Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
I worked in HR, handling applications and interviews, and if someone turned in that string of techno babble nonsense, I would have rejected them out of hand.
A resume doesnât need to sound fancy or overly technical, it needs to tell us why we should hire you.
âIndependent novelist/writerâ is more than sufficient here. If you want to express the skills that fan fiction taught you, something like, âcreative writing, editing, and publication,â will get you a lot further than⌠Whatever that just was.
A resume should be tailored to the position, if you can afford the time and energy for that. But if not, then just think about what writing for fandom taught you. How to respond to criticism, how to present a professional public face, how to correct punished mistakes, creative thinking, project planning, persuasion via emotional leverage, html formatting, office suite fluency.
There are a lot of actual, marketable skills that go into fan fiction.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Quick Tip: Making Characters Info Dump Without Seeming Like Theyâre Info-Dumping
The Tip: REFERENCE information with their OPINION being the focus. Never âtellâ information, while not showing an opinion.
Why and How it Works:
Show of hands; how much do you hate when characters tell other characters things they already know, just because the reader doesnât know (and needs to know)? Sometimes thereâs information that needs to be shared with the reader and thereâs no other way to do it but by SAYING it.
Hereâs how to dodge the problem.
Imagine you and your friend are characters. You and your friend just watched a movie together. When talking about it, you wouldnât âtellâ them what happened â youâd reference it.
Example:
âIt was an awesome movie. That scene where Harlock swishes his cape and pulls out a huge sword thatâs actually a gun, kills three soldiers, and then moves down the hall to take down the others; that was so cool!â
Vs.
âIn Harlock Space Pirates, thereâs this scene where he swishes his cape and pulls out a huge sword thatâs actually a gun, kills three soldiers, and then moves down the hall to take down the others.â
The reader now knows what happened in the movie, but the characters didnât need to explain it to each other like its new information.
In real dialogue, people REFERENCE shared knowledge. They never âtellâ it. If they âtellâ it, itâs insulting and the person theyâre talking to will be insulted, because youâre essentially saying theyâre dumb.
Hereâs the Kicker That Makes it Work - Opinions:
What your friend already has is the information. What your friend doesnât have yet is your view on things. What youâre really giving your friend is an opinion â but what youâre giving the reader is information. Have your characters assess the information and give their thoughts, opinions, feelings, etc. on it in the same breath â rather than just saying it. As a bonus, this is fantastic for showing your characterâs personality.Â
Pro Tip:
The opinion doesnât need to be long. It can be as simple as âthat was cool!â or âit was evil but it was damn smart.â The end. Thatâs the opinion. You got all that info to the reader and your character doesnât look dumb or mean.
Anon asked: âI get all these plot ideas in my head, but I really struggle with writing them down in words, to sit down and actually write, partly because I usually think too much whenever I try to write (like how the grammar is and how it sounds etc) and I always think it all sounds so slow and boring when I write my ideas down... which leads me to just "write" the story in my head instead of actually writing it :/. Do you've any advice on how to stop doing that? Because it's really frustrating!â
Â
Originally a question for Itâs a Writer Thing, but it was decided that answering it on this blog would be better for the less technical answer and the more actionable answer!
This answer will cover two reasons why my suggestion works, and one alternative if you donât like the first piece of advice.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â You Need to Stop Caring So Much
Your main problem is youâre overthinking things, which is natural, because you want this scene to be perfect. As perfect as it was in your head, and every moment it doesnât do that, you become more frustrated and your creativity is more stifled.
Those grammar and word choices worries arenât about grammar or word choice â itâs your mind battling with the cosmic issue of scientists not getting off their butts and creating a device that projects thoughts onto paper yet. Thereâs nothing wrong with your writing. You have created an impeccable scene in your head, and the more impeccable it is, the more dissatisfied youâll be with writing it.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â So, the solution:
Drink wine. No, seriously. Carve out an evening to yourself, put on some music that inspires you to write or that serves as the background music of a scene you want, get a glass of wine (or three), and sit down.
Drink the first glass of wine.
Play the music and start brainstorming the scene. Let it play out in your head. Let yourself get a little crazy in the details because youâre not writing yet, youâre brainstorming.
If you smoke, have a cigarette, and start on the second glass of wine.
Now start writing.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â Why This Works
Wine takes the edge off. Stronger alcohol can work too, because itâs called liquid courage for a reason. It makes you stop CARING so much if itâs perfect, so that your mind can relax enough to actually write the scene as good as it can be. If you drink too much, then youâll have problems with the keys, so know your own limit and drink just until you just have that nice buzz that makes you not so upset if this draft turns out less than satisfactory.
Trust me, when you look at it later, it will be 80% better than you thought itâd be.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â The Sectioned Off Evening Itself Does Wonders
Knowing that you are just messing around with the scene for the next few hours â that it doesnât have to be perfect; that it doesnât have to be really anything, since youâre just having an enjoyable writing session â will take half the edge off.
Youâre not here to do miracles â youâre here to chill out with a nice glass of wine and enjoy yourself! Even if you just brainstorm it in your head and write down notes to fill out later, thatâs for later! You accomplished something. Good for you.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â If You Donât Drink
Thatâs fine. Iâm not telling anyone to start drinking if they donât like it, or encouraging alcoholics to fall off the bandwagon for the sake of a scene. ⌠unless itâs a really good scene.
