I've realized recently (thanks to the crossover stories I was working on) that out of my four major writing projects, child abuse is a prominent theme in two, and the character I created for that DA roleplay a few years back has the same background. I first became aware of the topic in late elementary/early middle school after reading some books that drew attention to it, and my concern about it has worked its way into my writing over the years.

Since I've been perusing psychology/personality studies again and looking at my writing with a more critical eye (particularly in the case of the “Eternal Rain” rewrite, where I am fleshing out more of the secondary characters' personalities), I just wanted to jot down some notes/thoughts about characterization for the four characters that deal with this circumstance.

(Trigger and spoiler warnings are in effect for the content that follows.)