writer-ace:

I don’t know if some people just experience panic attacks way different from the way I do, but a lot of writers seem to write panic attacks as thought they read a list of symptoms and just picked some to go with. Here are things for writing panic attacks:

• I always, always notice when a panic attack is starting. The panic is usually a pretty good indicator of it. Why do all of your charaters end up mid-panic attack before they notice the panic attack is happening?
• Panic attacks should include at least 80% more thinking than they’re usually written as including. The thoughts can/should be disjointed, incoherent, and repetitive. The reader should feel like the character is panicking instead of having to be told that they’re panicking.
• Panic attack symptoms don’t abruptly disappear when the main panic attack stops. A person isn’t automatically fine 30 seconds after finishing having a panic attack.
• There are varying degrees of panic attacks.
• Go with symptoms beyond “can’t breathe and feeling like I’m going to die”.
• Please.
• Look up some other symptoms. Include the shittier ones like irritability, screaming at people, etc.
• It’s hard to be coherent during a severe panic attack. A bizarre number of characters will stand there going “I can’t breathe” as though they’re vaguely having an allergic reaction. Give me characters apologizing four hundred times in a row. Give me characters who can’t complete a sentence. Give me characters who can’t say anything.
• If you have to tell the reader the character is panicking, it’s not a well-written panic attack.
• Bystanders almost never react as well in real life as they do in stories.
• A lot of people (me included) don’t like to be touched during panic attacks. Every character in stories seems to react well to a hug. Give me characters frantically shoving someone away. Give me characters who can’t manage to tell the other person to get off of them because they can’t get the words out.
• The experience of having a panic attack can be exceedingly embarrassing. People will do a lot to hide them.
• Stop pretending friendship is the cure for panic attacks. It can certainly help, and having people who are there for you is exceedingly important, but a friend/lover existing doesn’t make a panic attack magically go away.