I jest.
The key is to chill out. So whatever makes you relax, calm down, and cast off the more anxious side of yourself, do it.
If you smoke, have a cigarette. Or five.
If you like a warm bath, get a notebook and try your best to keep it dry, or if you have nerves of steel, take your chances with the laptop.
If chocolate eases your nerves, get a bag of Herseyâs Kisses and go for it.
Just remember that you have to not only kill that usual tension that life brings, but you have to go one step further to make your inner critic decide to quiet down for the night.
-Â Â Â Â Â Â To Wrap Around
The key is to calm down. Then calm down some more. Calm down clear to the point where your âgive a damnâ function is disabled for the night. You can accomplish some pretty amazing things when you donât care so much. Then the scene at least has words on it â and you can always work with a bad scene, but never a nonexistent scene.
darkempressinfinitemind asked: How did you get into freelance?
The short version? Accidentally!
Longer version? It started with a friend hiring me to ghost write their memoir (before either of us knew what ghost writing was. Also he apparently had this awesome life before he knew me and never bothered to mention it before the idea of writing a book came along. Who knew? Random happenstance). I became more confident in the idea of writing for others, and then was referred to the site Peopleperhour.com by a friend of mine, who was trying to pick up freelancing.
I applied for my first job there, and it was literally months before I got any bites. My first bite ended up paying me $3 an hour. I was desperate, so I took it. It gave me a reference, and I got a better job, and a better job, and a better job, until I had enough references to apply for REALLY decent jobs. Fast forward, and here I am with my own Wordsmithing business.
But you want advice, donât you?
Find a Freelancing Website
Thereâs Elance, PPH, and a wide range of others. Pick one that works for you (or multiple) and start drumming up your profile there. Get samples out so people can see your style of work.
Get Reviews at All Costs
Get people you know to write reviews. Take low paying jobs to get reviews. Take whatever jobs you can and get reviews, because they really are everything to a beginning freelancer. I started out with a GED (not even a high school diploma) and still got high paying jobs, because no one needs to see your credentials â they just need proof that real life people have given you a test run.
Degrees and all that? Theyâre to prove you know your stuff; that someone has tested you and written off on it. Reviews are the internetâs new degrees; be willing to invest some time and effort into them.
Take Any and As Much Work as You Can
Not only for the reviews, but for practice. Thereâs a new song and dance involved with freelancing that you wonât find anywhere else. Big companies are paying millions on Big Data to figure out what little nuances make customers happy. You donât have Big Data, and youâre up against thousands of freelancers just like you â you have to figure out the key to standing out by hand.
Getting as many jobs as you can early on gives you a chance to test the waters and find your stride before youâre dealing with big clients that are less forgiving of your fumbles. Youâll learn something new from every job so you really ARE the top professional you claim to be.
Claim to Be a Professional
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I should give you advice about being honest and doing the leg work before you get started. But they say to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. So act like the professional you want to be, not the one you are.
If youâre 18 and this is your first freelancing job, make your profile and all your correspondences look like youâre 37 and have been freelancing for 10 years (donât lie, just be indirect. Talk like youâre older. Say youâve been freelancing for several years, even if youâve only been freelancing for a few months. If youâre living at home with your parents and the topic of family comes up, just call them âfamily;â the client wonât know if youâre a married mother of five or are talking about your dad). People will look right over you if they THINK youâre not capable, without even giving you a chance to show what you can do. If you take away that first â sometimes incorrect â assumption, your footâs in the door and you can prove yourself.
Then after you have 300 five-star reviews and a client list as long as your arms, you can reveal yourself as 20 with three yearsâ experience, and people will believe youâre a prodigy. Then youâll get hired for being the talented young professional who IS their target audience, so youâre perfect to create a product FOR their target audience. Â
Be Ready to Put in More Hours
Once youâve been in the game a while and have established yourself, you can make your weekends sacred with no work stuff. But before then, you need to be on call all the time. Whatâs going to make you stand out against the rest in the beginning is timeliness.
If itâs a toss-up between you and someone just as qualified, the client will decide on whoever replies the fastest and most coherently. Reply to messages as soon as possible. Talk back and forth on the weekends. Offer as tight a deadline as you can for every project, and if you can deliver early, deliver early. Once you have your reputation and your reviews, then you can tone it back to the same level as any other job; you work on your work days, and youâre gone from the planet on your off days.
Follow Your Heart â But Follow the Money First
Iâll let you in on a little secret. I hate web copy. Detest it. A client can have the coolest website idea ever, but having to don my promotional hat and describe their services to a target audience is tedious and unfulfilling as all get out. What I enjoy is blog writing, where I get to explore a concept and tell it (sometimes) in my own voice. I love product descriptions even, where I get to sharpen my description skills to be later used in fiction. But guess what? Web copy writing pays well, because it is difficult and itâs in huge demand.
Hereâs a quick insider look at the market: Today, every style of business in existence needs a website. That means web designers are the key holders in a world full of locked doors. Theyâre making a killing, but every website needs CONTENT. Theyâre cranking out 15 websites a month but theyâre just blank pages without some writing to make them REAL. Thatâs where my industry comes in, the Tonto to their Lone Ranger, to make their home pages, their about pages, their service pages, etc. so their website is a real website. So long as online business booms, web designers are Sauron and copy writers are the one ring to rule them all.
