3 Tips for Writing Characters Who Have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
In my debut novel, The Lotus Flower Champion, co-authored with my mom, New York Times bestselling author Pintip Dunn, our main character, Alaia, suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which parallels my own experiences.
(Dyslexia Is a Writer’s Superpower.)
This disorder, while glorified by the media as someone who is overly “neat” or “organized,” is a diagnosed mental health condition. It has real sufferers who wake up every morning and battle their own mind just to put their toes on the ground. According to Golden Steps ABA, this disorder is “characterized by recurring, unwanted thoughts, and repetitive behavior or rituals that individuals feel compelled to perform.” They go on to state that OCD affects approximately one percent of the global population, or 70 million people.
Seventy million people—that’s a whole lot of sufferers! And yet, throughout my life, I have heard this condition used as a casual adjective, such as in the following phrases:
“I was being so OCD over my test today!”
“I washed my hands three times—so OCD.”
“You know me and my OCD: I lined up all of my pencils in class.”
But OCD is so much more than an annoying habit towards orderliness, and for real sufferers, it can be extremely offensive to hear it flung around in ordinary conversations when every day is a fight to even exist in a normal world.
Therefore, if you are interested in writing characters who have OCD, I’d love to share my top three tips.
1. Do Your Research on OCD
I would strongly advise that you have intimate knowledge of this disorder or that you consult with someone who does. Make sure you do your research and have people who actually have this disorder read your work in order to give you their opinion on if your character’s experience rings true.
This tip cannot be emphasized enough. My mother Pintip does not have OCD, but she’s been by my side every step of the way as I’ve battled and learned how to subdue my compulsions. Still, even with this up-close-and-personal knowledge, she once drafted a scene where Alaia, who has contamination OCD, laid down on the sand. The sand! I had to tell my mother that this would never happen in a million, billion years, and we quickly fixed the scene.
2. Avoid Having OCD Overtake the Story
Make sure that the story isn’t overtaken with this condition (unless that is the main point of your novel). Just like any sufferer of any ailment, you are not defined by the things that afflict you. Therefore, your character shouldn’t be, either.
While OCD might be a large part of your character’s life and should be featured, it should not overtake their personality. In other words, your character should have other attributes, as well. I, as a person, would like to think I am kind and creative. I love to dance, I adore my dog, and I take great pride in beating my mom in writing sprints. While I have the condition OCD, I am not OCD. This disorder is just something that I have to deal with.
Your characters should exemplify other traits, and OCD should just be something that lurks in the background—and around the corner—and with the tendency to pop up at the most inopportune moments.
3. Remember That OCD Is Not a “Quirk”
My final tip for writing characters with OCD (which might seem contrary to what I just stated) is that this mental condition is not a “quirk” that you can add into a story after your character is already written. For people with this disorder, OCD encompasses every waking moment of your life (even when you have many other attributes). Every step you take, every breath your lungs produce, every beat your heart pumps, OCD is involved in all of it.
In order to authentically portray a character with OCD, you need to showcase this struggle. It must inform every decision that your character makes, every interaction they have, every little thing they see or say or feel. And that is nearly impossible to do after you’ve already written a story. So, please, don’t follow any well-meaning advice to “add personality” to your characters by giving them OCD.
Unless your character was already conceived that way, it is unlikely that you will convey an accurate portrayal. In my opinion, the biggest, most common mistake that people make in writing or portraying OCD characters is how much time and power OCD has over a person’s life, whether that’s too much or too little.
OCD is always here, like a friend (or an enemy) looking over my shoulder. When written correctly, I believe it can be very impactful for those who have this disorder, as they may feel understood by the writer. As with all things it’s always nice to know that we’re not alone. That is one of the main reasons my mom and I wrote The Lotus Flower Champion. I hope that you will find my tips helpful in writing characters who have OCD!
Check out The Lotus Flower Champion, by Pitnip Dunn and Love Dunn, here:
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