{"id":27,"date":"2026-02-09T19:45:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T00:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/front-matter\/creative-process\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T20:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:08:39","slug":"creative-process","status":"publish","type":"front-matter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/front-matter\/creative-process\/","title":{"raw":"Creative Process","rendered":"Creative Process"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\nWe decided to develop composite characters for the storybooks that were based on the participants in our original research on living well with dementia but also showcased the diversity of their experiences and priorities. It was essential that the stories felt authentic with respect to the characters' feelings and motivations, to ensure readers would relate to them, understand why they did what they did, and felt what they felt. So, basing them loosely on real people and their real experiences was important.\r\n\r\nOur creative process moved through several phases as we compared key aspects of participants\u2019 journeys: who they lived with, hobbies, what they valued most, what they feared, strategies for overcoming struggles associated with dementia, and their thoughts on end of life. From there we built out three main characters who had different family structures, socio-economic, and socio-geographical circumstances, as well as diverse racial and gender identities.\r\n\r\nThen we put them in story arcs that culminated in three different end-of-life avenues. The idea was to illustrate how different people envision their ideal end-of-life scenario, how that idea can differ quite significantly from person to person, and\u00a0how their friends\/family\/care partners react to their choices.\r\n\r\nFor the illustrations, we explored various mediums and styles (watercolor, black & white, oil painting) to determine what suited the story. We chose to combine photography with whimsical illustrated characters. This approach not only depicted the narrative visually but also conveyed the experience of dementia: being in a real place yet feeling disconnected from it, as if existing in a separate reality.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n

Click to access the Home Page<\/a><\/h3>\r\n

Click to access The Bucket List<\/a><\/h3>\r\n

Click to access My Bird Life<\/a><\/h3>\r\n

Click to access The Music Plays On<\/a><\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

We decided to develop composite characters for the storybooks that were based on the participants in our original research on living well with dementia but also showcased the diversity of their experiences and priorities. It was essential that the stories felt authentic with respect to the characters’ feelings and motivations, to ensure readers would relate to them, understand why they did what they did, and felt what they felt. So, basing them loosely on real people and their real experiences was important.<\/p>\n

Our creative process moved through several phases as we compared key aspects of participants\u2019 journeys: who they lived with, hobbies, what they valued most, what they feared, strategies for overcoming struggles associated with dementia, and their thoughts on end of life. From there we built out three main characters who had different family structures, socio-economic, and socio-geographical circumstances, as well as diverse racial and gender identities.<\/p>\n

Then we put them in story arcs that culminated in three different end-of-life avenues. The idea was to illustrate how different people envision their ideal end-of-life scenario, how that idea can differ quite significantly from person to person, and\u00a0how their friends\/family\/care partners react to their choices.<\/p>\n

For the illustrations, we explored various mediums and styles (watercolor, black & white, oil painting) to determine what suited the story. We chose to combine photography with whimsical illustrated characters. This approach not only depicted the narrative visually but also conveyed the experience of dementia: being in a real place yet feeling disconnected from it, as if existing in a separate reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Click to access the Home Page<\/a><\/h3>\n

Click to access The Bucket List<\/a><\/h3>\n

Click to access My Bird Life<\/a><\/h3>\n

Click to access The Music Plays On<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1292,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"front-matter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-27","front-matter","type-front-matter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/front-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/27\/revisions\/115"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter\/27\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"front-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/front-matter-type?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/livingwelldementiastories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}