Young Writers Society

Hello

So I decided to try this out. What I usually do is I think of characters and really get their complexity down, and then I plot the actual novel. I like to make my characters super duper complex. As if they are as diverse as an actual person. So that's mostly what you'll be seeing in this journal.

Also I will try to participate in the challenges.* But we'll see! I will be subscribing to all the other journals too!


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Updated above 9/26/14 @ 8:57 am

So basically, this is what I have in store.

A cliche romance.

Yes, I know, a lot of people on YWS hate cliche things. especially cliche poetry But I love to read a good cliche romance, because I myself am I hopeless romantic

Basically, this novel is going to be between Iggy and Anna's P.O.V and first it's going to start out before they meet each other, and then they meet, and they both fall in love. But Iggy and Anna both have problems with shutting people out. Sooooo, Iggy loses patience with Anna and is really confusing and then on night shows up at her apartment and tries to sleep with her, she gets confused and shuts down, screaming at him to get out. But then they realize after a while away from each other they're in love and they can't be without the other

Eh? Eeeeehhhhh?

>.<

Broken Glass is Beautiful -Chapter One-

First chapter from Anna's P.O.V! *writes Iggy's chapter*

Basically, this novel is going to be between Iggy and Anna's P.O.V and first it's going to start out before they meet each other, and then they meet, and they both fall in love. But Iggy and Anna both have problems with shutting people out. Sooooo, Iggy loses patience with Anna and is really confusing and then on night shows up at her apartment and tries to sleep with her, she gets confused and shuts down, screaming at him to get out. But then they realize after a while away from each other they're in love and they can't be without the other

I'm here to help you make your cliche love story a cliche love story with a good solid plot. Don't use cliche as an excuse to write nothing of value. I've got some questions for you to think about. You can answer, ignore, answer them in your head, or PM me to discuss them if you want. I'm always down to talk about plotting ideas.

How quickly do they fall in love? Do they fall in love at different times? At the same time? How deep is the love in the beginning, or is it infatuation? Why do they shut people out? What specifics have happen to them in the past that make them shut people out? (Remember, it can't be just one or two things. It has to be something that happens with repetition for a human to pick up a habit.) What makes Iggy lose patience? Is it something psychological? Physical? Something that happens outside of the relationship that has an effect on the relationship as a result? Why did Anna get confused about him trying to sleep with her? Why is Iggy trying to sleep with her in the first place? Why does Anna decide to let him back into her life after he's been emotionally abusive?

That's my big point in all this. This sounds like a recipe for an emotionally abusive relationship. First off, he has SUCH little respect for her that he tries to sleep with her, after I assume, she's made it obvious she hates that people only want her for her body. He absolutely uses her in the same way as all the other boys, yet it's okay, because he's doing it in the name of 'love'. Love doesn't work that way. Love doesn't work when one person in the relationship completely ignores everything that is important to their SO. But don't worry, Anna isn't without fault. You're telling me, after the difficulty she has with men in the past, that she falls in love with a guy who sleeps around, has no respect for anyone and then tries to sleep with her?? After he finds out her problems with guys in the past??? How on earth can anyone be in love with someone that selfish? This relationship would NOT work in the real world. Too much underlying abuse would destroy this relationship before it even began. Because if they both really have problems with shutting people out, there's no way in hell that they're going to let like-people in that made them that way to begin with.

So, as you can see above, @SparktoFlame has challenged me with some questions about my plot, and I will do my best to answer them. (Side note: Thank you for making me think about these things, I've never really like, in depth plotted a novel before, so this hopefully will help!)

How quickly do they fall in love?

I feel like they would fall in love after a while, not to slow, but not right away. I think they immediately feel a connection, but I don't think they understand why.

Do they fall in love at different times? At the same time?

I guess around the same time, because they both start getting closer.

How deep is the love in the beginning, or is it infatuation?

Young love. What else is there to say? It's passionate, confusing, and strong. Once they realize what's going on and that they're falling for each other they fall hard. Kind of like The Notebook.

Why do they shut people out?

Iggy - Iggy shuts people out because his dad never loved him. When he hit him he hit him hard. Wouldn't let Iggy do anything, told him he was a worthless piece of sh*t with a pretty face and that he'll never know what love is because his mother gave him his beauty and that was a curse. Once Iggy's mother grew older and she didn't look as attractive, his father started abusing her and yelling. He threw beer bottles at her and pulled her hair. He started doing drugs and drinking at age 13 to get away from everything that was going on, as if it could buzz the pain away. At 16 his dad threw him out and used, "He was doing drugs" as his excuse to finally get rid of him. Ever since his dad told him he'd never feel love he tried sleeping around and trying to find love but he could never find it and it frustrated him on end.

