A little OCD and Anxiety Never Hurt a Character

So if you've never experienced OCD you've probably seen it on TV. It's not always as simple as washing your hands 20 times an hour or turning off light switches. It's an internal paranoia that something needs to be done. For me it's that the oven is off. The funny thing is that I rarely cook, so I check the dials all the time, even though I never had it on to begin with.

For those who know me pretty well, they are aware of my anxiety issues. We call them issues because it puts them in a pretty box that people can put on a shelf and say "not mine problem." I think a lot of people look down as me as being weak because I have issues. I'll admit I have panic attacks in the middle of a grocery store. Not a pleasant experience by the way. I usually need someone to talk me out of it, even though there is no reason for the attack, my head believes otherwise.

The other part of having an OCD and Anxiety disorder is paranoia. Now I wish I could say it was a paranormal issue I had to deal with everyday. That would be kind of fun. The paranonoia not so much. In public places I always think people are looking at me, judging me, whispering about me. And while I'm sure there is a little of that, it's probably not near the level my subconsciousness claims it is.

Of course having these issues means it's hard to be in public, because that's all the more condemning eyes. As I've gotten older it's gotten harder to control, and yes I'm on medication for it. I can go to the grocery store most days and not have any issues. Sometimes it just builds up though.

That's the worst.

You'll get through a couple of really great weeks, things are good, and then the weekend comes. I don't want to go anywhere be around anyone. I need that time to recharge my strength. Because I know come Monday I'm stuck in a room with a bunch of people I barely know, making calls to people I'll never meet.

I think these things translate to how we write as well. I know some very out going people who write very outgoing characters, where the problems are few and often external. I also know some very internal people who write about characters with more emotional troubles. This is also the direction that I go, simply because it's a "write what I know" deal.

Recently, I finished writing about a book about one of my side characters, Kelly. I found him terribly hard perspective-wise to write from, as he is a very outgoing guy. The book also features Jamie, Kelly's love interest, but Jamie is more reserved and more internal. So who do I relate to better you think?

The idea of course of writing what you know is really about writing what you can discover, rather than what you were born to know. Just cause you're a white female in her thirties doesn't mean you can't write about an Asian-American male in his twenties. Seiran, from Inheritance and Reclamation, and I relate well. Would we get along? Probably not. He's too needy for me. And i'm too dominate for him.

That is the fun of discovering the ins and outs of the character. He has anxiety and OCD, and though different from mine, I think it comes out well in his character. I can be outspoken at times and dominate, and that's where Kelly comes from. So what do you use to bring the internal to your writing?