BASIC CONCEPTS

— When novelists claim they do not invent it, but hear voices and find stories in their head, they are neither joking nor crazy.

— When characters, narrators, or muses have minds of their own and occasionally take over, they are alternate personalities.

— Alternate personalities and memory gaps, but no significant distress or dysfunction, is a normal version of multiple personality.

— normal Multiple Personality Trait (MPT) (core of Multiple Identity Literary Theory), not clinical Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD)

— The normal version of multiple personality is an asset in fiction writing when some alternate personalities are storytellers.

— Multiple personality originates when imaginative children with normal brains have unassuaged trauma as victim or witness.

— Psychiatrists, whose standard mental status exam fails to ask about memory gaps, think they never see multiple personality.

— They need the clue of memory gaps, because alternate personalities don’t acknowledge their presence until their cover is blown.

— In novels, most multiple personality, per se, is unnoticed, unintentional, and reflects the author’s view of ordinary psychology.

— Multiple personality means one person who has more than one identity and memory bank, not psychosis or possession.

— Euphemisms for alternate personalities include parts, pseudonyms, alter egos, doubles, double consciousness, voice or voices.

— Multiple personality trait: 90% of fiction writers; possibly 30% of public.

— Each time you visit, search "name index" or "subject index," choose another name or subject, and search it.

— If you read only recent posts, you miss most of what this site has to offer.

— Share site with friends.

Friday, March 29, 2024

“What Happened To The Bennetts” by Lisa Scottoline: Hearing Voices Help Father and Young Son Cope with Murder of Sister


“Do you think she’s a ghost [asks young son]? 

“Well, I [Father] believe she’s always with us. Her soul is with us.

“I believe that, too. I talk to her, Dad. Is that weird?

“No, not at all. I talk to her, too, and I hear her voice…(1, p. 125).


“I [Father] sat at the laptop in the kitchen, on autopilot…I had been online for hours, scrolling mindlessly. The house was quiet. I felt raw, exhausted, and broken, alone with my thoughts.

“What can you do about it?” (1, p. 169).


Comment: Since ordinary thoughts do not hold conversations with the regular self or address the regular self in the third person—but alternate personalities may do so—the above suggests that a mild form of multiple personality is helping this father and son cope with a death in the family.


But since no character has been labeled as having multiple personality, the above may reflect the author’s multiple personality trait.


1. Lisa Scottoline. What Happened To The Bennetts. New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment (whether you agree or disagree) and ask questions (simple or expert). I appreciate your contribution.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)