Young Writers Society

So. My idea is there's a girl, and she develops the ability to read minds when she makes eye contact. At first she thinks it cool, makes life easier etc. but she gets into situations with the ability. She loses her friends, believes people are thinking bad things about her but whenever she confronts anyone they tell her they're not thinking that. At the end SPOILER it's a mental disorder and she just convinced herself that people were thinking all these things and whenever she was right about what they were thinking it was just a good guess or she knew it from how they were acting. yeah.

So does this have potential? Have any of you heard of something really similar? also I'm not really sure what to have the doctors at the end say what she has, would that be paranoid schizophrenia? Thanks for any replies.

All ideas have potential. It's simply how you execute them.

With this particular idea I have these comments:

First off, figure out why she wouldn't have gotten diagnosed earlier. It can be as simple as not telling anybody about the voices she's hearing (a key criteria of schizophrenia), or people not thinking it's that bad.

Frequently, people start getting diagnosis when their lives begin falling apart. Now you can have certain fears of therapists that can make you actively avoid this and attempt to have/actually have good periods in the disorder. I don't know if this is possible with schizophrenia. That'd be up to you to research.

Second, be very, very careful in how you show mental disorders. There are, after all, people who live with various mental illnesses every day and how they are perceived is, in part, built up by the media. This includes fiction. Do lots and lots of research as to how the illness would progress before and after medication. Seeing as medication can help symptoms, but it takes awhile to dial in on the right one.

Thirdly, write it. If this idea has captured your attention, then by all means, let your attention be captured. Put everything you have into writing and researching the project (if she is, well, paranoid, then yes she would likely have paranoid schizophrenia). Plot out everything including her parents, seeing as they would play a big role in getting her diagnosed. Get it out on paper, if only to feel the satisfaction of finishing something.

Good luck.

Thanks, I better start writing then!