Writing Hallucinations?

In one of my stories, the protagonist is, simply put, going insane (he's a member if a Witch Species who run the risk of insanity if using their powers without proper training.)

Anyway he's aware that he's losing it and has managed to keep himself mostly sane through force of will. However he does "crash" eventually and that's what I want to depict.

This break with reality is accompanied by severe hallucinations, mostly of the room where his girlfriend was murdered. The ideas seems fine, but I wondered how to handle writing a hallucination? Should he be aware he's seeing things?

edited 19th Jan '16 11:13:09 AM by Swordofknowledge

People who hallucinate will sometimes be aware they are seeing things. Basically in the sense of "I know this feels real now but I know it can't be so I'm just going to grit my teeth until it is over"

Given the nature of how the hallucination takes place and the fact that he's aware of it, I'd probably have him take in his surroundings, having him notice that things are strangely familiar, then all of a sudden have an Oh, Crap! moment when he realizes which room he's seeing. Then maybe have him fiddle around with memory and his thoughts for a while and wonder if this is real or not, and realize that he probably did lose control.

But yeah, hallucinations come in many types. This rational approach probably makes the most sense if the hallucination is brought about by an external force or magic spell, which this seems to be. In that case I'd treat it like any old lucid dream. However, if the person is hallucinating because of the effects of a drug, they may take a more jaded approach, or even not be aware that what they're seeing isn't real. There might be some odd sensory distortions as well - seeing colours more vibrantly, paying close attention to the way one's skin feels, etc.

just like a lucid dream, where you know you are dreaming, you could allow the character to know he is hallucinating. However, since you said that this is the character's breaking point it would also make sense for him to give into his hallucination, since a broken person would let his emotion or instinct lead him, not being their usual rational self.

Here's a little idea: you could have him try to continually resist the hallucination of the room in the beginning, even trying to ignore it. but as the hallucinations continually attack his senses (like his girlfriend talking to him,voices taunting him, dark visuals, etc.), he would have no choice but to give in and respond making him break down as a result.

hope this helps.

The Wheel of Time series has a lot of events take place in a dream world while the characters are asleep. They have the character notice things that indicate it's not real.

For example, one character dreams that he's in his favorite tavern back home, but the details keep changing. One moment, the tables are round, then they're square, then they're oblong with benches instead of chairs. The fireplace changes from fieldstone, to brick, to rounded river rocks mortared together, etc.