How To Write An Alex Rider Fanfiction

Writing A Character With Trauma/PTSD

*No part of this is meant to be offensive to anyone, if I have written something that is not accurate please tell me. NICELY.*

Well...if you haven't figured it out by now, Alex Rider is not the sort of story without its case of bumps and shaky landings. Those bumps would be the trauma and PTSD Alex has. 

It's not confirmed if he actually does have these conditions, but the reader can assume. For example, Joe Bryne from the CIA remarks that Alex appeared to have "aged ten years" at the end of SCORPIA rising, and Alex tends to bite his nails from stress, a habit formed in Point Blanc. 

Many writers write Alex with trauma and PTSD. Only a few manage to get it right. I don't know why, but writing trauma and PTSD for me is easy. It's just...I can feel it. It's not really based on facts, more the feeling of writing Alex feeling unsafe and used. I would suggest you read a few stories with characters who suffer from trauma or PTSD, and then you'll get the hang of writing a character with a condition like that. I would also recommend reading firsthand accounts of people with PTSD, which will help you get a view of what a person with PTSD sees. 

To start you out, here is a first-hand account from P.K Phillips, someone with PTSD. Note: Parts have been censored out due to the convenience of younger readers. To see the full version, click at the link on the bottom of this chapter. 

It is a continuous challenge living with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and I've suffered from it for most of my life. I can look back now and gently laugh at all the people who thought I had a perfect life. I was young, beautiful, and talented, but unbeknownst to them, I was terrorized by an undiagnosed debilitating mental illness.Having been properly diagnosed with PTSD at age 35, I know that there is not one aspect of my life that has gone untouched by this mental illness. My PTSD was triggered by several traumas, including a childhood laced with physical, mental... as well as an attack at knifepoint that left me thinking I would die. I would never be the same after that attack. For me there was no safe place in the world, not even my home. I went to the police and filed a report.  After the attack, I couldn't close my eyes without envisioning the face of my attacker. I suffered horrific flashbacks and nightmares. For four years after the attack, I was unable to sleep alone in my house. I obsessively checked windows, doors, and locks. By age 17, I'd suffered my first panic attack. Soon I became unable to leave my apartment for weeks at a time, ending my modelling career abruptly. This just became a way of life. Years passed when I had few or no symptoms at all, and I led what I thought was a fairly normal life, just thinking I had a "panic problem."Then another traumatic event re-triggered the PTSD. It was as if the past had evaporated, and I was back in the place of my attack, only now I had uncontrollable thoughts of someone entering my house and harming my daughter. I saw violent images every time I closed my eyes. I lost all ability to concentrate or even complete simple tasks. Normally social, I stopped trying to make friends or get involved in my community. I often felt disoriented, forgetting where, or who, I was. I would panic on the freeway and became unable to drive, again ending a career. I felt as if I had completely lost my mind. For a time, I managed to keep it together on the outside, but then I became unable to leave my house again.Around this time I was diagnosed with PTSD. I cannot express to you the enormous relief I felt when I discovered my condition was real and treatable. I felt safe for the first time in 32 years. Taking medication and undergoing behavioural therapy marked the turning point in the regaining control of my life. I'm rebuilding a satisfying career as an artist, and I am enjoying my life. The world is new to me and not limited by the restrictive vision of anxiety. It amazes me to think back to what my life was like only a year ago, and just how far I've come.For me, there is no cure, no final healing. But there are things I can do to ensure that I never have to suffer as I did before being diagnosed with PTSD. I'm no longer at the mercy of my disorder and I would not be here today had I not had the proper diagnosis and treatment. The most important thing to know is that it's never too late to seek help.