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Catherine Castle Wednesday Writers series, early onset dementia, Eris Field, No Greater Love, psychiatir disorders, Writing Backstory for troubled characters
Eris Field is today’s Wednesday Writer’s guest and she’ll be talking about
Writing the Back-Story for Troubled Characters
from Eris Field
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In reality, psychiatric disorders are similar to physical disorders in that they have predisposing factors (risk factors), protective or buffering factors, and an impact on the family as well as the patient.
Recently, I’ve been reading novels that include a family member developing early onset dementia (onset before the age of 60 years) and the necessity of one of the characters (usually the son or daughter) to take over the care. The information seems to be plunked down with no description of possible risk factors—certainly a big cause of fear for every other family member—and little description of the effect on the person’s life and on the caregiver. Just think of someone younger than 60 years. An energetic time for most and certainly too young for retirement. They’ve got things to do and places to go. The person’s children are in their 30’s and there are probably young grandchildren.
As a retired psychiatric nurse I turn the pages frantically looking for the writer to provide more information about the afflicted member and the impact on the family member assuming the caregiver role.
It occurred to me that readers want to know and writers need to address three vital questions:
1. What are the predisposing factors? What in the character’s backstory might have contributed to his developing the illness? Do I have those risk factors?
2. What are the protective factors? Family members wonder what can I do to avoid the same illness?
3. What is the effect of the illness? What would the effect be on me: my career, my savings for the future, my children’s educational funds, my marriage, and my plans for retirement.
In writing about early onset or late onset dementia, it should be remembered that it is a gradual process. Mild cognitive impairment is believed to be a preclinical phase of dementia. People with mild cognitive impairment have impaired memory for recent events but they also frequently have apathy, depression, irritability, and anxiety. They may appear to be agitated without cause. The onset of mild cognitive impairment may be followed by dementia, often within three to five years.
Predisposing factors for developing mild cognitive impairment include:
• Lower level of education
• Fewer stimulating mental activities
• Less physical exercise
Protective factors include:
• Higher level of education achieved
• Being employed or volunteering
• Engaging in physical exercise
• Maintaining good health
• Having an active social support network
• Not smoking
• Having one glass of alcohol a day
Effect on Others
Family members often notice that the person has difficulty remembering future commitments and the family begins to compensate for person’s inability to remember things.
Dementia is an impairment of cognitive functioning—thinking, reasoning, knowing, and memory– that is severe enough to cause problems with communicating, self-care, and functioning at work, within the family, and within social situations.
Predisposing factors for dementia that occur in middle age:
• History of trauma to the head: repeated injuries to the head, concussions
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Cigarette smoking
• Physical inactivity
• High cholesterol,
• Depression
Protective factors for dementia that occur in middle age
• High levels of academic achievement
• Mediterranean diet
• Engaging in intellectually challenging activities
• Engaging in physical exercise
• Moderate use of alcohol (one glass a day)
Predisposing factors for dementia that occur at old age
• Stress
• Cigarette smoking
• Depression
• Head injuries, especially head injuries from falls
• Social isolation and loneliness
• Medications with anticholinergic effects
Protective factors for dementia that occur at old age
• Following a Mediterranean diet
• Drinking wine daily in moderation (one glass)
• Maintaining physical activity
• Engaging in cognitively stimulating activities
• Engaging in leisure activities: music, walking, visiting friends, reading, volunteering, playing games with friends
• Maintaining social networks
• Spirituality
Effect of dementia on others
Grief over the loss of a partner, a relationship, and a shared dream of the future,
Guilt over losing patience with the person with dementia.
Guilt for not being able to keep promise to care for them at home,
Anger over changes, financial burden, and lost opportunities associated with caring for the ill person.
Fear of being at increased risk of developing dementia, and
Fear that dementia in the family may jeopardize chances of marriage for younger family members.
Writers often hint at a genetic influence as the cause of the development of dementia, but if they would include the presence of other risk factors or absence of protective factors in the back stories of their troubled characters and would describe broader effects on the caregiver, their stories would be richer, more compelling.
Here is a brief intro to one of my romance novels that deals with some of these issues. I hope you enjoy it.
