slitheringink:

I’m not sure what age or age range your character is but a child’s understanding of certain concepts may be different depending on how developed their brain is.

Children and Death/Loss

This is off of The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh site regarding how children of different age groups may react to death (in this case their own but the level of understanding between the age groups can also be applied to the deaths of others):

• Infant – For an infant, death has no real concept. Infants do, however, react to separation from parent(s), painful procedures, and any alteration in their routine. An infant that is terminally ill will require as much care, physically and emotionally, to maintain a comfortable environment as any age group. Maintaining a consistent routine is important for the infant and his/her caregivers. Because infants cannot verbally communicate their needs, fear is often expressed by crying.

• Toddler – For the toddler, death has very little meaning. He/She may receive the most anxiety from the emotions of those around him/her. When a toddler’s parents and loved ones are sad, depressed, scared, or angry, he/she senses these emotions and become upset or afraid. The terms “death” or “forever” or “permanent” may not have real value to children of this age group. Even with previous experiences with death, the child may not understand the relationship between life and death. Death is not a permanent condition.

• Preschool – Preschool-aged children may begin to understand that death is something feared by adults. This age group may view death as temporary or reversible, as in cartoons. Death is often explained to this age group as “went to heaven.” Most children in this age group do not understand that death is permanent, that everyone and every living thing will eventually die, and that dead things do not eat, sleep, or breathe. Death should not be explained as “sleep” to prevent the possible development of a sleep disorder.

  Their experience with death is influenced by those around them. They may ask questions about “why?” and “how?” death occurs. The preschool child may feel that his/her thoughts or actions have caused the death and/or sadness of those around. The preschool child may have feelings of guilt and shame.

  When a child in this age group becomes seriously ill, they may believe it is their punishment for something they did or thought about. They do not understand how their parents could not have protected them from this illness.

  This idea may make the preschool-age sibling of a dying child to feel as if they are the cause of the illness and death. Young siblings of dying children need reassurance and comforting during this time period, as well.

• School-age – School-aged children are developing a more realistic understanding of death. Although death may be personified as an angel, skeleton, or ghost, this age group is beginning to understand death as permanent, universal, and inevitable. They may be very curious about the physical process of death and what happens after a person dies. They may fear their own death because of uncertainty of what happens to them after they die. Fear of the unknown, loss of control, and separation from family and friends can be the school-aged child’s main sources of anxiety and fear related to death.

• Adolescent – As with people of all ages, past experiences and emotional development greatly influence an adolescent’s concept of death. Most adolescents understand the concept that death is permanent, universal, and inevitable. They may or may not have had past experiences with death of a family member, friend, or pet.

  Adolescents, similar to adults, may want to have their religious or cultural rituals observed.

  Most adolescents are beginning to establish their identity, independence, and relationship to peer groups. A predominant theme in adolescence is feelings of immortality or being exempt from death. Their realization of their own death threatens all of these objectives. Denial and defiant attitudes may suddenly change the personality of a teenager facing death. An adolescent may feel as if they no longer belong or fit in with their peers. In addition, they may feel as if they are unable to communicate with their parents.

  Another important concept among adolescents is self-image. A terminal illness and/or the effects of treatment may cause many physical changes that they must endure. The adolescent may feel alone in their struggle, scared, and angry.

It’s important to keep in mind that the way children handle difficult situations like loss not only depends on their age, but how they’ve been raised and what they’ve already experienced in their lives. A child who has experienced a major loss may be more prepared to cope with another one in the future, or they may not, depending on what they were taught.

The misconceptions, interpretations and fears about death from parents and parent figures may be transferred to the child, affecting how they view the event. Things to keep in mind:

• Is the parent figure religious? If so, what are his/her beliefs and have they been taught to the child? Did the child want to learn about the religion or was it forced? Religion can be both a comfort when it comes to death or a point of contention, offering more questions that it does answers. For example the concept of Heaven and the afterlife in Christianity is a comfort to some, while others fear death because of the concept of Hell.

• Has the parent figure talked to the child about death before? Does the child understand that it’s an inevitable part of life and how was that concept taught to the child? Did the parent use blatant, harsh terms or did the parent try mask the harshness of death with fluffy language? Was the child flat out lied to?

• When did the parent figure have the conversation about death to a child? Was it after the death of a pet, family member, or friend? Was it before a tragic event so the child could come to an understanding about the concept earlier or did a tragedy happen with no prior explanation?