Thatâs where the money is. So even if I really hate web copy, Iâm good at it. Thatâs what pays the rent, grows my business, and keeps my employeesâ checks signed â giving me the financial security I need to then ALSO do things I like. Ghost writing, book editing, blog writing, working on my own stuff.
If you want to make it in freelancing, you need money for bills. But you also need money to prove to your freelancing site that youâre worth promoting. Be willing to do jobs youâre not crazy about, so you can grow to the point of having enough income to afford doing what you really love.
Embrace the Uncertainty
One of the hardest things about freelancing is the irregularity. One month, youâre swimming in cash. The next, you scrape by. At the beginning of the month, you only have one project; at the end, you have 10. Iâve been at this for years, and I still have a mini panic during summer when Iâm sure this is the year that my career finally ends. But it never has.
The upside to this uncertainty is youâre never sure when great things are going to happen. The security of a 9-to-5 lets you know exactly how much you will make, but robs you of the chance for those surprise miracles where a massive client falls in your lap and pays your rent for four months within two weeks.Â
Take faith that a slow month is giving you a chance to rest up for when that tsunami of work comes in. Having a new client every week is giving you a chance to have fun before you have one client for an entire year (which can get boring at times). Freelancing can be a science, but you still need a little faith. It keeps you on your toes, it gives you unexpected bonuses none of your 9-to-5 friends can count on, and it gives you freedom.
Breaking into freelancing is slow going at first, but so long as youâre good at what you do, you will break in. Thereâs seriously never been a better time in living memory for it.
Hi, Barbie. Is there such a thing as being too persistent about asking when and how I'm going to get paid for my writing? I'm being polite on the phone and everything, but I've called a couple of times (the timeline I was told about was off and I haven't been paid for weeks after I was told I would be) and I'm afraid of damaging the relationship with this company. Am I just being paranoid?
Hey there! Thanks for the question. I didnât anticipate howmy nickname on here would be Barbie, but Iâm unreasonably pleased about it, soscore one to me. Onto the question:
There isnât such a thing as being too persistent when itcomes to getting paid â within reason.
If youâre messaging them every hour when the payment is only 24 hours overdo, thatâs unreasonable.
If youâre messaging them every day when the payment is onlya week overdo, youâre pushing it a little bit. If you know the company andtrust them, give them a little leeway and donât risk calling them cheats. Ifyour working relationship with the client is brand new, then every other day isreasonable, but mix it up with excuses such as, âIâm afraid the site/email program has been glitchy.Have you received my most recent message?â Or, âI just want to confirm that youâvereceived my payment request. If not, I can resend it.â This will get theattention of any reputable client.
When theyâre weeks overdo? Enter Professional Terminatormode. The Terminator does not curse people out, it does not accuse them ofthings, it does not insult. It walks in, it makes its intentions clear with nosugar coating, and it gets what it wants.
If the company youâre working with is WEEKS overdo and isnâtgiving you any updates on when the payment will be made, any reasonable explanationon why its delayed, and especially if theyâve cut contact altogether â they arenot a good company. Donât worry about hurting your relationship. Get yourpayment in Terminator fashion, and then run. If you canât get payment, then putthem on a blacklist, and then run.
On that note:
Make a Blacklist.
No matter how careful, professional, or experienced you are,if you do freelance, you will get stiffed on the bill by at least one client. Overseveral years of the job, youâll get stiffed by at least a dozen. It happens. Peoplesuck.
But donât ever forget it. Create a (black)list of theirname, contact information, the project done, and what they stiffed you on (beit a payment or even a review). There may come a day when they crawl back andyouâve forgotten either them or the incident. You then unknowingly take upbusiness with them again only to get stiffed a second time. Fool me once and all that.
With a blacklist, you can reference it to make sure thatdoesnât happen. As a plus, if the new offer they make sounds good, youthink theyâve improved, or there are new safeguards to protect you, you candemand the original payment (or review) you were stiffed on before you beginworking with them. Then it all comes full circle.
One other point: As a freelancer, youâre rarely everparanoid. You want to make money and get clients, so that irrational voice that usuallyexists is shut up by the rent being paid. If you are âparanoid,â itâs your experience and skill as a professional giving you awarning.
If you get a weird vibe about a clientâs voice, the way theycompose an email, or the style of brief they give you, listen to that vibe andgo in with eyes wide open. It could be the signal you need to put extrasafeguards in place to make sure you donât get scammed.
You are a professional, skilled and talented. Thatâs whypeople hire you. So trust yourself as much as they trust you â you know whatyouâre doing. Listen to your instincts.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Hey, just read your rant on teens running revolutions and while I agree with it, I honestly can't remember a time when I read a book like that. Possibly I've erased them from my mind? The only teen revolution I can think of is Animorphs, which I always thought was pretty good in that regard. But yeah, I'm just wondering what books are doing this, aside from Unplugged? What am I looking for?
