The Musician's Mind: Need Input on Character Interaction

The Musician's Mind is an interactive graphic novel about Alzheimer's.  The interactive part means that readers can influence the story and characters via blog comments and by “talking” with fictional characters via Facebook, Twitter, online forums, and perhaps some live events.

I’d like to develop and publish some guidelines for this interaction, keeping in mind the sensitivities and potential vulnerability of people with memory loss and their families.  For instance, is it ok to have the fictional characters comment on posts in online support forums?  Ask for advice?  Should they state they are fictional characters in every post?  Should I contact each group leader before posting? 

What are some ways the fictional characters can be supportive of online group members?  What do they need to be especially sensitive about?

Any other considerations?

Comments

[Richard Taylor]

Hello, I would always remind people these are fictional characters speaking and that you.I would also include a disclaimer and a reminder to all that everyone responds to dementia in their own unique way, and these are composits of various reactions you have read and this is not advice for anyone ,but it is an attempt to open others to thiinking about how others might response, and perhaps a way for someone be more empathic to someone else.

Keep one chof them in denial. Keep one person swallowing the myyths and creating the stigmas. Make everyone have the best of intentions. Make eachiof them somewhat defensive about criticism of thei perspectrive.beliefs. Make everyone lincreasingly self isolating. Add a couple of distanrelatives, add a couple of children - one a teen ager and one a 6 or 7 year old.

Have them make a couple of attempts to talk about this as a family, but always ends up with mos tof them feeling unacknowed, missunderstood, and slight more isolated - yes this is the Taylors!

[Mona Johnson]

Richard, thanks. I wonder if the reactions you describe have more to do with our society and how we view dementia and less to do with the personalities in your family...