Healing vs Imagination

Structure

Exposition

The story mostly opens with Crys talking to these fairies and pixies and gnomes (the actual type of fairies I haven't decided yet, still researching), these friends of hers that exist in this entire world she's created. She has specific friends that are closest to her and others who she barely knows, an entire circle of friends and characters that for her are completely real. In reality, this is a trauma response called maladaptive daydreaming, only to an extreme level.

Conflict

Her mother wants her to go to therapy, claiming having "imaginary friends" at this age is unhealthy and that she needs to heal from the past trauma that has caused this response. Crys, who wants to prove to her mother that she's perfectly fine and that these friends of hers are real, agrees to go to therapy but refuses to believe anything will come of it and resists the therapy, along with her friends.

Rising Action

As Crys continues to go to therapy, her friends start to flicker and waver, challenging the world she's built for herself and the friends she's made. Her "friends" start to see the therapist as an enemy, actively sabotaging Crys' visits. This starts to scare her, she can't afford to lose the only friends she's ever had, and tells her mom she no longer wants to go to therapy. Her mother reluctantly agrees.

Climax

Unfortunately, with the therapist gone and her friends louder than ever, her symptoms of trauma began to come back in full force: night terrors, panic attacks, etc. (need to research if this is actually believable after a withdrawal from therapy)

Crys begins to realize that perhaps the only way to truly be free of the trauma that haunts her is to let go of the friends she's clung to.

Falling Action

As her imaginary world starts to crumble around her, she's forced to say goodbye to the things that have kept her going so she can finally move on.

Her closest friend begins to fade, the most difficult for her to let go of, she has to tell herself that while she'll miss them, she will survive without them.

Resolution

2 years later, Crys still visits her therapist once a month just to ensure that she's still doing ok. She writes stories about the friends she used to have and sometimes she still dreams of them, but for the most part, she's let go of her past that haunts her. She's made new, real friends, and she's turning 18 soon.

Components

Goals

To resolve her trauma and try to be healthier mentally, but also to keep her friends. She wants to fit in with the world but also be understood. She wants to make her mother happy again, and keep her smiling.

Hooks

The initial hook is realizing with her therapist that there is progress to be made. After she quits therapy, the symptoms getting worse are enough to prompt her to go back

Stakes

If Crys can't move forward with her trauma, there's a good chance she ends up in a psych ward or killed based off the whims of the fairies in her head

Moral Quandaries

Crys has to decide whether the safety and security of the world she's built is worth sacrificing to get better

Cruel Tricks

Her friends trick her into thinking that therapy is hurting her, only for her to discover her symptoms worsen after she quits

Red Herrings

TBD

Relations

Protagonists

Crystal Rose Lee, aka Crys

Aisling