Novel I'm Writing

[Swamp56]

Ok, I'm on page 51 of this novel I'm writing; I'm aiming at 150-200 pages for it at the moment. I can't seem to write it when I'm off my meds though.

Anyway, it's a novel with 3 different characters. It takes place at Redwood Mental Institution, which is a massive, old mental hospital in the middle of the woods in western Massachusetts. The doctors, orderlies, and nurses all live on the grounds of the hospital due to it's remote location in separate houses around the front of the grounds about a mile away from the entrance.

The first character is Dr. John McIntyre, a psychiatrist of 20 years at the hospital. He's miserable and hates working here, and dreams of retiring and moving to a large town/city where he can finally end up meeting people instead of having only fellow psychiatrists as friends. During the story, we see John dealing with mainly his own dissatisfaction with his work and his declining mental health over the years.

You see, hear, and experience what it's like to work at a locked, closed, and highly secure mental institution. John works with the patients in ward 4East, which mainly deals with schizophrenics and schizoaffective (a form of schizophrenia that is like a mixture of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) patients.

The second patient is Beth MacDonald, a women in her 30's, who after being left by her husband, and having a miscarriage, and losing her job, tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrists. She is committed and sent 2 hours away from Boston to the institution to become stabilized and seen for therapy to help her overcome the obstacles in her life as well as meet with people like her, who are dealing with similar issues.

The third patient is Jim Garrison, a paranoid schizophrenic housed in ward 4East, who is convinced that the doctors and staff are FBI agents, and that he is being trained to fight in an intergalactic war that is hidden from the lives of most of the human population. We personally see the struggles Jim goes through with his distortion of perception of reality that comes with any schizophrenic disorder. We see as he gets better and learn what it is like to deal with someone with such a disabling disease.

We see as each character goes through their lives centered at the institution and gain knowledge of the workings of what is seen as a very taboo type of hospital. We see each character deal with life and get a point of view of 3 different people with 3 completely different lives as they live at Redwood Mental Institution.

So...tell me what you think .

[Markio]

Well, one thing to consider is what you want to say with this story. If both patients recover, you could be suggesting that the system works, or that with hard work all patients can recover.
However, since Dr. McIntyre is miserable at the hospital, maybe he lacks effort or hope for his patients; maybe he doesn't care about his patients. If the two patients don't recover, maybe the doctor could symbolize the apathy or lack of concern by psychiatrists for patients. In this sense, those with mental disorders could be viewed as victims of an apathetic profession.
Or maybe one patient improves and the other does not. There's a lot of possibilities in terms of plot development, as far as I can tell from what you've described so far. I hope the characters do change, for the better. What if Dr. McIntyre isn't really a doctor, but is a patient with severe hallucinations that lead him to believe that he is a doctor? Gasp! That would be quite a twist, although chances are that would consume the plot or eclipse the importance of the other two characters.

I like it, though.

[Swamp56]

Originally Posted by Markio

Well, one thing to consider is what you want to say with this story. If both patients recover, you could be suggesting that the system works, or that with hard work all patients can recover.
However, since Dr. McIntyre is miserable at the hospital, maybe he lacks effort or hope for his patients; maybe he doesn't care about his patients. If the two patients don't recover, maybe the doctor could symbolize the apathy or lack of concern by psychiatrists for patients. In this sense, those with mental disorders could be viewed as victims of an apathetic profession.
Or maybe one patient improves and the other does not. There's a lot of possibilities in terms of plot development, as far as I can tell from what you've described so far. I hope the characters do change, for the better. What if Dr. McIntyre isn't really a doctor, but is a patient with severe hallucinations that lead him to believe that he is a doctor? Gasp! That would be quite a twist, although chances are that would consume the plot or eclipse the importance of the other two characters.

I like it, though.

Thanks. The thing about Dr. McIntyre is that he's an amazing psychiatrist, but is miserable in his own time. The only reason he might only be considered a "good" psychiatrist is because he gets upset when his patients' medicine doesn't or stops working.

Like in one chapter, he basically facepalms when one of his patients is still completely delusional and raises his meds to an inpatient dose of Seroquel (max outpatient dose is 800mg, but inpatient doses can be like 1200mg).

[DexterMorgan]

It sounds like a book I would read.

[boy0boy]

I like the possibilty those characters present. The plot can go any direction with a Dr. who is at mental decline due to boredom and unhappiness with his profession. OF COURSE the patients have a lot of rich background in that situation that can provide lots of material.

Sounds pretty cool to me!

On a seperate note, you seem to be familiar with these disorders - do you have any, I know you said its hard to write off your meds?

[Swamp56]

The doctors have only diagnosed me with "Depression, OCD, Anxiety" and told me I have "thought disorder".

I'm off my meds right now but I'm fine - my "psychotic behaviour and thinking" has gone away.

[boy0boy]

Well I'm sure you're own experience will add the the overall tone of the work.

[Swamp56]

Originally Posted by boy0boy

Well I'm sure you're own experience will add the the overall tone of the work.

Ya, if I don't end up going insane before I finish the book >___> . I've successfully come off my antipsychotics but I have no idea when I could have another relapse that could end me up in the hospital.