Divergent was another series I saw like this, where it started out great but then quickly put all the weight of this massive war on the shoulders of a teen. Or at least made the teen one of the most influential members of the war, calling a lot of (if not all) the shots.Â
There are dozens of other ones I canât call to memory but Iâve read them in the past. Blocked them out for the sake of my faith in humanity. Itâs a huge favorite of YA novels to put real, world-changing, thousands-of-lives-affected responsibilities on the shoulders of a teen. I get that theyâre appealing to a younger audience, but it bothers me when they sacrifice character development and common sense for the sake of it.Â
Pascal Campion  -  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/3000moments/3000-moments  -  http://pascalcampion.blogspot.com.es/  -  http://pascalcampion.tumblr.com http://pascalcampion.deviantart.com  -  https://www.facebook.com/pascalcampionart  -  https://twitter.com/pascalcampion  -  https://www.behance.net/pascalcampion
Hi guys. Iâm going to piss off a lot of YA writers (and possibly readers) today, so hang onto your hats.
Mainly, if youâre in love with the idea of a high schooler with no strategic or combat experience heading up a revolution or war because theyâre âso dedicated and determined,â donât read this. Please, donât. Youâre not going to see anything you like. Go ahead and keep enjoying your guilty pleasure â thatâs fine. Iâm not going to own up to some of the guilty pleasures I love in fiction but donât buy for a second in real life. Thatâs chill. Go for it, man.
But there are just things that I â and readers like me â are tired of seeing. If youâre sick of that trope, then keep reading. If youâre open to the idea of ditching that trope in your writing, then I really recommend reading.
This assessment/collection of tips on why teens shouldnât run revolutions - and if youâre going to make them, how they CAN do it well - will include comparisons to history, other fiction (Unplugged), and Black Butler. Plus swearing and a range of incorrect capitalizations, because itâs fun.
Yeah... I don't recognize the anime as a good representation of the characters. It didn't touch on half of what was written here. The manga is excellent however.
Hi guys. Iâm going to piss off a lot of YA writers (and possibly readers) today, so hang onto your hats.
Mainly, if youâre in love with the idea of a high schooler with no strategic or combat experience heading up a revolution or war because theyâre âso dedicated and determined,â donât read this. Please, donât. Youâre not going to see anything you like. Go ahead and keep enjoying your guilty pleasure â thatâs fine. Iâm not going to own up to some of the guilty pleasures I love in fiction but donât buy for a second in real life. Thatâs chill. Go for it, man.
But there are just things that I â and readers like me â are tired of seeing. If youâre sick of that trope, then keep reading. If youâre open to the idea of ditching that trope in your writing, then I really recommend reading.
This assessment/collection of tips on why teens shouldnât run revolutions - and if youâre going to make them, how they CAN do it well - will include comparisons to history, other fiction (Unplugged), and Black Butler. Plus swearing and a range of incorrect capitalizations, because itâs fun.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Qualityâ Free Actions
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Hi guys. Iâm going to piss off a lot of YA writers (and possibly readers) today, so hang onto your hats.
Mainly, if youâre in love with the idea of a high schooler with no strategic or combat experience heading up a revolution or war because theyâre âso dedicated and determined,â donât read this. Please, donât. Youâre not going to see anything you like. Go ahead and keep enjoying your guilty pleasure â thatâs fine. Iâm not going to own up to some of the guilty pleasures I love in fiction but donât buy for a second in real life. Thatâs chill. Go for it, man.
But there are just things that I â and readers like me â are tired of seeing. If youâre sick of that trope, then keep reading. If youâre open to the idea of ditching that trope in your writing, then I really recommend reading.
This assessment/collection of tips on why teens shouldnât run revolutions - and if youâre going to make them, how they CAN do it well - will include comparisons to history, other fiction (Unplugged), and Black Butler. Plus swearing and a range of incorrect capitalizations, because itâs fun.
How do you feel about the hunger games? I feel like although itâs still unrealistic, Collins did strike a better balance than many other authors. Like, *minor spoilers* when in book two, Katniss has no effing clue about the plan at all. I mean, sheâs better at this than she should be, but sheâs not the best either?
Full disclosure, I only read the first book (wasnât super fond of the writing style, so didnât continue) and havenât gotten around to the last movie.
For being a teen leader and then being a combatant, letâs start my thoughts on the realism with the leader portion.
I think the Hunger Games cleverly dodged what other YA novels run face-first into. It made Katniss the figurehead of the revolution and not its real âleader.â She was being used by real leaders to motivate the people. She was surrounded by people who knew what the hell they were doing and was given guidance (other times blatantly manipulated, and she didnât have experience, so this was reasonable). From what I saw in the movies, she rarely â if ever â made judgment calls on what should be done, and it was always run through someone more qualified. She instead gave her opinion on what she thought SHOULD be done, and then either:
Backed down and accepted someone elseâs lead when she was shot down,
Or,
Listened to advice/corrections from people who knew their shit and improved her tactics for the future.
Having the protagonist acknowledge that theyâre completely unqualified and unprepared for the position gives them a lot of points. It lampshades the problem and demands a solution, rather than forcing readers to just go along with it like âOh, weâre doing this now? Uh⌠okay.â Black Butler did this too, with Ciel pointing out to Sebastian right away that he didnât even know the way home, let alone how his fatherâs title, duties, or estate was maintained.
The lampshaded problem has to be solved. Katniss DID get better with time, and it was made clear that she was a part OF the revolution, not its tactical leader. She was even inexperienced in being a figurehead, which was excellent, because what teenager (or adult, really) would be ready to answer the call if someone posed it out of the blue. Â
Though maybe she went Rambo and fixed the problem single handedly in the last movie, which blows my argument and respect out of the water.
