Writing Suicidal Characters

[Todd186]

I've had a story that I've been writing for two years now and at the beginning he's suicidal. But he always has a sense of humor. One of my friends (who claims to be in love with him) says that's one of things she likes. Seeing the funny side of things when, for lack of a better phrase, the s**t hits the fan.

So how would do you, or would you, write a suicidal character? With a sense of humor, or depressed constantly?  

[ecopper12]

Write him with a sense of humor.

If you go with always depressed, you're writing your character into a cliche right then and there.

Try to branch him out from other characters of his type.  

[Todd186]

ecopper12

Write him with a sense of humor.

If you go with always depressed, you're writing your character into a cliche right then and there.

Try to branch him out from other characters of his type.

I thought that too. I try not write him with too much humor though. There's a point when you should stop joking about shoving a needle into your arm.  

[velvetsophisticate]

I like to find a happy medium, usually.

 

[pythonesque]

✫✫✫
Each character is going to be different.
I like the sense of humor, though. I would see it as being dark and dry.
✫✫✫  

[The Silver Sundae]

I tend to make my suicidal characters witty and place some sort of addiction in them. Not drug addiction or anything of the like. Something more fun...like an obsession with not stepping on the lines on the sidewalk. Their sense of humor are usually in between sarcastic and dark. I don't do the characters that are always depressed. It's boring in my opinion.  

[VenusRain]

Well, besides the fact that clinical depression isn't always "baaaawwww i r so sad ;_;" (my experiences with it have mostly been lack of interest in life, really), I know that some people are incredibly good at masking their suicidal thoughts.

Also, Sundae? Obsession is not the same as addiction, and I wish you wouldn't downplay obsessive thoughts so much. They are a lot more destructive than you probably realize.  

[Glaciofluvial]

In my experience there are all sorts of people who experience suicidal thoughts. There is no one 'type' of person and it's not just people with major depression who commit suicide or have suicidal thoughts so I think you're definitely okay (and probably more accurate) making your character have a sense of humor.

The range of intensity of the suicidal thoughts also varies from people who think 'I just want it to stop' without really thinking about the underlying meaning to the people who plan it out and attempt it. I'm not sure where your character falls on this spectrum but it's something to think about.

Also, the one thing that the people I've known have had in common has been that the pain of what they were experiencing was too much for their resources/coping mechanisms to handle during that period of time. In order to stay alive they either had to reduce the pain they were experiencing somehow and/or they had to come up with better coping mechanisms. Not sure how that will affect your story but it may be a good idea to outline what the root reasons for your character's pain are (assuming that's why he's suicidal) and to look at different ways your character may cope with the pain (drawing, playing an instrument, poetry, exercise, meditation, yoga, singing, and the list goes on). I do admit that there may be other reasons that people become suicidal but having done quite a bit of research on suicide and having a lot of personal experience with it I know that the pain/lack of coping mechanisms reason is a legitimate one.

@Sundae: Historically there are quite a few people who are thought to have had major depression or other disorders with affective aspects that have led extremely interesting and influential lives. It's not the disorder that makes the character boring. It's the lack of ability of the writer.