The writer of the short story The Shadow People, A Woman’s Battle with Multiple Personality Disorder is Shawn Platt. However, Shawn Platt also goes by the name of Angel Shadow. The novelist found her freedom writing stories focusing on mental health issues. Shawna Platt, “dedicates much of her time to the prevention and awareness of child abuse and domestic violence” because Shawna herself is a survivor. As she applies her passion for spreading awareness on these two subjects, Shawna also likes to spread awareness on different mental health issues. Shawna wrote this short story to express how DID is considered insignificant. Shawna communicates, “Cora knew the staff at the local emergency room rolled their eyes when treating her”. The objective is to inform the audience on what people with DID go through day after day, and how they try to cope with their illness. Patt also describes the different relationships the character has and how her disorder impacts her relationship. The author expresses, ” Devon kept his distance. He knew how to read her moods now. In the few months being together, he had learned to deal with her ever-changing mood swings”. Cora’s boyfriend had to adapt to her illness without realizing what condition she had. Cora later explains how everyone in her life walks out on her because they are not able to handle her “mood swings”. There are different types of audiences for this plot, for example, the people with DID that can relate to the story. The story lured people who are intrigued by learning and understanding DID. The audience can also be people who have a relationship with someone who has DID and want to understand how they live or how they can help. 

     The author Shawn Patt stands firm into the frustration it is dealing with DID. Patients with this disorder can’t entirely understand what’s going on with them and panic. Patt describes, “It’s time for her to do her fucking job and help me figure this shit out!”… “The next thing I know, I’m waking up in a fucking dark alley!” Cora doesn’t understand her behavior but wants to feel normal, live a decent life. Not only does the author want its audience to understand the frustration but also the seriousness of the situation. In the story, it took Cora a few weeks to accept the fact that he has DID. At first, “she had no intention of accepting responsibility for the fact that she had called upon these alter emotions to deal with situations she was not emotionally strong enough to deal with”. Over time the character came to understand her thoughts and become one with her emotions. To the people who don’t know how DID forms, the author explains how a traumatic childhood can lead to this mental illness. Almost all people with DID have a “protector” which is the personality that arises when it feels danger. Because of the purpose and the audience, the author chose the genre to be a short story. The audience can be intrigued while being informed. The medium the author chose was a story posted on the internet so that a lot more people can have access to it.