As for her combat experience, I think the book made it pretty unrealistic that sheâd be able to handle a death match like she did. She got wicked points for avoiding most of the fighting and making her kills indirect. But taking down wild game isnât anything like taking down clever human beings â who are explicitly stated to be way better trained than you.
Thatâs another problem YA has. Combat with other humans? Extremely difficult and no one without training is going to do it well. If they win, itâs blind flailing and a hell of a lot of luck â and thatâs just against another inexperienced combatant.
But the movie shortened this and gave her less hurtles, so I buy into that version. It also developed her as a stronger personality who had the kind of determination required to take the STEPS necessary to be a better survivor/hunter, learn from other killers in the death match to improve herself, and improve those skills more when she came home before the second death match. (Donât even get me started with how the plot worked out in the second movie though⌠She was way too overpowered and her survival was way too hinged on luck.)
This is super fun! Iâd love to chat about this more if youâre interested. Have you seen/read Black Butler? Have you read Unplugged? Do you have any other books you want to ping opinions on win/fails back and forth about?
Hi guys. Iâm going to piss off a lot of YA writers (and possibly readers) today, so hang onto your hats.
Mainly, if youâre in love with the idea of a high schooler with no strategic or combat experience heading up a revolution or war because theyâre âso dedicated and determined,â donât read this. Please, donât. Youâre not going to see anything you like. Go ahead and keep enjoying your guilty pleasure â thatâs fine. Iâm not going to own up to some of the guilty pleasures I love in fiction but donât buy for a second in real life. Thatâs chill. Go for it, man.
But there are just things that I â and readers like me â are tired of seeing. If youâre sick of that trope, then keep reading. If youâre open to the idea of ditching that trope in your writing, then I really recommend reading.
This assessment/collection of tips on why teens shouldnât run revolutions - and if youâre going to make them, how they CAN do it well - will include comparisons to history, other fiction (Unplugged), and Black Butler. Plus swearing and a range of incorrect capitalizations, because itâs fun.
On we go:
A short message to the book, Unplugged:
You know why you have to be 18-years-old before they let you join the military in the U.S.? Because high schoolers shouldnât be allowed to even clean a machine thatâs being involved in war â let alone run the goddamn campaign. Youâve already proven beyond a shadow of doubt you canât handle the social battles of the school halls; how the hell are you going to handle the complexities of a war?
âŚUnplugged has me in a bit of a dither.
Why Teens and Children Shouldnât Be Allowed to Run Wars or Rebellions:Â
Your crush rejects you and your day (or days) is ruined. Someone says something mean to you and it not only requires four paragraphs (20 minutes to 2 hours) of reflecting, self-pitying, and self-doubt, but can possibly affect you chapters (days to weeks or even months) later.
What does this mean? You havenât learned how to compartmentalize yet. War requires compartmentalization! Dividing yourself from your seat of power; dividing your personal life from your professional life. Learning to put real and legitimate trials of the heart on the back burner because theyâre not a priority. Â
To the teen protagonist of Unplugged and plenty of teen protags like her: you got manipulated into offering up your body because your sister asked you nicely â the sister you havenât seen in over a decade and who just said to your face she was going to off you! Who cares if you love her or if there are emotional tugs. Youâre not grounded enough in your own standards and what you are and arenât willing to put up with to start a war! Youâre easily swayed!
Why Other Fiction Needs to Dodge This Problem:Â
Donât let this chick sit at a negotiation table; sheâll hand over the cause because someone appealed to her personal sense of morality. If you start a war, you better be so damn convinced of it that no counter argument could possibly sway you. If you think there exists a counter argument that could â then Donât. Start. The. Damn. War. Â
Or at the very least â donât be in charge of the damn war! Put someone far more convinced than you at the head of the army or cause! Someone more emotionally well balanced and founded who can handle the war as a general and not as a person. This isnât high school where weâre supposed to find our emotional foundation â you need to have it before you get started.
History and Real Teen or Child Rulers/Leaders/Conquerors:Â
But okay. Okay. Look back at history â there have been plenty of young rulers, leaders, and conquerors. Age doesnât matter in and of its self. But you know what the difference is?
Those teens were RAISED for the job. From age five or even younger, they were groomed to be exactly what they became â by people who already held the position theyâre achieving. Tribal warrior teen? Was taught how to kill and defend their village since they could walk. Conquering prince at the age of 10? He had a father, and a team of advisers, and countless other GENERALS, and KINGS, and GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS who TRAINED him since a young age. Not the most clichĂŠ suburban family ever! People who devoted their whole career to understanding the art of GOVERNMENT, and WAR, and RULING. Not people who attend Tupperware parties, talk about politics theyâve only heard about on TV â and as mere dinner conversation â and whose most defining characteristic is telling you to eat all your veggies because children in Africa would love to have that food (back at you, Unplugged).
Those child or teen leaders didnât learn social studies and history and math so maybe they could become a janitor, or an artist, or a doctor, or âwho knows, they have time to decide.â They learned social studies so they could understand how SOCIETY and HUMANS worked, so they could RULE them or CONQUER them. They learned history so they could take point from PREVIOUS RULERS AND CONQUERORS on how to do the job. They learned math so they could better form GOVERNMENT POLICY and STRATEGIZE in war. They accomplish the task of ruling and warring well because thatâs what theyâve specialized in for YEARS.
