew about PTSD then. It wasn't super common knowledge at the time for those who weren't vets. If he did know, as you've described, I could understand him having a confused understanding of PTSD. Perhaps she can do some research (as she's a budding journalist) and challenge him to own up to having had some control in the situation (e.g. he could have had his plane fly her back, he could have let her back into his place, he could have checked up on her). My major tip is that you don't get too caught up in diagnostic accuracy, etc. Keep it FUN for you to write. My comment wasn't about being accurate, it was about the fact that Michael is going to have to take some ownership and not simply say "it's PTSD".
In general, I think you are doing an excellent job of showing a realistic portrayal of how emotionally-confused and insecure he could be...and his heightened reactivity and guardedness is consistent with complex trauma (as we now know it).
I definitely like what you are doing and where you are going with this story :)
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:30 pm Title: Prologue
While Complex Trauma is not included in the DSM, it has been discussed heavily in many psychology textbooks and many psychologists specializing in treating trauma incorporate it as one of the diagnoses they use, seeing as it requires a different therapeutic approach than traditional PTSD.
Like Redone mentions, though, Complex Trauma is a relatively new term, so using the term PTSD would more so be historically accurate.
In regards to the dates you're using, I think they're pretty accurate. As far as a therapist being involved, I don't know if MJ ever saw one, but I believe if he did, it would have been later in his life. You could decide to diverge a tiny bit from real life and maybe include a portion of the story where he opens up a bit more to Julia and reveals when and what made him decide to go see a therapist.
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:21 pm Title: Prologue
Ahh, no problem. I wish this site had implementation for people responding to the author's replies, lol! Haha, I don't know. I just hoped I wasn't coming off as annoying with all my reviews.
Some more links on the subject, if you're interested:
http://www.nctsnet.org/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects-of-complex-trauma
http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/cptsd-understanding-treatment.html
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/compassion-matters/201207/recognizing-complex-trauma
I'm glad I could be of help :))
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:15 pm Title: Prologue
Thank you to both of you guys! I really, really appreciate the feedback and discussion this chapter has created :)
Date: Nov 08, 2014 06:08 pm Title: Prologue
As to PTSD and Complex Trauma (not a true diagnosis, but definitely a noteworthy cluster) - Michael could easily have qualified for both ;) Complex Trauma does do a much better job of accounting for what you described, though not entirely.
Also, complex trauma is a relatively new term, much as PTSD was at the time this story is set in.
Author's Response:
I guess my thinking with including this entire storyline was showing that Michael knew that he wasn't okay. IRL people seem to think he was a fairy in the clouds he didn't recognize his oddities and in the FF world people go all fluffy and show his life as happy-go-lucky.
Any thoughts on making everything more historically accurate?
Date: Nov 08, 2014 05:52 pm Title: Prologue
Oh, I by no means disagree with the diagnosis. I think it would be difficult to argue that he didn't have PTSD, as well as a few other psychiatric conditions. He was a survivor. It's just that those actions aren't all explained by PTSD, which is why I'm pushing MJ to take more responsibility. I'm seriously not trying to be annoying. This is just also my specialty.
Side note: Do you know when MJ first started seeing a therapist? I didn't think it was until much later.
Author's Response:
2Dream4Fire actually just gave me some wonderful information that I think encompasses what we're both thinking: Complex Trauma. However, i just read a bit on it and it seems like it was officially recognized as a disorder until fairly recently. It might make sense that someone told him he had PTSD since that was the cover-all term at the time, although we can see now that that's not exactly what the issue was. Don't worry, he's definitely going to have to take actual responsibility to an extent! Julia's a bit more stubborn than just saying, "K ALL GOOD NOW"
And about the timeline for the therapist, I really don't know, TBH. I have a feeling you're right and it wasn't 'til much later. Shoooooot. I hate historical inaccuracies. Any ideas on how to reconcile that with the plot?
Date: Nov 08, 2014 05:52 pm Title: Prologue
http://www.natal.org.il/english/?CategoryID=233
That's the link. It didn't let me post it the first time for some reason.
Date: Nov 08, 2014 05:50 pm Title: Chapter 11: Vignettes of a life lived in twenty years
I hope you don't mind that I'm leaving you another review, but on the subject of the whole PTSD thing, I'm really glad you included that. My mother is a psychologist, and I've read every single one of her psychology textbooks, and Michael would definitely fall under something that's a bit like PTSD but not quite. It's called Complex PTSD or Complex Trauma. Here's a link if you want to read about it:
Complex Trauma
And, while I do think that Michael definitely needs to own and make up for his actions, they are understandable given what he's revealed about himself and the life story represented in this chapter. That doesn't excuse them, of course, but I don't think he was just being an asshole for the heck of it.
I think you've done a wonderful job presenting Michael as a multi-faceted character and love how you've taken the risk of exploring his psychology. His PTSD (which I believe is likely Complex Trauma), his inability to understand his emotions in that moment, and his deeply rooted insecurites are all valid explanations for his behavior.
Author's Response:
AWESOME!! Thank you so much!! (and why the heck would I ever mind more feedback, bahaha!)
The PTSD thing has been a thorn in my side bc I know (and I think we all know) that he had a lot of issues stemming from his appearance and his past, but to just write that off as PTSD isn't exactly fair or true. I think the description he gave Julia about how he thinks/feels actually fits the idea of Complex Trauma really well! So thank you so much for giving me an exact term for it. Now how to develop the storyline according to this new information... ;) ;)




