Im writing a story with a character with this and I want as much information and tips about how to write them as possible.
I know I need to do the research. Its what Ive been doing. I just want some tips on how to write them. Telling me to research is useless to me because I am already doing that. I am asking for tips not exactly how to do it.
Tate
Favorite Answer
Instead of insulting you, I’m gonna give actual writing tips lol.
There’s many different ways to go about showing anxiety. First idea: I’d suggest showing the character’s anxiety without saying they have anxiety. Ex: saying her palms were sticky with sweat instead of saying she was nervous. Don’t say what emotion the character’s feeling, show it.
Another strategy would be to give lots of internal dialogue. Many people with social anxiety have racing thoughts and concern over situations. These thoughts are italicized. To take it a step further, you could compare what the character is thinking of the situation to how a bystander is viewing it. A lot of the times, anxiety can result in weird or awkward behavior, or cause the person to view the situation out of its proportion. So, you could compare the internal fear and dread of the anxious person with the mundane reality of a situation that’s just “no big deal” to the average person. Hope this helps.
(Edit) Adding on top of the second strategy, a socially anxious character could be considered an “unreliable narrator”. This means that the reader’s view is warped because the narrator is heavily bias or unrealistic. Other examples of unreliable narrators would be schizophrenic people or other mentally ill people who see the world differently than the average person. This would have to make the anxiety more extreme and very character focused (completely inside the head of the narrator) but could make for a very interesting story.
stele
I used to be very socially anxious, so I can confirm the sweaty palms, wild thoughts, racing heart, etc. One thing that might inform the character's actions is avoidant behaviour - people with anxiety often avoid the situations that they believe will make them anxious. This could be anything from wearing headphones to deter strangers striking up conversation, to preferring self-checkouts over people at the till, to always being late to meet-ups to avoid being the first one there and having to wait alone.
Anxiety creates a loop of 1) fearing an event, 2) avoiding that event, and then 3) because the worry about the event is never disproven, 4) the brain keeps believing it to be true, and 5) keeps fearing it. It's a subconscious loop that the individual reinforces without realising in order to avoid feeling fearful, because it's often upsetting and exhausting. This might give you some insight into the character's thought process at times.
I believe there are videos on YouTube in the genre of 'A Day In The Life of an Anxious Person' if that might help with your research. Best of luck with your story, I'm sure it'll turn out wonderfully! :)
The Global Geezer
Lots of fretful internal thoughts and stream of consciousness. Lots of questioning, especially using the phrase “ -what if? “
Lots of over-analysing and over-thinking.
Lots of contemplating what to say before they say it.
Procrastination and prevaricating before doing.
Waking up with knot-in-the-stomach feelings.
Things giving them dopamine hits (ie click bait headlines)
Marli
Besides the research, think of what an anxious person or a shy person might think, feel or do in the situation you put them in.
Were you not anxious the first time you drove a car, or prepared for a surgical operation or wrote an important examination?
Were you shy the first day in a new school or a new job? What about meeting a person important to you? A crush? What about if you were overdressed or too casually dressed that you stood out like a bloody corpse at a bridal shower?
bluebellbkk
Nobody ever wrote a worthwhile book from "tips".
Go and do some solid reading. And then do what real writers do: use your IMAGINATION and empathy.