The point comes down to this: Why Time Counts:
Hereâs how it goes averagely: High schoolers do their high school thing, they hit 18, they join the military, they spend the next decade or so learning all that war shit and SLOWLY rising through the ranks as they PROVE themselves. As they gain EXPERIENCE. Most of it is spent doing push-ups, cleaning shit, and following express orders to the very T, because being a free-thinking individual doesnât work when there are lives and countries at stake and you donât have the EXPERIENCE yet to make a solid call on that kind of shit.
THEN after YEARS and even DECADES of experience, through which youâve watched the LEAD of others, you MAYBE get to be high ranking enough to make judgment calls. Or calls at all. After years of specialized practice, teaching, and training, you get to lead wars.
Thatâs the facts, jack.
So letâs say, for the sake of simplicity, it takes you ten years of this rigorous shit to earn that status.
Teen warriors in the past? Why do they get to do it as teens? Because they are 14 and they âjoinedâ when they were fucking four. Not 18. So they donât have to be 28 before that shit happens because they GOT THEIR 10 YEARS IN EARLY. NOW theyâre ready to lead.
Modern day high schooler protagonist? Youâre 16, or EVEN 18, and you havenât had any of those 10 years. Even if you just had one year of experience, ITâS NOT 10. You are a four-year-old in the eyes of that 14-year-old historical conquer as far as experience goes. That 14-year-old is 28 in your eyes as far as experience goes.
Why Maturity Matters, and How You Can Have a Child Body But an Adult Mind:
By the time youâre 28, youâre probably passed the teen romance and âfinding yourselfâ state. NOW youâre qualified.
That 14-year-old historical leader? Didnât even start that. Cut that whole portion out of their life. They went from four to 18 with no middle ground at all, and hit the tarmac running. That is the trade-off of being a child leader.
Want your teen romance and soul searching time? Thatâs good. Do that. But donât expect to run a war at the same time because those two things need to be COMPLETELY REMOVED FROM ONE ANOTHER.
Is it sad that kid didnât get a childhood? Sure. But thatâs the trade-off of running a war at 14. You can fit an adult brain in a childâs body, but that means you have to get rid of the childâs brain. If you want to be a childâs age and still be a leader, then you need to get rid of the CHILD MENTALITY. Adults run wars. Children donât run wars. So that 14-year-old becomes an insta-adult.
Does this fuck someone up? It can. It really can. So if you think itâs going to fuck you up, wait until youâre older. If you think itâs going to fuck up someone you know? Donât let them start a war, and/or hand the war off to someone else and let the kid continue in their childhood.
Experience, Experience, Experience:
Dear teen protag, youâre not even out of high school, and as early as last week your biggest worry was, âDoes my crush know I exist?â AND NOW YOUâRE TELLING ME YOUâRE READY TO BE THE BEST GENERAL THERE EVER WAS? AND SPEARHEAD A REVOLUTION?
Determination is all fine and dandy, sweetheart, thatâs great. BUT PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE THIS THEIR WHOLE LIFE ARE GOING TO TRUMP THE EVER LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU. Maybe theyâre not as determined as you. Maybe theyâre not even as dedicated as you. But put someone who plays Monopoly every day, all day, and has for years, up against someone whoâs NEVER played but REALLY wants to win.
Who is going to manage their money better? Who is going to know which properties are really valuable? Whoâs going to talk you out of your properties, and then have no problem being cut-throat in trading in return because THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN? Who knows how to drag out the game until youâre so bored and confused that you mess up or quit? The player who plays every day is used to the rules and used to PLAYING the other PLAYERS. If they didnât, THEY WOULDNâT PLAY MONOPOLY SO MUCH.
You. Need. Experience. You canât even become a doctor without years of training and specialized practice. You canât even become a JANITOR without experience. You might be able to bullshit your way through an interview to become a janitor, and be a damn fine one once you have, but this is fucking war. Against enemies who are better prepared, have been better prepared for LONGER, and have experience on you. The stakes are higher and people are specifically hunting for your failures. You are going to lose and people are going to die for it. Congrats.
You Need to Be Emotionally Well-Balanced, and Bounce Back:
Hi, Unplugged and similar protagonists, me again.
Youâre too susceptible to shock. Your heart rises to your throat every time something bad happens or youâre caught off guard. Bull. You need to have a âI didnât predict that, but Iâm not surprisedâ mentality for everything.
Itâs okay to not see things coming. Itâs okay if it catches you off guard sometimes. But you need to never be SURPRISED. Surprised means you NEVER CONSIDERED EVEN THE POSSIBILITY. Even if you didnât know what that possibility was, know that there is an unknown factor you didnât account for â and leave some room for overflow just in case!
You know whoâs capable of that? People with an adult-level of maturity in their brains. Tell a kid that the bills wonât be made that month. Kid will flip the fuck out. Crying, worrying, trouble sleeping, sickness even. Canât handle it. Just canât handle that responsibility or that stress or that fear.
Why does your mom not act like this if the paycheck is short for the bills? Because she may not have expected it â she may panic a little â but she isnât shocked by the idea that money can be short, that work can be short, that bills can sometimes be missed. Itâs not a mind blowing concept.