• When did the child first see/experience death? Is their concept of it from real life or from media?

• In the case of being orphaned, were they told that their parents died? Did they witness it? Did they understand what they were seeing or hearing?

• Has the child seen a parent figure deal with death? What did they see? Did the parent figure cry, go into a depressive slump, get angry, maybe violent? How did that affect the child?

Since you specifically referenced being orphaned, I went and dug up an article about some psychological responses of children who have been adopted:

Kidnapped or Saved? How Some Orphans Really Feel When They’re Adopted

Children and Abuse

Children who are victims of abuse themselves or come from homes where there’s domestic abuse will likely have certain characteristics:

• They may feel completely powerless, withdrawing and becoming silent in both abusive and normal social situations.

• They may feel afraid for their own safety or the safety of others around them.

• They may develop low self-esteem, often blaming themselves for the violence. It’s also about not being able to stop the violence being directed at themselves or someone else.

• They may have various behavioral problems, many abusing drugs, alcohol or themselves (self-mutilation, cutting, pulling hair out, self-starvation or self-vomiting).

• Some may also abuse others, thinking that abuse is a normal aspect of life. They may verbally, mentally or physically abuse another person. This is not common as a lot of abuse victims reject the behavior and are mindful not to reciprocate it to others.

• They may feel isolated.

• They may feel depressed and have flashbacks of abuse or violent incidents.

(Source, which I recommend reading.) 

External Resources:

Why Children Don’t Tell About Their Abuse

The Lingering Trauma of Child Abuse

EDIT: From a friend who has dealt with abuse as a child/teen regarding abuse victims abusing others:

“Typically if a victim of abuse does abuse someone else it is caused by an outside stressor rather than from acceptance of it as typical and acceptable behavior and when it happens it can range from emotional to mental to physical…it just depends on which one the individual experienced and could be a combination of them as well.”

Thank you. Posting accurate information is important to me!

-Morgan

1. one sentence
2. in this article, [title] by [author], [signal word]
3. throughout, citing page numbers/the page range after sentences
4. complete citation in bibliography

use gender neutral language

writing essay

1. proposal: a way in which the education system can be approved upon *
2. best piece of advice you were ever given
3. most important person in your life

genres “kinds of writing”

academic summary writing

purpose of a summart is to highlight the main points or ideas of a topic

summary features

• accurate restatement of topics main argument and support (argument first, support for filler)
• greater brevity than original (obvious)
• reporting or signalling phrases (claims explains expresses etc)(pg 21)(expresses overall purpose, sub purposes)
• a logical structure (academic environment - same basic structure) *sometimes there is reason to mix up the structure to make the summary clearer or to help explain the original content, esp when it’s a chaotic structure in its original content)
• citation (academic)

developing your summary’s content (preparing to write)

• read and understand text 
• distinguish abstractions from details (abstraction not a detail, not talking about a specific thing, details support abstrations, facts/specific experiences/etc are often details)(be aware when the topic/abstraction shifts)
• retrace structure of argument
• research (not always necessary)(if you think the summary would be more affective with research then do so)

organizing drafting and structuring your summary

• accuracy (sometimes difficult because you’re obviously changing the phrasing, the wording, condensing, etc)
• originality (no patch writing, actually rephrasing and recommunicating the idea and text of another person)
• condensing (eliminating most of the support, filler, keeping the main abstractions, keeping support if you think it is needed)
• signal phrases
• citations (brief page span at the end of sentence/chunk, complete at the end)

patch writing

when you take a piece of text and you look for a synonym for each word - still considered plagiarism

summary writing

about speaking with your own voice

noting

if you can’t shorten the text by paraphrasing or it becomes longer, simply quote/cite

avoid quoting as much as possible

reason to quote: original writer used very expressive, emotive language that can’t be conveyed through paraphrasing

summary

• accurate
• clear
• comprehensive
• thesis
• concise

the audience

• audience always participates
• the audience forms a community
• no two audience members ever have exactly the same experience

conventions (aka the rules of theatre)

