I Need Advice on Creating a Mental World

[RedHunter2296]

Hello everyone.

I am currently creating a reflexive chapter for my novel.

In it my protagonist has been seriously injured and is in the hospital, because of weird magic, science fiction and all that stuff, he can't recover until several sentimental problems that he has inside him are solved.

Because of this, his family and several girls from his harem, again more magic and weird things, must "enter his mind" and talk to him to see what is bothering him and what he does not want to show to others. A theme similar to something like the dungeons in Persona 4.

The central theme is that the "protagonsite was taught by his parents that men do not cry under any circumstances". The problem is that he has seen some good shit, he was physically abused as a child, he saw people he loved die, blah blah blah

What I need is ideas on how to create that "mental world" where others see that the protagonist kept quiet about a lot of things so as not to bother others and it is those things that are taking their toll on him to recover or some ways to project that.

Or I am looking forward to hearing how you will try to realize a similar idea.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[KrakenRiderEmma]

Easy route: it resembles a prison
Medium route: it resembles an island of caves guarded by rock golems
Hard route: it resembles an amusement park

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Easy route: it resembles a prison
Medium route: it resembles an island of caves guarded by rock golems
Hard route: it resembles an amusement park

You can also make it resemble a library, and every time a book is opened by one of the characters they are transported to the scene. Alternatively, you could have a mansion where every door opens up to his insecurities/memories.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Like previous comment said, make it look like an amusement park, or disneyland, where every time one of the characters wander off course to 'see behind the curtain', the "mascots" distract them and take them back to the preestablished course for 'visitors', stating that only the staff can enter the premises.
They are shown bright and beautiful displays of what the protagonist wants others to see, like fireworks, statues, a museum full of good memories, etc... but there is always a locked door in every display or something similar, since not everything can possibly be 100% positive for the mind.
The mascots are his coping mechanisms and could have different personalities born from different sides of the protagonist's psyche, like a knight in shining armor, a funny sorcerer from the shadow wizard money gang that casts testicular torsion, a meek and small animal, a fluffy and gentle one, you get the idea.
The visitors would have to beat the mascots, meaning overpower the surface the protagonist wants to show, and then go into the locked rooms with a key they get from another mascot who kinda wants them to see since deep inside we all want to be accepted with flaws and all.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Armor, like steel plating, stone brick castle walls, fortified beams and supports, and metal or wooden shutters and boards. This represents the desire to protect oneself from harm- a tangible metaphor for hardening your heart. You can create walls, fortify 'weak' parts of the structure, barricade halls, doors and windows to prevent entry or exit, and add scarred or hastily repaired plating to show the ongoing struggle.

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Living defenses, like friends, family, pets, or plants.

For plants, I suggest thorny vines that dig into the mind palace as much as they do into intruders- a constant reminder that weakness is intolerable and inevitable.
For the rest, they might be warped to reflect how they are perceived.
An abusive figure may be a towering monster, completely undefeatable by both intruders and host.
Lost loved ones may fling out criticisms or beg for help.
A loyal protector may be stronger or more glorious than their real world self- perhaps even offering to help intruders if the host recognizes them as friends, unlike the other defenses.

---

For locations, I suggest working your way inward to places that are more familiar.

The outermost layer might be a generic forest, cave or mall where the host can misdirect and divert intruders. These are things the host doesn't care about, so is less willing to defend and more willing to sacrifice.

The next layer might be a workplace or somewhere else they spend a lot of time without being too attached. They should defend it more fiercely, but be willing to sacrifice it without hesitation.

After that you can have a few more layers, depending on how guarded you want the host to be. The innermost layer should be the most precious place and things the host clings to. It might be a surprise, or it might be obvious. Always meaningful though.
A childhood home, a lover's bedroom, a corner of an arcade shop. It should be small, and filled with physical 'memories'. These mementos might also exist or have existed in the real world, but here they're effectively magic items that invoke nostalgia, emotions, visions and such in anyone who sees and especially touches them.

