My character only feels valued at her job where she excels at research as a paralegal in a prestigious law firm. She has plans to go to law school. For three years she has stayed home with her twins. She loves her children but feels nonproductive doing mom stuff. The twins will go to three-day preschool in the fall. She is so excited to be able to work half a day. She and her husband have put an addition on their home for the twins, and their old room is to be her office where she can work at home as well. She has her future planned out, then she finds out she’s pregnant. To me this seems like a set up for depression. What are some other ways she could react to her situation?
Bezerko in Sandpiper Bay, NC
Dear Bezerko,
You've just described what might possibly be my biggest nightmare. She would be utterly devastated. Yes, depression would be a likely option, but if she were sitting in my office, we'd have to address the polarizing issue of whether she wants to keep the baby or not. My guess is that she would at least contemplate abortion, even if she is adamantly opposed to it. She wouldn't be normal if she didn't. She resents the life inside of her, as s/he will prevent her from achieving her goals. This resentment would likely be accompanied by guilt. She could even begin eating less healthy, skipping vitamins/prenatal appointments, and taking less care of herself in general in hopes of a "natural" miscarriage. I believe there to be a real disconnect for women who want to work, yet feel that they have to or should do the mom thing. Some women have children because they are "supposed" to...it's like a natural progression. You get married, then you have a family. Your heroine finds her fulfillment in her work, and there's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean she loves her children less. I'd actually love to know how you resolve this, so drop me a line. Best of luck!
Dear Jeannie,
Six men wake up alive over a hundred years after their deaths, with strange supernatural powers, to a world that is practically unrecognizable, all loved ones they knew gone, full of weird technologies and cultures, and monstrous creatures that are a constant threat. The group surmise that they were resurrected and given their new abilities to destroy these monsters, and go on a journey to do just that. How do these guys even begin to cope? I imagine that some of the grieving process would be postponed as they focus on handling their new situation, but certainly not for long.
Thanks a bunch,
Maximum Emotional Damage
Dear Maximum Emotional Damage,
You'd be right. Maslow's hierarchy of needs speaks plainly to what their main focus would be. Outside of food, water, air and shelter...the next level of need is Safety. So it will be during moments of relative safety from the monsters that the men will reflect on their previous lives, and the feelings of loss and grief that come from that. As to how they navigate the grieving process, that can follow the traditional stages of grief, but it might not, since grief is so individual. Plus, they are faced with truly overwhelming circumstances...a new life, a new body, a new world, with new toys they don't know how to use. They might react with being so overwhelmed that they are reckless in battle, wanting to end their bewilderment by being offed by the monsters. Some might face more traditional suicidal thoughts. They might let out all their aggression on the monsters, which would be a healthier option. Sounds like you definitely are doing the type of thinking that's needed to make these guys come alive on the page. Thanks for writing in!
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jessicarpatch 25p · 600 weeks ago
Anon. · 600 weeks ago
I'm writing about an over-sized family of kids orphaned in contemporary America. After several years in the foster care system (some good experiences, some bad), these siblings are finally under one roof again. I'm thinking they'll have anger management issues, identity conflicts (for the elementary/middle school kids), and serious power/authority struggles (for the older teenagers). Some are in therapy and responding well, but a couple of the boys don't respond well to counselors or foster parents. What am I leaving out, and what can be done to help these kids as they grow up?
Wigged Out in Writersville
roxystra 6p · 600 weeks ago
I briefly spoke to you about Jaxon’s brother Blake Morrison a few weeks’ ago, (your response helped me tremendously). Jaxon was the product of his English mother and his married American father.
The Backstory – Jaxon’s parents met and had a fling when his American father, Bill, went to England to conduct some business. Unbeknownst to Jaxon’s mother, Bill was married. At eighteen, Jaxon learned he not only had six siblings, but also one of them was just six months older than he was. This meant both his mother and Blake’s mother were pregnant around the same time. When Jaxon was nineteen his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she passed on about a year later. This was the catalyst for him to launch a career in wig designing and owning his own company, Hair For You.
Jaxon makes a brief appearance in Book 1 of the series which is scheduled for release in late October. In that story, he decided to make the trek to NY to his brother’s (Caleb) wedding. It’s the first time all the siblings meet.
There are a few issues I’m grappling with:
1. Jaxon’s relationship with his siblings, particularly Blake – Blake had been somewhat hostile to him, but as a result of a car accident which nearly ended his life, he became more introspective and came to the conclusion that he’d treated Jaxon unfairly. Will Jaxon still have residual resentment towards Blake?
2.Jaxon’s relationship with his father Bill – How will they interact with each other? Will there be any hopes of reconciliation or a father-son bond for the first time? After all, it’s the first time Jaxon and Bill are on the same soil.