• standings of acting change over time
• conventions vary between cultures and between genres
• conventions evolve over time
• conventions can be highly visible or almost invisible (impact whether or not they are noticed)
• the sum of conventions = style (style is a set of rules that determine how theatre represents reality, how set design works, how actors behave)
• conventions govern the actor/audience relationship and audience behaviour (in some forms it is acceptable for the actor to break the 4th wall, in others it isn’t, when it is acceptable to laugh etc)

classical greece c 450 BCE

• all day events
• huge outdoor amphitheatres (15-20k ppl)
• formal actors, informal audience
• social audiences

roman empire c 100-300 CE

• audience behaviour v passionate, informal by current standards
• known for leaving theatre, not paying attention
• huge range of options of entertainment
• prologues
• social audiences
• plays written to engage audience

medieval europe 1350-1550 CE

• theatre produced by amateurs (local churches, guilds)
• no professional actors
• audience often knew performers
• audience had familiarity, could be included in productions themselves
• suspension of disbelief was much less likely due to relationship
• actors breaking character, addresing audience common
• most common ‘stage’ was a pageant wagon
• wagons moved through towns
• audience not necessarily fixed, not necessarily seated
• sometimes had to follow wagon, or watch several pass by

early modern europe 1550-1850 CE

• enclosed theatres, need for artificial light
• focus on whole social experience
• actors directly addressed audiences in more conventional ways - more asides, soliloquys
• cheapest seats closest to stage
• most expensive seats had best view of audience
• audience members could sometimes even sit on stage (best seats)
• move towards dimming lights over audience in this time, containing audience
• evidence that people would buy food, conduct business, purchase prostitutes in theatre

passive audience 1850-present

• continue to participate in popular things
• become passive in most, less participation
• auditorium dimmed
• acting becoming more realistic
• evolution of the fourth wall
• rise of realism
• actors don’t acknowledge the audience, focus on each other
• effect is that the audience members are drawn into play emotionally
• more directly engaged with story

activist audiences 1900-present

• react against realism, passive audience
• using theatre to change society
• politically motivated theatre aims to change society and empower audiences to create social examples
• examples

1. agit-prop theatre (1920s-1930s) marxist messages communicated to workers (not realistic, songs, skits, not often in theatres, goal is to spread political ideas)
2. bertolt brecht (1898-1956) epic theatre allows audience to think critically (does not want emotional involvement, wants the audience to think about what’s wrong on stage, concerned with alienating audience purposefully to remind them that they are watching the play, to remind them why the characters are doing what they are doing, intellectual involvement)
3. augusto boal (1931-2009) theatre of the oppressed created “spect-actors” (takes passive audience, purposefully involves audience, audience can stop, replace actor, continue the scene in a different way, political agenda)

slitheringink:

Now that I’m floating high enough to see airplanes in my ego balloon, I think I can offer some advice. When it comes to the job market these days, it takes a lot hard work, some skill and a pinch of luck (or a lot of luck, depending on your perspective) in order to find something you can both support yourself with and be happy doing.

With that in mind, I’ve managed to compile a helpful list of:

Writing Jobs

(and jobs for people wondering what the hell they’re going to do with an English degree)

1. Author – I’m starting here since this seems to be the dream job of almost everyone who wants to write. Authors spend their lives crafting stories with the goal of being published in book form and hopefully making enough money to live on. Some authors become best sellers, but don’t count on this. As an author, you’re probably going to also have to get a day job to support yourself. Don’t believe me? Here’s an HP article on 11 authors you know who also had day jobs.

2. Publishing – You can get a job at a publishing house doing many different things. There are several editorial positions you can get, you can work in book promotions, electronic publishing or even as a researcher. These jobs are available at large and independent publishing houses.

3. Critic – Do you have a good critical eye? Are you able to pick apart a work and convey your ideas in an interesting manner? Do you have a unique voice? Well then, this job may be for you! Critics review published works like books, movies and plays for Internet based news companies or traditionally published papers or magazines.

4. Ghostwriter – If you don’t mind writing another person’s ideas and handing over authorship credit to that person, then this might be a suitable position for you. Ghostwriters are used most commonly by authors to mass produce material in order to turn a profit. James Patterson uses ghostwriters frequently in his novels.

5. Marketing – Since writers possess great communication skills, they are often utilized in marketing and advertising fields. Some are in charge of marketing campaigns for various products and may have to work in a collaborative setting. You may get a jobs as a copywriter in this field, preparing product descriptions for print in magazines, brochures and online publications.

6. Columnist/Journalist – Anyone who likes to write articles and is interested in journalism would like this job. You can write articles for various news publications. Generally, people in this field will set up and engage in interviews with people for their articles. There is also a lot of research involved depending on what you’re writing about.