Anna - Anna shuts people out because they try to take advantage of her and because she was raped when she was little by her father's close friend. She was very young, but to this day she feels violated. She just wants to be loved for who she is and not her body.

What makes Iggy lose patience? Is it something psychological? Physical? Something that happens outside of the relationship that has an effect on the relationship as a result?

Well, as Father as Son. He's picked up his habits of anger from his dad. That's how his dad relieved anger (violence), so he thinks it's the only way. Yes, it does get in the way of the relationship. She stays with him for a while, but then starts having second thoughts when the problems persist. (I won't spoil my ending I have in mind. Spoiler below if you really want to know.)



Why did Anna get confused about him trying to sleep with her?

She was confused because he's never violated her like that when they dated, he had changed. She gets angry, and confused. It's going to be a fun scene to write <3

Why is Iggy trying to sleep with her in the first place?

Because that's the only things he's known for the last 8 years. And he wants to know if when he sleeps with her, does it feel like it does with all the whores. or nahhh?

Why does Anna decide to let him back into her life after he's been emotionally abusive?

Love. Love is confusing. It's really hard to let go of your first love when you have it, so that's why. I don't know how else to explain it.


- I think this is a realistic novel, because I know someone who's been in a relationship like this. But if you read the spoiler, it's even more realistic.-

Honestly, Iggy isn't selfish. He's confused as hell. With everything his father said and he's own personal experience, this is something new. So yes, he messes up a lot, and she's forgiving at first. But as things go on...(You'll have to look at the spoiler for that)

If you have any more questions, please ask. I want to make this better

I do have some, actually! Heehee.

Young love is selling your story short. Don't give the excuse young love. (And anyway, they're in their mid twenties. That's not exactly young.) Everyone falls in love differently. Our experiences and personalities shape how we fall in love, or react to falling in love. Seeing as how Anna was raped, there's a huge likely hood (and from the sound of your posts), she has PTSD. There are several results of PTSD that could be linked to being raped. Either she a. accepts the love she thinks she deserves, as in she falls for Iggy because he reminds her of the guy who raped her and she thinks that's what she deserves. (Highly unlikely, considering what you've said in earlier posts about how she avoids sex like the plague), b. using never ever ever going back to that situation again (aka sleeping with someone). Something that would be hard to avoid with a person like Iggy. Or c. she would be absolutely repulsed by it. The repulsion can accompany both a and b, you can be repulsed by something and still do it, so I'd explore that as well. There's always the option of her not having PTSD, but the way you've written the first two chapters, it's obvious she has SOME degree. I would suggest researching it very thoroughly. Not only is it hard to show properly without having experienced it yourself, but you're dealing with a very delicate and hard to write subject here. Treat it respectfully.

Is she triggered by the thought of sex, or the actual act? That could have some effect on the relationship between the two. Does she tell Iggy about being raped when she was a kid? Did Iggy recover from his drug abuse? How bad are we talking? Has he ever considered therapy for his addictions/own version of ptsd?
What makes Iggy lose patience? Is it something psychological? Physical? Something that happens outside of the relationship that has an effect on the relationship as a result? I'm asking this question again because you didn't answer it. What is the exact event, or series of events that makes Iggy lose it? What made him change in the time they're separated? How long are they separated? What makes him go back to her in the first place?

Your reasoning for why Iggy tries to sleep with her is very selfish. He wants to sleep with her because he wants to know if it's the same as the time with all those other girls? Really? realllyyy? That's absolutely the most jerkiest, ridiculous reason I ever heard. He should respect her more than just idle curiosity being the reason he tries to sleep with her. Especially if he knew about her being raped.

Love. Love is confusing. It's really hard to let go of your first love when you have it, so that's why. I don't know how else to explain it.
This is a terrible explanation. It's easy to let go of your first love when he's an emotional abusive jerk that tries to sleep with you and most likely majorly triggered you to the point of not being able to function multiple times in your relationship. There comes a point when you're someone like Anna, (who seems to be into self preservation), where you're going to do what you know best. Save yourself. So I have no trouble believing at all that she wouldn't have any difficulty leaving if she needed too.