---

Of course, most of this goes out the window if your host actually has a real mind palace. Then it can look like whatever they want it to. Expect it to be both deadlier and more potent.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Easiest route, aka the flashback route: Make others see the stuff that happened to MC while he narrates it, his problems, and his doubts. This can also happen in a place that is very important to the MC. It's nothing epic like fighting the personification of his problems in a boss battle, but it allows for other characters to understand MC deeper while he has his character arc moments. Happens often enough in shows and video games, just emulate that.

 

[Succubiome]

Offhand: mental place is constructed from lots of masculine-coded stone and feminine-coded flowing water, and the protagonist is somehow more stone-aligned than they usually would be-- rocky skin, gem in forehead, rock armor, whatever.

 

[NotOriginal]

Why not make the place like his childhood home or something like that? That is where all his mental problem stem from and where his harem will go through, like seeing a picture frame of a event and the world falls away as that even begins to take place. Maybe the home is elongated inside so their is just a hallway of doors where they open one and a memory is playing. Maybe the child version of the MC is there to help guide his harem.

 

[HelloHound]

I think it ought to be a generic office being full of various memories that you gotta rewatch, review and process the trauma into memos of memory and the zone is just referred to as "therapy "
A:Hey i heard that J had been in an accident, is everything alright with them?
B: Yea, aside from some scrapes but apparently they had to go to therapy
A: Hopefully they feel better afterwards; I remember my old man coming out of his therapy with a dry mouth and a list of people he went to apologize to. A lot more tolerable these days

 

[NotaNuffian]

Err. Why not do a retro BS and be in a cyberspace-esque stream?

Like the "intruders" first find themselves crashed into an ocean of surface thoughts like that scene in Interstellar. The further they swim down the "water" thickens, with random geometrics as "white blood cells" to prevent the "intruders" from going any further. These "white blood cells" cannot be killed and will get stronger the deeper the "intruders" go.

For specific traumas and memories, they can be vortexes, sucking these "intruders" into them and sending them into the thoughts as ghosts.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Meditate on it as you are falling asleep, and hopefully it will take shape in your dreams.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

An island of rock amidst a tumultuous stormy sea.

When at peace the water will flow out from the rock like a serene fountain and waterfall.

 

[sanitylimited]

in the game 007 golden eye the first mission is dam. now the water can represent the held back tears. the soldiers can represent the protagonist not wanting his dam to be changed and his harem can build a floodgate alowing an apropriate amount of tears to come out without completly destroying the imfrostructure of his mind.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Hello everyone.

I am currently creating a reflexive chapter for my novel.

In it my protagonist has been seriously injured and is in the hospital, because of weird magic, science fiction and all that stuff, he can't recover until several sentimental problems that he has inside him are solved.

Because of this, his family and several girls from his harem, again more magic and weird things, must "enter his mind" and talk to him to see what is bothering him and what he does not want to show to others. A theme similar to something like the dungeons in Persona 4.

The central theme is that the "protagonsite was taught by his parents that men do not cry under any circumstances". The problem is that he has seen some good shit, he was physically abused as a child, he saw people he loved die, blah blah blah

What I need is ideas on how to create that "mental world" where others see that the protagonist kept quiet about a lot of things so as not to bother others and it is those things that are taking their toll on him to recover or some ways to project that.

Or I am looking forward to hearing how you will try to realize a similar idea.

Thank you all in advance.

I would fill the world with demented, eldritch monsters. The surroundings, every last detail, would reflect the emotions/traumas. So isolation and repression would be key. High gravity, crushing obstacles (like those car-smushers or the vices in garbage trucks, or the machine used for Junko Enoshima's death), smiling masks, etc. A common characteristic would probably be creatures with metal masks that claw at their faces, trying to make themselves cry by at least drawing blood, but all they can do is make a ruckus of clanging noises.
Although... I don't know what traumas he has had. Those would effect the scenery and creatures.
Anyway, just based off of what we have, other potential things for isolation and repression of emotion is a hostile maze trying to separate others (overdone, but if you focus on a cool mechanism for that and terror of your surroundings shifting, you could pull it off).