7. Grant Writer – With this job, you are in charge of researching and responding to grant opportunities for an organization. There is a strict set of guidelines to follow when constructing a grant.

8. English Teacher – If you have the schooling (most teachers need a Masters Degree these days) and like interacting with kids or young adults, then this might be for you. With this job, you’re interacting with students on a daily basis to provide them a strong foundation in writing and literature. This job usually carries over beyond the normal 9-5 schedule as you have to grade assignments and craft lesson plans.

9. Screen Writer – You can work on your own independent films or write for the entertainment industry, usually movies or TV shows. This is a difficult industry to break into and involves working from the ground up. The process may be expedited with the right connections.

10. Comics Writer – If you enjoy writing and collaborating with an artist (or team of artists) then you may enjoy this job. You can write comics for the major companies, like Marvel, DC or Dark Horse, but this is generally difficult to do. You can also write your own project, publishing in an online format and peddling your work at conventions. Some comics published in this manner have become very popular (Penny Arcade for instance) and generally make their money off of advertising and merchandise.

11. Editor – There are tons of different types of editing. The major ones are copy editing and developmental editing. A copy editor generally works on a grammar and structure level, preparing texts for publication. A developmental editor makes substantive changes to a work, often reorganizing, rewriting or removing entire sections of a work.

12. Literary Agent – You slog through piles of manuscripts, hoping to find one worth your time. Once you do, it’s your job to represent the author and try to sell their manuscript to publishing houses. You’re often involved in editing the manuscript and are the author’s window into the publishing world.

13. Agent’s Assistant – There are some agents who are fortunate enough to have people that read manuscripts for them and present them with ones that might be worth using. With this job, your goal is to find the next diamond in the rough.

14. Public Relations Writer – Your job is to write materials in order to promote the goals and image of a company or an individual.

15. Writing Tutor – There are some companies who hire tutors to help their employees learn how to write and communicate better. There are tutoring agencies and even websites (wyzant.com) where you can set yourself up and advertise your services to people in your area.

16. Translator – If you happen to be fluent in a foreign language, you can get a job translating documents into that language or into English. Translators are often used by publishing houses for international editions of books.

17. Speech Writer – Are you a fan of politics? If you are, you can get a job writing speeches for various political figures at the local, state and federal levels.

18. Freelance Writer – You can do a lot of the jobs listed above on your own time. You set your own schedule and your own workload, but the issue is that you won’t always have constant work, which means a sometimes spotty paycheck. You hunt down publications or individuals looking for writers and are often paid for an article or a project. You can both write and edit as a freelance employee.

There are other jobs out there than the ones listed here. Once you find one that interests you, look up what it takes to get into that field and start working towards it. :)

-Morgan

fuckyourwritinghabits:

fictionwritingtips:

I always have difficulty visualizing how a room is set up or I just don’t put that much attention into it. I quickly realized how wrong this was because you want your readers to see a space, especially if it’s an important area. If you ignore how it’s set up, you’ll only confuse and frustrate your readers. They want to visualize the spaces you create, so you need to make a conscious effort to plan your locations.

Having weak locations might seem like the least of your worries when it comes to writing, but it’s all part of being a descriptive writer. Describing a house or building might be moments you want to rush, but you need to give them care and attention.  Using this description—brown, single family, two-story home—is not exciting. It’s not even really worth reading, to be honest. We need to experience the house with all of our senses. What does the house smell like? Like fresh cotton? Or musty? Obviously, these two smells are very different and will lead to a different understanding of the house.  Is it dark inside? Does natural light stream in through the clean glass windows? These descriptions are off the top of my head, but you need to take the time to think about how you want your locations to be perceived and what you’re trying to say.

Everything in your story should matter.

So, how could you improve how you build your locations? Keeping those visualizations in your head works for some people, but you can get creative. If you’re a competent artist (which I am not), you can do some sketches and refer back to them. However, for detailed space building, I recommend this site—Room Sketcher.

Room Sketcher allows you to easily build rooms and the program is free. If you’re looking for help, I think this is a great idea. Otherwise, find a good way to plan your spaces and keep them fresh in your mind. Take the extra step.

HOLY SHIT

fixyourwritinghabits:

Try browsing these:

• Pen Name: How To Create Yours
• How 8 Famous Writers Chose Their Pen Name
• How do writers choose pen names?

