Necessity of realistic incompetence?

Well, if you are using anime as the sole influence for writing a written work then it is probably not going to be good. There are things that work only in anime and there are things that work only in text. Writing a book and writing a TV show are entirely different things with different scopes and capabilities. If you are going to write, begin by reading. If you are going to make a film, begin by watching. (Of course you can let other mediums influence you, but you should at least have familiarity with what you are working with)

Well, my inspirations are manga/anime, some books, and largely movies, particularly war and action movies.

Still, gotta broaden the scope of inspirations, that's for sure.

Well, Bryan's fifteen because I write YA and I want a Coming of Age story—

Wait, this isn't about me, sorry.

But Bryan's about in the middle. He doesn't panic like an average teen his age would probably do (considering he doesn't consider himself average), he doesn't adapt and shoot up a to unrealistic heights in only a couple of months. I'm still trying to figure out how to make his 11th-Hour Superpower work but I'm close to a balance.

This isn't particularly about me either.

Actually completely losing your shit while under direct pressure is...relatively uncommon, honestly. (We are after all genetically predisposed against it and have been since before we were recognizably human.) The addition of just one other person greatly reduces the likelihood it will happen and being part of a group makes it exponentially less so. The human psyche is very good at resisting short heavy shocks.

Put another way: People don't break down during the fight. They break down after.

edited 16th Dec '11 7:38:54 AM by Night

Yes, Fight-or-Flight and all that. If in the wild we all broke down the first time we met a sabertooth tiger out hunting, then we'd be extinct.

Huh, this is new, but upon further consideration, makes sense.

One of the things that's not generally grasped about psychological maladies brought on by stress, particularly combat stress, is that more of the same can temporarily make them better. I've read dozens of accounts of people who came back from World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam where they'd be a wreck when action was far from them, and then themselves again if contact with the enemy seemed imminent.

Getting to that state, something is seriously wrong and a full breakdown is probably inevitable unless you pull them out, but it's one of those often-overlooked nuances of the subject.

It's called adrenaline, and PTSD isn't about being away from action.

If only that were true. It's far more than adrenaline; it's a psychological response as well, as thought processes simplify when faced with immediate threats to your life. Your brain is quite literally designed to respond to such things with greater speed by dismissing other concerns.

And at what point was it suggested PTSD was about being away from the action? All that was said is that being in action can reduce or eliminate the symptoms.

The thing about Fight-or-flight is that it literally bi-passes the frontal cortex and you act without any conscious control. All the adrenaline does is make your blood pump faster, fill you with energy and stop certain bodily functions so that you can do whatever you are going to do in the fastest, most efficient way your body possibly can, it doesn't create the response, the response itself triggers the hormone release.

edited 17th Dec '11 4:50:00 PM by NoirGrimoir

Don't go changing the topic to a person. Keep it civil. If a fight starts, don't keep at it. We needed a holler earlier here.

Putting this thread on hold to cool it down.