3. His previous relationships with women- I'm wondering what kind of women Jaxon would be drawn to when it comes to romantic involvement. Will he shy away from investing his heart to a woman? Will he be contented with a physical/superficial kind of relationship only? What will he fear the most? Losing a woman he loves? Feeling he's not capable of loving someone? Feeling unlovable?
4.His relationship with the heroine Layla – When Jaxon met Layla, he thought she wore a wig for aesthetic purposes (and he doesn’t have a problem with that). Then one day he noticed her hairline (Layla’s hair started dropping off in clumps from the middle of her head, and later to other parts including her hairline). Should Jaxon question her about it? Will he fear she’s possibly undergoing chemo and radiotherapy and relive his experiences with his mother? How will he treat/interact/deal with Layla when she tells him she has alopecia?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely
Writer in the Tropics
jeanniecampbell 76p · 600 weeks ago
roxystra 6p · 600 weeks ago
This is about the heroine Layla Sheppard who fell in love with my hero, Jaxon Morrison. Layla was an only child who struggled with her weight for most of her life. Her mother was a domineering woman who told her how to dress, how to speak, whom to date and so on. Her mother was the one who demanded she become a plus-size model, because ‘at least she has a pretty face,’ in spite of the fact that Layla dreamed of opening her own soap making business. She became quite successful as a model, but her make-up and fancy clothes were masks to hide how insecure she was about her looks and weight. Much to Layla and her mother’s surprise, she was able to garner the interest of a rich, good looking (but very superficial) man. Despite her doubts and under the strong urging of her mother, she accepted his marriage proposal.
When the story started, Layla and Jaxon met at the airport on their way to NY (she was on her way to meet her fiancé and his family). She had a strong physical reaction to him (the story opened in her pov).
She had no idea what was wrong with her, and was very frightened to find out the causes of her symptoms. Eventually she went to the medical center and her physician diagnosed her with alopecia. Her fiancé went MIA as a result.
Here are some issues I'm trying to sort out in my mind:
1.When her fiancé’s went MIA, will she be reluctant or willing to go on a date with Jaxon (she will go, but I’m wondering what happened before she got there)?
2.Will she hide the fact she’s losing her hair, even though by that time she knew what Jaxon did for a living and could probably advise her about which wigs are suitable for her?
3.Will she consider taking back her fiancé if he came crawling back to her? Or will she brush him off?
4.How will she react to her mother when her mother tells her to go back to her fiancé? Will she at least consider going back to him? Or will she refuse outright (in other words, no second chance for him)?
5.Would she want to try to re-define people’s perception of beauty and challenge the model agency to accept that bald is beautiful too, or will she prefer to pursue her goals and start the business she dreamed of, or will she do both?
I await your advice.
Sincerely
Writer in the Tropics
Ettina · 599 weeks ago
I'd like some advice about how two of my characters (Kale and Jessica) would express grief.
The guy they're grieving was a guy who'd been talking to them telepathically since they were infants. He was grooming them to become spies and assassins for him, but as far as they were concerned, he was a sympathetic parental figure. (They were also unaware that he was talking to many other kids as well as them.)
Kale is 13 when he dies, and has had a pretty rough life. Her father abused her and her mother, and forced her mother to abuse her as well, until the voice helped her contact social services at the age of 4. Then she got bounced from foster home to foster home, with the voice being the only constant in her life. She's a pretty resilient kid, but I'm guessing her past should make it tougher for her to handle losing him.
Jessica is 4 when he dies. She's got two good parents, although the voice has gotten her to keep secrets from them and manipulate them, which has probably damaged her bond with them somewhat. She had a minor argument with the voice just before he died, and she thinks her argument caused his death somehow. After a couple months of not hearing from the voice, she got contacted by Kale, who took over the role of her telepathic mentor. (While investigating the voice's disappearance, the older kids all met and agreed to each mentor one of the younger kids.)
I already wrote one story, from one of the other kids' perspective, about how he and Kale went looking for the voice, met each other and found out the voice was dead. Now, Kale has gone off on her own, trying to take over a group of vampires she blames for the voice's death. In the process, she's living on her own and manipulating several 'friends' as pawns for her scheme.
Which gets me to another complication - Kale, Jessica and the others all have a symbiotic spirit being possessing them, which has fused with their consciousness and altered their personally. As a result, they feel emotions less intensely, can turn off emotions temporarily (but they get sick if they do this too much), and are extremely intelligent and have increased emotional maturity for their ages. In addition, they are pretty high on Machiavellianism, though this is as much due to the voice's parenting as due to the possession. They aren't psychopaths (I rated them on some of the psychopathy scales for children), but they do have somewhat reduced empathy, and mostly only feel empathy for select people that they have a strong bond with.
Sincerely,
Moral Grey Zone
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