There’s also innumerable name generators you can find online and tweak the results for something suiting you.  Try those!

thepalaceofawesomestories:

1. Start with your character’s face shape. This is important because a person’s face gives a strong and immediate impression of their personality. Is it heart-shaped with a wide forehead and a pointed chin? Is it square with a jaw-line that could chisel granite? Which of these faces might you describe as playful and which might you describe as rugged? As you continue to describe your character, keep in mind that people definitely associate certain personality traits with certain features.
2. Describe your character’s bone structure. In particular, we draw many conclusions from a person’s bone structure. High, wide cheekbones can give the impression of apple cheeks and, thus, a lingering smile. Whereas a “weak” chin is associated with passivity, a prominent chin is described as “determined” and might suggest that someone is inclined to keep their chin up. Wide-set eyes are found on most baby animals and have become associated with innocence, whereas deep-set eyes are often shadowed and can be associated with being untrustworthy or a brooding personality.
3. Describe your character’s eyes. The eyes are the “windows to the soul” and should receive extra consideration. Most baby animals have large eyes and long lashes, making large-eyed or long-lashed people seem more trusting and open. Brown eyes are among the most common and are often associated with a plain, salt-of-the-earth honesty or a chocolate-brown depth and richness. Blue eyes may be thought of as innocent (baby-blue), piercing (icy-blue), or wise (gray-blue). Light-green eyes may seem trusting whereas emerald-green eyes are often thought of as exotic or catlike.
4. Describe your character’s eyebrows. Since the eyebrows are so intimately involved in facial expression, they also have a huge impact in their resting state. Kristin Stewart’s straight eyebrows give her a perpetual expression of nonchalance, whereas Marilyn Monroe’s high-arching brows add to her look of slight surprise and continuous interest. If the inner half of each eyebrow slants sharply downward, it can create a mischievous look á la Christian Slater or a slight scowl á la Megan Fox. Especially low brows like those of Michael C. Hall (a.k.a. Dexter Morgan) can create a sinister appearance.
5. Describe your character’s nose. The nose is extremely prominent on the face and can suggest a lot about your character’s attitude. An up-turned nose might be cute and playful like a child’s but can also veer into snobbish territory (i.e. someone who turns their nose up at you). Since noses continue to grow on a person’s face with age, a long nose can suggest an air of wisdom. A pinched nose like Nicole Kidman’s might be cute as a button but can also appear crinkled as if with distaste.
6. Describe your character’s mouth. Like eyebrows, the mouth is crucial in forming facial expressions and is subject to much interpretation. Since people’s lips grow thinner with age, full lips are associated with sensuality. Slightly open lips may seem relaxed or even suggestive (which is why most models pose this way), but a mouth that cannot close (á la Napoleon Dynamite) can give the impression of perpetual stupefaction. A wide mouth is often called “generous” and can convey a sense of openness, whereas a small, narrow mouth (think Hugh Laurie from “House”) may seem reserved or unfriendly.
7. Describe your character’s hairline. The hairline also plays a big part in how we see a face to be shaped. A widow’s peak, which interrupts the forehead by pointing down at the nose, adds an element of intrigue and is the go-to look for vampires. A receding hairline may suggest a loss of virility and earn a derisive title like “Mickey Mouse ears.”
8. Describe your character’s body type. Are they tall? If so, are they long and gangly or lean and athletic? If not, are they short and squat or petite? Is your character overweight, underweight, or perhaps just sturdily built? What other features stand out? For example, an elongated neck might be graceful and elegant whereas a thick neck or hardly any neck at all might suggest brute strength. Knock-knees may suggest uncertainty or clumsiness, duck-feet might seem to slap around fumblingly, and slender fingers might convey an artistic inclination.
9. Describe your character’s posture, body language, and clothing style. All of these things reflect the way a person interacts with the space around them, which speaks volumes about how they interact with the world at large. Does your character slouch with indiscipline or stand tall with certitude? Is their body language lackluster, hesitant, contracted, or expansive? Does your subject wear eye-catching clothing or blend into the background? In other words, does your character fill a room?
10. Fill in the remaining details. Note the hair and skin color. Instead of using words like chocolate, honey-wheat, raven-black, fiery orange (you don’t want to come off sounding like some odd cannibal. use words like brown, blonde, black, red and so on. Be sure to identify any unique markings; piercings, tattoos, and scars are very distinctive and tell unique stories about what your character has been through.