This week: The Body and the Mind Edited by: kittee
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What's the most realistic depiction of physical or mental struggles you have seen or read in an Action/Adventure piece?
How do you address mental and physical challenges in your Action/Adventure Stories?
This week's Action/Adventure Newsletter is all about the mind, and the body, and the balance we must find as writers.
kittee |
People often separate the body and the mind. Mental health is often treated differently to physical health, and in many countries still, mental health problems are not taken as seriously as physical ailments. Tell people you’ve broken your leg and they’ll be sympathetic and accept that you are not about to run a marathon. Tell people you’re struggling with anxiety or depression and many of them still think you should just cheer up and get over it.
The debate on mind/body duality goes a long way back. It ventures into the territory of the soul – the existence of something not quite connected to the body. Are we just made of organic matter, or is there something that can detach when the rest passes, and perhaps move on to another realm of existence? Are our thoughts a part of our brain function, and what does this mean for this ‘I’, this ‘me’? Do I have free will or are my thoughts fully shaped by my biological processes? For example, I am autistic, which means that my brain functions differently than most. This does affect the way that I experience and respond to the world, but does it go beyond that? Does it help or hinder my free will? How much does it affect me on a deeper level, as a person? How different would I be, if I were a neurotypical person? That is something that I’ll never know.
In fiction, physical health tends to be taken more seriously than mental health. Not always, but often. Not that action stories are the best at depicting physical health – it is not unusual for the hero to carry on with injuries that would incapacitate a real person. Mental health, however, tends to be overlooked completely, unless it’s useful for the story that somebody snaps. Trauma is often treated as non-existent.
Take Harry Potter, for example. The boy has been abused by his aunt and uncle and bullied by his cousin. He gets whisked away to a magical school where he is bullied by some of the other students. At age 11 he faces his parents’ murderer. The next year he has to face a giant basilisk and yet again face his parents’ murderer. In his third year he believes he is being hunted by a mass-murderer, has to avoid being attacked by a werewolf and nearly has his soul sucked from his body. And so it goes on. Harry does spend some time being angry, he does have some struggles, but where his physical injuries are treated, nobody thinks to send the poor boy to some sort of therapy, beyond giving him something to have a night of dreamless sleep. They are books for younger readers, of course, but perhaps that makes it all the more important to stress that it’s okay to not be okay, and to seek professional help when you need it.
Not being okay, mentally, is too often seen as a weakness. It is not. If someone’s thyroid does not function as well as before, we do not consider the person weak. Why would it be different for the brain? We treat a person’s thyroid. It’s considered normal, and necessary. Yet when something goes wrong with the brain, there’s a judgment attached to it. Indeed, in some cases when it’s expected that something’s different with someone’s brain they are being questioned why they even want to find out. It is a question faced by many neurodiverse people. Why would you want to know if you’re autistic, or dyspraxic, or have ADHD? Why would you want that label? It’s always baffled me. Nobody questioned me when I wanted to see if my thyroid was working properly. Why wouldn’t I want – and need – to know what was going on with my brain? Even if there’s no direct treatment for autism, at least I knew, and knowing helped me to understand, and adapt as well as I could.
Unfortunately, the way that neurodiversity is depicted in fiction leaves much to be desired. According to fiction autistic people are either a genius, or incredibly rude, or have constant meltdowns. That’s not the reality I know. I, for example, am not a genius, I’d like to think I am pretty polite, and I am not prone to meltdowns. Some autistic people I know do have the occasional meltdown, when they are completely overburdened, but then anyone can break down when under too much pressure.
The heroes and heroines of action and adventure stories often suffer great physical and mental challenges. How do you address these? Is there a difference between how you tackle the physical and mental impact on your characters? Do you tend to give one more weight over the other?
There are ways to do it right. In the DragonLance novels, Raistlin Majere lives with both physical and mental consequences of his test to become a mage. His behaviour has an impact on his brother, who often looks after him. The Twins trilogy is an excellent exploration of love in its different forms, as well as the mental impact of poor health, loss, and a wish for power.
I confess, I sometimes struggle to find that balance myself. It’s easy to think of our characters as stronger than us, both mentally and physically. It’s also natural to want to keep the plot going and to not wish to distract the reader too much with an exploration of physical and mental reality. That doesn’t mean that it should remain completely untouched, however. And there can still be a happy ending if you want it!
We live and we learn, as people and as writers. If you have any tips, please feel free to share them!
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
kittee
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Action/Adventure: February 25, 2026 Issue [#13613]