At some time in our lives, many of us will be refugees–people fleeing from traumatic situations such wars, earthquakes, fires, floods, or the aftermath of debilitating illness, death, divorce or betrayal. Help for some may come from family members, friends, and spiritual leaders. Within the medical profession, it is often psychiatrists who help those who have been traumatized by such events. No Greater Love is a contemporary, international romance featuring a psychiatrist and a nurse who help those who are refugees only to discover that they are the only ones who can save each other. The story moves from East Aurora in Western New York to Leiden and Amsterdam in The Netherlands.
Descended from legendary Circassian beauties once sought for Sultans’ palaces, Janan, a survivor of an earthquake in Turkey that killed her family when she was eight years old, was adopted by an older, childless couple in East Aurora. Her adoptive father was raised with a cousin, Carl, who, in 1939 at the age of 5, had been sent from his home in Leiden by his Dutch-Jewish father to his uncle in the US to save him from Nazi occupation of The Netherlands. Now, 28 years old, Janan has spent her life working as a nurse, caring for her parents, and, after their deaths, helping the aging Carl.
When Pieter, a young Dutch psychiatrist who Carl mentored, comes to Buffalo to be evaluated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, he meets Janan and knows the sweet power of love for the first time. He also knows that, even if he lives, treatment for leukemia may leave a man unable to father children.
Realizing she has fallen in love with Pieter and fearing that life is passing her by, Janan asks him for one night. During that one night, cloistered in Room 203 of the venerable Roycroft Inn, Pieter teaches Janan the eight different kisses of seduction. It is a night that changes the lives of all.
Eris Field was born in the Green Mountains of Vermont—Jericho, Vermont to be precise—close by the home of Wilson Bentley (aka Snowflake Bentley), the first person in the world to photograph snowflakes. She learned from her Vermont neighbors that pursuit of one’s dream is a worthwhile life goal.
As an impoverished student nurse at Albany Hospital, Eris met her future husband, an equally impoverished Turkish surgical intern who told her fascinating stories about the history of Turkey, the loss of the Ottoman Empire, and the painful experience of forced population exchanges.
After years of working as a nurse, teaching psychiatric nursing, and raising a family, Eris now writes novels–international, contemporary romances that incorporate her interest in psychiatry, history, people from different cultures, and the problems of refugees.
Although the characters in Eris’s novels are often from other countries—The Netherlands, Turkey, and Kurdistan— her novels are usually set in Western New York–The land of Father Baker, Jericho Road Refugee Center, the Buffalo Bills, Wings, and snow–chunky rain snow, lake-effect snow, horizontal snow, the snow of thunder snow storms, dry, fine snow, curtains of wet heavy snow, and whiteouts.
Learn more about Eris Field on her website. Stay connected on Facebook.
Today Wednesday Writers welcomes award-winning author Gail Pallotta. Gail’s been a guest a number of times on the blog. Today she’ll be talking about her newest book, Hair Calamities and Hot Cash, which Cynthia Hickey, author of the Shady Acres Mystery series, has called “A comedic romp from small town to big city in search of missing money, hair catastrophes, and love. A truly fun read.” I have to say, Gail, I love this title and the concept of the book. So, without any further ado, I’ll turn the blog over to Gail so she can tell you about the story’s origins. Keep reading to the end for an excerpt from Hair Calamities and Hot Cash.
Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. A former Grace Awards Finalist and a Reader’s Favorite 2017 Book Award winner, she’s published five books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.
Today’s Wednesday Writers’ guest is Kimberly Rose Johnson. Kimberly is no stranger to Wednesday Writers, and I’m glad to have her back today talking about the Christmas collection A Christmas to Remember she’s put together just in time for the holidays, and specifically her novella Until I Met You. Welcome back, Kimberly!
Award winning author Kimberly Rose Johnson married her college sweetheart and lives in the Pacific Northwest. From a young child Kimberly has been an avid reader. That love of reading fostered a creative mind and led to her passion for writing. She especially loves romance and writes contemporary romance that warms the heart and feeds the soul.
Announcing five new stories filled with faith, hope, forgiveness, and of course happily-ever-afters. Each story focuses on an element of the Nativity, from the angels to the wise men. Be swept up in the love of the season and the promise of forever that the Christ child, the true Heart of Christmas, brings.
Today’s Wednesday Writers’ guest is Tracey L. Dragon. Tracey will be sharing her dual-time romance When The Geese Fly North – Book 2 of her Return to the Home Front Series. She’s also sharing an excerpt, so be sure to read to bottom of the post. Welcome, Tracey!