Sheâs. Learned. How. To. Manage. Stress. Sheâs learned to anticipate problems, and create a savings, or negotiate with the landlord, or get another job. She has the forethought to be able to look and find the solution rather than drowning in the now. Drowning in the now causes you to make decisions for NOW, not the FUTURE.
Thatâs why MOMS are in charge of the bills. Thatâs why CHILDREN are not. Your teen protagonistâs mom is probably better equipped to run the revolution than them. Which brings me to the next point:
Striking the Teen or Child Leader Balance: TEACHERS and SUPPORT:
Give Them Qualified Teaches â and Donât Bully-ify Them
You want a child or teen revolutionary leader? Cool. Give them experience from the start.
Want a teen with no experience before the moment the war started? DONâT PUT THEM IN CHARGE OF IT.
If youâre going to put them in charge of it, SURROUND THEM BY PEOPLE WHO KNOW WHAT THE HELL THEYâRE DOING.
Then make the teachers have an invested interest in TEACHING THEM, not just proving them wrong. Sure, maybe theyâll be resentful as shit that some cosmic reason has put the kid in charge and not them, but after that, theyâll start MOLDING the child to be as good as THEY wouldâve been. Why? Because if they werenât capable of putting their own emotions aside and both evaluating and pursing what was best for the CAUSE or the WAR, they wouldnât be in their position of power!
Donât Make Them Better Than Their Teachers
Having all the qualified people ooh and awe about how much smarter the kid is than them doesnât give them legitimacy. Having the kid trump them at everything beyond the odds doesnât add legitimacy. It makes those âqualified peopleâ look stupid.
They wouldnât be qualified if a kid could trump them in the first, second, or third try. One of those teachers was once the prodigy if theyâre in charge of teaching you, the causesâs next leader and final great hope. Now theyâre 40 and still a prodigy. They have 25 years and that prodigy-ness on you. Theyâre better than you. The teacher has to be better than the student to explain why the student is improving at all. Donât have the kid blow them out of the water at every turn.
If the kid knocks a ball out of the park against the predictions of the other generals, make it RARE, and EXCEPTIONAL, and something others acknowledge as JUST THAT. Make it âyouâll make a great general SOME DAY with that attitude.â âYou made a good call THIS TIME, kid.â âYouâre going to be better than me WHEN YOUâRE MY AGE.â Donât make their moment of rare triumph an immediate shift of power from those older, more experienced, and more qualified.
Nobody is Suddenly Expert Level at Something
You like high school YA stories? Great! Letâs put it in that context.
Instead of one teacher vs. 30 students, you have 30 teachers vs. your own main character student. Their lives hinge on making sure that kid gets as smart as them.
How ridiculous would it be if a 2nd grader was thrown in a class and they just KNEW math without ever once doing a problem before? Better yet, they know it better than their nuclear physicist of a teacher after a month? No. Donât do that.Â
If after a few months of lessons, the teacher says to do the problems with ONE FORMULA, and the kid messes around with a NEW FORMULA and gets the SAME ANSWER â then good for the kid! The kid will get accolades and acknowledgment that they did something right all by themselves against the odds. Great.
Then they use the formula for something else and get the wrong answer. Thatâs natural. Thereâs a reason the teacher uses one formula. Thatâs fine. Theyâre still learning. BUT THEY SHOULDNâT TRUMP THEIR TEACHER AFTER A FEW TRIES, and NOT EVERY SINGLE TIME GOING FORWARD.
They Can Be Ahead of the Game â But Canât Win the Game Immediately
After six years of lessons from that nuclear physicist, maybe theyâre as good as a college freshmen. Sure, because theyâve had specialized training from a super qualified professional(s). Iâll buy that. But first there has to be TRAINING, and TIME, and by the RIGHT PEOPLE.
You can make your kid character a prodigy â but what is the thing about prodigies? They find a mentor and excel like hell. There arenât prodigies who just can DO math without someone ever showing them numbers. There arenât prodigies who can play the piano well without ever even listening or watching someone else play. They do better than normal, but they donât become great or successful without some direction from others.
Surround your character with talented people â lots of them â and give them years to learn. THEN, yes, you will springboard them ahead of the norm. An 18-year-old soldier fresh from high school, with normal training and teaching, is not going to be at 20 what someone who has had specialized focus from the top minds since 18 will be.
Point in Practice:
Black Butler
Look at Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler.
The kid is 10 when he starts his goal to become an Earl, with absolutely zero experience â even in tying his own shoes. Not just an Earl, but also an Earl the Queen trusts to handle shit she canât trust anyone else with. Complicated shit. Shit involving bad guys that are way more experienced, resourceful, and talented than even the Queenâs top guys. Tall order, right?
How does Ciel achieve this position realistically in two years?
He has a 5,000 year old demon with crazy vast knowledge who decided to make him its fucking pet project. It also has magic on its side to make sure its TEACHING abilities are SUPER ON POINT (note that itâs about its TEACHING abilities, not its âbibbity, bobbity, boo, Iâve expanded your brain capacity and infused you with all the knowledge you needâ magic. Itâs going to TEACH HIM, so itâs made ITSELF the BEST TEACHER in existence). Cool. Youâre ALLOWED to USE WORLD BUILDING to your advantage, but use it REALISTICALLY.