Date: Nov 08, 2014 05:35 pm Title: Chapter 10: Lean On Me
Love the chapter.





Date: Nov 08, 2014 04:58 pm Title: Chapter 11: Vignettes of a life lived in twenty years
Yes, it definitely makes more sense. However, there's PTSD and then there is kicking someone out of your place and leaving them stranded in an unfamiliar area. Michael will definitely have to do a LOT of work to make up for that. And he better not keep blaming PTSD or else I'm gonna be after that man >.>
Michael is definitely hard to accurately or adequately portray. He was human, multi-dimensional, and had a complex life. I'm totally not trying to comment/criticize what you are writing. I hope that's clear. I'm really getting into the story and upset with Michael for giving that excuse and for handling all of that so horribly.
Author's Response:
Thank you for all your reviews!! They definitely make my day :) :)
Sorry for going on a bit of a rant below, but hopefully it explains my thinking a bit... (and will probably be explained in more detail in forthcoming chapters, I just want to get it out there now.)
I partly agree with your thoughts on the PTSD storyline (one that makes me a little uncomfortable bc I don't want to offend anyone or portray it in a way that it's really not.) I think you just have to take one part of "LIFE: AWIP Michael" (which obviously, obviously, obviously is a work of fiction) into consideration: he's not used to not getting his way or having to think about anyone other than himself/he suffers from deep insecurities that stretch back as far as he can remember. My view on the matter is that a therapist at one point told him he had the symptoms of PTSD and he's now running with that as an excuse for his actions. Does he actually have it? I *personally* think that IRL Michael probably did, which is why I included it in the story. Was him kicking Julia out an episode? At first (when I was writing) I really thought so, but as I've written more and more from Michael's perspective and fleshed him out in my mind, I think that he freaked out, was unable to understand his emotions, and SOMETHING made him completely blackout the part when he actually kicked her out, and his only way of rationalizing his actions (which he knows, as we saw from the last chapter, to be wrong) is to blame it on the PTSD.
TLDR; he does have the symptoms of PTSD, but when put into a situation beyond his comfort zone he uses the illness as a way of rationalizing his actions (which probably have roots in the illness in the first place.)
Michael's really fucking hard to write. :P





Date: Nov 08, 2014 04:33 pm Title: Chapter 11: Vignettes of a life lived in twenty years
Oh, I forgot to mention something in my last review. I think you forgot to put one of the years down because you made a reference to his burn accident when it still says it's 1972.
Author's Response:
ahh!! thank you! plus, i just realized i actually forgot one of the sections. i'll go correct that right now!