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Ay, Gato, how are ya? Happy Halloween! TL;DR: I’m a Forensic MHC MS student specializing in juvenile sex offenders (with a penchant for the clinically fucked.) I’m always super hyped for your work – the psychopathology gets me going. When considering a character’s mentality, let’s say, Strade (keeping it easy), do you reference the DSM-5, WebMD, neither? Low-key, kinda want to take a crack at diagnosing everyone – only if you’re chill, though! Thanks! (Side Note: I should be studying.)

gatoanswers:

This is awkward to admit but I don’t reference anything when I write characters. I’ve never looked on the ‘deep web’ and I don’t like true crime stuff [ it gets under my skin ]. 

I just sort of search for a piece of myself that normally doesn’t make it past social filters [ intrusive thoughts, things like that ] and allow it to become the imaginary forefront of a new personality. It’s a bit like problem solving- I give myself parameters for wants, parameters for fears, and make decisions based on those things.

For Strade, I consider a mentality with a hyperfixation on sensation and the reactions of others. Everyday interactions become too boring and superficial. Then remove the fear/empathy required to stop someone from wanting to hurt others, and it becomes imperative to capture and restrain someone, take them somewhere private and introduce them to terror and pain, to see the extreme reactions I would crave. When someone becomes unresponsive, they have to be disposed of. If someone elicits especially loud, exciting, or unpredictable reactions, then I need to keep them around for as long as possible while still eliciting the reactions. 

Part of me feels ashamed that I can write this and see that all of these things are ‘me and my decisions’ but I have a real filter for my true self and I really do just consider this type of writing to be a form of ongoing problem solving.

how does Lawrence react to multiple types of intimacy naturally? hugs, kisses, hand touching, etc. feel free to not answer because its probably stupid that i analyze fictional characters habits for writing

gatoanswers:

His immediate initial reaction to those things for the first time from someone would be to jerk away and freak out a little, but he’d keep thinking about it after. If it kept happening he’d get fixated on it.

In many stories (Life is Strange, Charmed, etc.(, those that avoid death by some unnatural means become more prone to deadly situations as their life continues, almost as if the universe is trying to correct things. Would you say this is true of Lawrence too? And if so, is that part of why he’s so afraid of the world?

gatoanswers:

No, I would say the opposite. Lawrence isn’t afraid of death and dying [ once he realizes what’s going on, he poisons himself sometimes because he likes it ]

He’s afraid of the living. He’s afraid of vibrancy and interaction and judgement from people. He wants to feel alone, yet he does also feel desperately lonely. He wants to get away from the living world but sometimes he can’t help but grab onto something from it tightly, acting as if it was a mistake or there was no choice.

He fills his home with plants even though they tend to die quickly. He watches people and hides away while sometimes reaching out to grasp. He’s falling somewhere a human shouldn’t be, but he claws at what remains.