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Okay, so I really just need someone with bipolar maybe what they feel when they have an episode? I have no idea what I'm doing and I just want to be respectful to those with it and also try and make it as accurate as possible

I want to write a marauders-era fanfiction where James Potter has bipolar because I told some people on TikTok I would try it.

If anyone could tell me or maybe point me in the right direction that would be amazing and id be so grateful!

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  • It would be helpful if the downvoters would explain their downvotes.
    – Ben
    Commented Feb 13 at 15:17

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Whenever you want to write about something that you aren't familiar with, you need to do research.

You can do research on bipolar disorder in several ways:

  • find one or more people with bipolar disorder and talk to them (e.g. in online forums for people with bipolar disorder, self-help groups, or in a psychiatric ward)
  • read accounts by people with bipolar disorder (e.g. blog posts, social media posts, books etc.)
  • talk to experts (e.g. psychotherapists)
  • read scholarly books on bipolar disorder (e.g. textbooks for psychology students or treatment manuals)
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Adding a character or adding traits to a character that don’t fit into your plot makes writing a good story more difficult.

The traits of your character are important elements in making the story come to life. If the traits are superficial or treated facilely then the they’ll standout as superficial.

Research is always the best place to start. Its important that those traits either impact the plot or serve to showcase the character’s inner struggle or reflect some element of their personality. It doesn’t matter if that trait is that they are married, blonde, redhead, or suffers from mental illness.

The plot can revolve around the trait, but that isn’t all a necessity. I think it depends on the intensity of the trait. For instance, if a character suffered from untreated paranoia, or pronoia for that matter, it should impact the plot since its a very severe condition. Imagine a romance involving a paranoiac that was never complicated by the character’s traits. I wouldn’t think it would feel genuine.

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  • Agreed - the late Sir Terry Pratchett never served in the military, but veterans reading Monstrous Regiment frequently respond saying, "Yes, that's exactly how it is" because he researched his subject thoroughly. Some other military books/TV scripts are far less convincing because the authors clearly do not know their subject.
    – KerrAvon2055
    Commented Feb 15 at 0:45

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