Ciel now has an ADVANTAGE over other people in his position. World building has made sure he has 50 super EXPERIENCED and TALENTED and SMART teachers smashed into ONE creature whose purpose in life for the next few years is making sure HEâS PREPARED AND QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB.
BUT GUESS WHAT? It still takes TIME. And DEDICATION. And EFFORT. Not dedication in achieving the goal he wants to complete when heâs done â BUT DEDICATION TO GETTING READY TO EVEN HAVE A SHOT AT IT.
Cielâs school days become 24/7. In isolation. For two whole years (technically one and a half, but the training doesnât stop there. It continues more lightly for a total of three years). Super smart demon dude has his UNDIVIDED ATTENTION for YEARS. And heâs mercilessly rigorous on him. Corporal punishment if he doesnât pick something up well or if he messes up. Gives him MOTIVATION to IMPROVE not only because he has NO OTHER CHOICE because of ISOLATION. Not only because he WANTS to be QUALIFIED to achieve his goal. But also because the demon makes it PAINFUL and DANGEROUS not to improve. Â
Part two? FOCUSED TRAINING! Demon dude didnât teach him how to tie his shoes, or make his own breakfast, or even how to bath himself. That was all fluff and nonsense cut out to make room for the skills and knowledge he needed to be QUALIFIED FOR HIS TARGET POSITION OF POWER. Demon dude handled all that fluff HIMSELF, so Cielâs brain was vacant enough to be filled with JUST THE SHIT HE NEEDED.
Ciel had no romances. He had no friends. He had no time to sunbath or read for fun or take a day off. The VERY DAY after he made his deal â WHILE HE WAS STILL INJURED, STARVED, AND MALNOURISHED â his INTENSE training began.
Part three: The kid gave up his childhood or even the thought of HAVING or WANTING a childhood so he could do this. He dumped the child mentality entirely. He dumped that perspective on maturity completely. He aimed immediately for adulthood and started acting like an adult. He became an adult MENTALLY, because you can have a child body and an adult mind if YOU WANT IT and if you FORCE IT TO HAPPEN. He accepted teaching on how to be an adult from a creature that was 5,000 years old â and learned to be a ruthless one at that. His determination was on something that would ACTUALLY IMPROVE HIM and make him QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB. ONLY AN ADULT COULD DO THE JOB so he MADE himself AN ADULT.
Why did Ciel make this happen REALISTICALLY in TWO YEARS even though he was TEN YEARS OLD?
Because his training was INTENSE ON ONLY WHAT HE NEEDED. His training was CONSTANT AND ALL-ENCOMPASSING OF HIS LIFE. And he had someone MORE THAN QUALIFIED THAT WAS TEACHING HIM WITH AN EXTREME DEDICATION TO MAKING SURE HE COULD DO THE JOB. Not to mention that he made himself an adult and put an end to any scrap of that child level of himself.
The demon is STILL smarter than him. The demon STILL ties his shoes, helps him make judgment calls, and does all his fighting for him, because:
Thereâs a reason Sebastian was so qualified to teach Ciel. Thereâs no way Ciel is going to reach the demonâs level without all of Sebastianâs knowledge and EXPERIENCE earned through TIME.
Sebastian didnât train him to BE AN ALL POWERFUL, SUPER TALENTED, UNSTOPPABLE DEMON. He trained him to be AN EARL capable of doing WHAT THE QUEEN WANTED and only what THAT JOB needed. If he trained Ciel to become a demon of his caliber, it WOULD NOT have happened in two years (or at all, since world building dictated just that, but also) because it didnât happen for SEBASTIAN in that time.
If you want your character to be exceptional, then you need exceptional reasons for it. Not that theyâre a special snowflake â but that real world EXCEPTIONAL things happened to EQUIP them for that! The EFFORT it took to be exceptional has to MATCH the level of EXCEPTIONAL the CHARACTER IS. Â
Letâs say it louder for the people in the back:
The EFFORT it took TO BE EXCEPTIONAL has to MATCH THE LEVEL of EXCEPTIONAL the CHARACTER IS. Â
Again!
THE EFFORT IT TOOK TO BE EXCEPTIONAL HAS TO MATCH THE LEVEL OF EXCEPTIONAL THE CHARACTER IS. Â
Prodigy means âbetter off than others.â Not âalready accomplished the goal.â You might have a head start, but you still have to run the damn race.
The race to being qualified enough to head a damn revolution!
In Closing:Â
Thereâs a reason revolutions today arenât led by 16-year-olds. Thereâs a reason why real child soldiers donât act anything like children. If you want to have a YA novel with a teen or child heading a revolution, then be aware that TEENS AND CHILDREN DONâT DO THAT. If they do that, theyâre not teens or children anymore. Theyâre adults in young bodies. That transition requires a great deal of effort and changes both their personality and their approach to life.
Furthermore, even after their hurdle, not getting slaughtered in a war means being good at warring. You donât get good at warring easily, quickly, or without guidance. âDeterminationâ is not an explanation for why someone is capable of something. That explains WHY they took the STEPS to BECOMING capable. The STEPS need to make sense. Make your character take STEPS.
This has been a rant. Hope you enjoyed it, found it useful, found it funny, or, if you didnât heed my first warning â will keep all your death threats grammatically correct.
kianamaiart
areudirty
titsay
gracieabrams
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
baratheonpilled