Tracey L. Dragon is a relocated New Yorker, former Navy wife, and retired educator who now lives in Florida with her husband. After seven military moves, raising two Navy brats, and twenty years teaching troubled youth, she is now able to put her full attention to publishing the children’s stories and romance novels she’s written over the years. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America and Florida Writers Association.
Growing up in a small town in Indiana may have been the best experience or the worst depending on your viewpoint. For me, it was the best. My two sisters and I were raised with strict traditional values and rules for the life of a Christian. Once I left for college my horizons expanded, giving me the chance to see many different viewpoints. I wanted to travel the world. Instead, I met the love of my life in college and we married. After retiring from teaching at age fifty-five, it was time to move forward with my dream of writing. After many rejection letters, A DOG AND HIS BOY, was published through a small Christian publisher. I self-published my other five children’s books. During this same time my young adult novel, THE HIDDEN TRUTH, became a reality, thanks to Soul Mate Publishers. When I received my contract to publish it as an e-book, I was ecstatic. New writers often ask for advice from published authors. Here’s mine: be true to yourself, and then, have fun with your writing. Maybe, just maybe, you will become one of those best-selling authors we see featured in the bookstores.
Fast forward – okay, slow forward – ten years. I was still dreaming about Cassis. About how lovely it looked, how I would love to live there on the shores of the Mediterranean. A story started brewing. “What if?” kept popping into my head. I was writing historical romances then, was on the verge of selling my first one, and in the back of my head, Cassis kept dancing around showing me sunsets over the water, teasing my memories with the scents of water, fish, and lavender.
When not writing, Patricia spends time with her family
Today Wednesday Writers welcomes Ada Brownell back to the blog. Ada will be talking about her book What Prayer Can Do and the miracles she’s heard about and written about in the book. Welcome, Ada!
Ada Brownell has been writing for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily newspaper reporter. She has a B.S. degree in Mass Communications and worked most of her career at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado where she spent the last seven years as a medical writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to freelance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books. She occasionally writes op-ed pieces for newspapers.
Hi, my name is Joan Deppa. I have been a wife, mother and pastor’s wife for many years, but have started a new adventure. I am now an author. They say you should write about what you know, so that’s what I have done in my series, “Seasons of Love.” When I came home from my dad’s funeral, and after a March snow storm that left everything white and clean, Whiter than Snow was born. It’s based on some of my dad’s past, as well as my husband’s, his salvation experience and how it brought about the release of the pain and bitterness of his past, and then the wonderful results it brought. It takes place in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as that’s where we were living when I began writing it. Throughout our ministry, we have counseled many people who have been hurt by the pain of divorce, as well as experienced it ourselves when my parents, as well as one of our sons went through a divorce. It causes a lot of feelings of rejection, insecurities and fears that only Christ can heal, so that is the theme for my second book, Summer Dreams. I am currently writing the third book entitled, Autumn Discoveries. It will deal with the issue of high expectations that we, as well as others, place on us.
Bonnie Turner has recently moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is enamored by its beauty in the winter time. While enjoying the beauty, Brad Jorgenson “bumps” into her and takes it upon himself to show her the sights and how to enjoy Winter in the Upper Peninsula. But will Bonnie be able to show him how to release the anger and bitterness he’s carried since childhood and introduce him to the Creator of the beauty he enjoys? Can God’s love and forgiveness really make him, “whiter than snow?”
April Phillips is a 6th grade teacher who loves children but feels she should never marry due to the history of divorce in her family. So instead, she pursues her dream to learn to Kayak and buys an older house that she can make into the home of her dreams. However, Aaron Matthews has his own dreams – to marry April and have a family of their own. But first he needs to help her realize that God is able to break her chains of fear and give her a love that paddles through the storms and difficulties of life and thrives. Whose dreams will be realized? Can they both win?
My husband and I have been in church ministry for over 30 years and have counseled many hurting people. I have always loved to read and now write inspirational fiction, sharing God’s love, forgiveness, wisdom and ability to change lives yielded to Him, in a way that people can relate to. My hope is that my readers will find true joy, guidance and forgiveness in Christ from their past and present challenges in life. We have four adult children, eleven grandchildren and have lived mostly in the Midwest. We enjoy seeing all the beauty of God’s creation wherever we are, and I share some of our favorites in my stories. I am a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers.
Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?