Research PTSD. Talk to Rosey if you need too. This post is the tip of a very huge iceberg. <3

More questions! I'm loving this

For the whole scene where he tries to have sex with her, I've thought of a different story line (for the scene)

Anna opens up to him about being raped and her fear of hating sex when she finally does. So, he wants to show her it doesn't have to be that way. So he plans this whole romantic evening and at first everything is going great. They're laughing, then start kissing, and then he starts to get passionate, and she freaks out. He feels absolutely horrible about it as he was just trying to help her, obviously, it wasn't the best way.

And in answer to my description about love...Honestly I don't know how to explain it. It's kind of like they're trying to heal themselves through loving someone and having someone love them. They're trying to get through their troubled past.

I will definitely do some research on PTSD and I'll see if Rosey will help I want to do this story justice, so I will do what is needed.

Iggy is in love with Anna, so he finds it hard to "take advantage of her" like he does with his whores.

Also, in my first post. I said that Anna was hearing voices, and that she drank a lot that night. I was thinking something happened to her rapist and she felt like it was her fault, but then I don't want to rip of The Perks of Being a Wallflower... What shall I do?

Fire away anymore questions you have ^.^

More.

1- Why him? What is it in the 13 years between when she gets raped and when she meets him, what is it about him that gets her opening up? She's had 13 years of avoiding guys and avoiding sex and relationships, and 13 years of having friends and parents and potential counsellors and a bunch of other places she could work on it.

You need a massive amount of trust to tell somebody who triggers you by existing to say anything, especially if you'd rather forget. Some people speak about PTSD easier (either because it impacts their life very obviously, or because they own it by this point), but a lot of people don't talk about it and hide PTSD away, especially with the cultural narrative around mental illness, trauma, and rape.

2- What is it about her? What makes her so extra special that Iggy doesn't want to take advantage of her? I've found people who take advantage of one person tend to take advantage of multiple, or at least have the potential to do it. Sometimes they rationalize it with "but I love them" and other times they just go "but this is the right thing to do". Manipulative people are manipulative by nature, and they're basically always aware of what they're doing. Manipulation isn't inherently bad (its definition is "modifying your behaviour to get what you want", so you can manipulate to destroy or manipulate to help), but if your nature is manipulation/taking advantage of others, then it's really easy to slip back into bad habits even when you don't mean to.

You can still take advantage of people even if you love them more than life itself. These traits are not traits that only occur in villains, and if it's habit... yeah it's habit.

3- How much support did she get after the rape? That will impact a lot. You've basically frozen time between when she was raped and 13 years later, which is not realistic at all. PTSD actually can fluctuate depending on experiences with events, and the way you adjust to the event as time goes on changes. Some people constantly blame themselves over an extremely long period of time, others shut that part of themselves off and pretend it never happened, others grow to accept that it happened and own it, effectively recovering. Figure out how she relates to it all over time, and how she's grown from the rape and how she's stuck there as well.

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Basically, as I'm reading this, you have a lot of "all the stars aligned" in your logic, which sometimes happens, but usually there's a bunch of history that occurred, resulting in false starts, memorable moments, crashes, and trust building. There's no instant switch flip. Even if it feels like "this is the first time I've felt this way", you discover that's not the only time you'll feel that way, and honestly being comfortable with somebody to the point you open up and feel "hey this is actually kinda normal" usually comes after dozens of good experiences, and lots and lots of working yourself.

In fact, the first time you feel that way often doesn't last, and all the bad habits come back because you don't know how to have a true relationship without those bad habits. You undo a few bad habits (sometimes) with every relationship/friendship, then go into the next one and it's a little better, or sometimes a little worse, or what have you. Then all these experiences build up and sometimes it gets better. Other times, it doesn't. PTSD is defined by being trapped at the time it occurred.

The reason I say you only undo bad habits sometimes is, you can not realize you're falling into bad habits again. You can only undo what you can see, after all, and it's really easy to blame other people, or think that's just how you are and there's no changing it.

Loving to heal happens, but it has the potential to get really toxic, really fast. When you go out to "save" a person, you stop thinking about yourself, can be extremely smothering, and the relationship gets codependent. This is another reason the "first time you've really cared about a person" relationship tends not to last. You don't know how to have a relationship and in the process of trying to have the perfect relationship, you end up forgetting yourself. Very much not healthy, and very much needs to end in order for you to find the actual good relationships.