M. Molly Backes is the author of the young adult novel The Princesses of Iowa (Candlewick Press, 2012). She writes the “Writing Tips” column for The Prairie Wind (the newsletter of the Illinois Chapter of SCBWI), and has performed her personal essays at reading series across Chicago including Essay Fiesta, Funny Ha-Ha, Sunday Salon, and Is This a Thing? She works as an editor by day and writer by night and spends her free time hanging out with her retired racing greyhound, Zia.
Writing about characters with mental illness can be challenging in various ways. How do you accurately convey a character’s state of mind, without compromising on clarity or excitement? How do you show a character’s skewed perceptions of the world?