Please read

Hey all,

I think I'm over-doing the whole NMM gets salvation shit. I've just been doing it too much, and I don't want all of my stories to follow the same character with the same issues. I've stigmatized mental hospitals and did little research. I apologize.

Now to why I made this post in the first place. Many people on here think that the suicide/dark/sad genre is getting annoying.

I have a few words on that.

I referenced this in a previous post, but I struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. Many people portray my illnesses as being a neat freak and being sad when they are both deeper than hell. OCD doesn't always mean an obsession with cleanliness and order--it can fixate on religion, death, disease, sexuality, self-injury, and leads to fear that gets in one's way of daily life. Depression, on the other hand, is what makes everything (for me) too much to handle. It drains me of energy, focus, determination, motivation, will, and emotion.

With that being said, fanfics that mention suicide and mental health problems are not in the LEAST annoying to me. Yes, when portrayed wrong, they are damaging. And that's what I fear that I have been doing with my stories. It took about a year for me to come to terms with my mental health diagnoses, and in the meantime, I continued to think of the mentally ill as deranged, shrieking animals when I am mentally ill myself.

It was unfair not just to myself, but to all of you, and for that I apologize.

When done right, fanfics can help shine a light on mental illness and show the reality of living with one, or multiple. They show how it affects not just the sufferer, but their family and friends. They show the sufferer's darkest points--and their climb up from the shadows.

Mental illness is a problem that is in no way annoying, but draining. Anon-a-miss stories get lots of hate (though they do run along the same plotline, they also show the effects of bullying). What I ask of readers is to appreciate the good stories and the message they send across.

And what I ask of writers is to do your research (National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Diagnostic Standards Manual are good resources--really, anything but WebMD). Make sure your character is entirely separate from their illness. What I mean is, they are not defined by their illness, but they have a personality. And don't deliberately try to glorify anything, suicide, eating disorders, etc. Give little-known disorders recognition (Pure OCD, borderline personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, etc.).

It seems like a long checklist, but worth it in the long run.

And finally, I took down We Live in a Simulation because I was just annoyed with myself. I didn't really give NMM a personality and my writing just seemed hasty and choppy. I just didn't like it and I want to do something better in the future. I am going through a hard time right now and I don't feel so motivated to finish the thousands of stories I've started. That is part of the reason I am writing this. I want to make sure that all this stigma goes no further.

Thanks,
Liz