#jamialexandra7

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

I assume that you're an excellent artist and v resilient, and that you care a whole lot about people! :)

Well, I wouldn’t say excellent, but I like to consider myself an artist.

I’m resilient up to a point, but then I just shut down for a while until I can cope again.

I care very deeply about the people I care about, if that makes sense. Like my friends, or people I meet, and so on. But random people I’ll never know, I’m rather indifferent to.

[scriptstructure]

I haven't quite decided which way to go yet, so what are your thoughts on splitting novels into parts as well as chapters? Do you have any advice on where and why to make the splits? Thanks! :)

I have a post [HERE] about what chapters are and how they are used to divide a story, and I have a post [HERE] about why you may or may not worry about chapter divisions during a first draft.

As to splitting novels into ‘parts’, this is something that often signifies that the story shifts radically in the way it is being told. Often it means there is a change of POV, a shift in time, or place, or an alternate view of events. Sometimes the one story begins in one place, a discrete narrative arc is resolved, and then the story, still unfinished, continues from a point slightly removed from the events of the first narrative arc.

I’ll do a little example of the way a story could be broken up into discrete arcs using differentiated ‘parts’ within the novel:

We’ll do a story about a person searching for meaning in their own personal history.

Part One

Our protagonist begins life in an orphanage, life is rough, and she has many frightening and difficult things to deal with. She is preoccupied with the question of who her parents were and why they left her, and spends a good deal of this narrative arc avoiding bullies, among both the other children, and the staff. She develops a fear of the basement storage area, and part one culminates in her being frightened by a monster in the basement.

Part Two

As an adult, our protagonist is trying to live her best ‘normal’ life. She is dating, and she has a good job, she works hard and has friends, though she is often anxious that something will go wrong and she’ll slip back into the kind of poverty that she experienced after her rough start in life. Nonetheless, she decides she must confront the things from her past that haunt her, and she returns to the (now abandoned) orphanage, to try and piece together the strange memories she has, and find any evidence that might lead her to finding her long lost family.

With the building long empty, there is little to discover except a few scraps of documents which were somehow overlooked, and the character wanders the halls, recalling her childhood and remembering details of some of the things she wishes to learn more about. She finds a clue as to where she should continue her search.

Part Three

The hunt progresses, as our protagonist digs deeper and deeper into the murky depths of her past, she begins to let things slip in her life. Her friends find it difficult to reach her, and even her work colleagues notice that something is going on. She spends her weekends tracking down former orphanage employees and speaking to those who agree to meet her, she takes sick days to further her investigation, she misses events that are important to her, as she is consumed by her search.

As she searches, more frightening memories surface, and she needs to find out for herself if the monsters that she remembers now, were real. Her ‘normal’ life is on the brink of crisis, and she is desperate and haunted and just as it seems that she will sacrifice everything in a fruitless endeavour, she discovers a disturbing truth that shifts our perspective and understanding of the horrors she experienced in childhood.

In this example, the three parts demark shifts in narrative direction, the atmosphere of each will have a slightly different feeling, the protagonist’s focus will be concentrated on different things, and the world around the protagonist will be shown through different lenses.

I read a book recently called Niceville by Carsten Stroud, which combines a magical realist/ ghost story narrative with a straight criminal investigation narrative, as well as a heist story. It has five parts, as well as chapters, and each part covers a discrete time period of interconnected events from the various narratives that are ongoing.

The first part details a child disappearance, and the investigation which one of the protagonists undertakes.

The second part begins one year later, in the midst of a bank heist.

The successive two parts detail the weekend, over the course of which all of the narrative threads weave together and are largely resolved.

The final part wraps up the plot elements that were left dangling and details how some previously unresolved plot points have now become relevant and understood.

This novel handled the parts in a very interesting way, as each one began as though it was kicking off a new story, and then delved back into how the events occurring were linked to events from the previous parts. It really helped developed the thematic elements of the novel concerning the interconnectedness of small town life, and the way that historical family secrets have a way of unearthing themselves.

Like chapters, parts are a method of marking shifts within the narrative, and of indicating that certain narrative elements are being ‘wrapped up’ and that the story will change gears and move on. It can be used to mark a time skip, POV shift, and many other things besides.

I hope that helps!

[hudders-and-hiddles]

Hi! I'm thinking about pitching an event to my uni's pride group, and I was wondering if you had any advice for writing a proposal? I've been googling, but all I'm getting is advice for professional planners 😅 thanks!!!!♡

Hi! I’m going to put my reply under a cut because, as usual, I wrote a novel...

I will at least preface this by saying that I don’t have to write proposals for my events because they’re set things that occur every year (whether I want them to or not, lol), so this advice is coming less from a practical this is what i put in my proposals place and more from an as someone who works in higher ed and has a master’s degree in this, these are the kinds of things I know people would be looking for place.

What an organization and the university administrators responsible for it want to know about an event are the 5W1Hs--who, what, where, when, why, and how. 

Therefore, the first thing you need to include would be a description of the events and the basic logistics of it. What is the event? Who will it target? What kind of space do you need, and where on campus would you recommend holding it based on that? Do you need chairs? Tables? Computers? A projector? Other supplies? How many people would you expect to show up? Cover all of the who, what, where, and when questions as best you can. (The when is the only one you might not really need to answer here, unless there’s something specific you would need timing-wise, like it has to be at night, it has to be in the winter, it’s celebrating the anniversary of something, etc.)

Next, cover the how--how is the organization going to be able to make this event happen--which mostly much comes down to money. Because of the way the budgeting process works, student groups often have very little that they can spend on events they haven’t already planned out, which means that you’ll need to break down how much you expect that the event will cost them, or at least tell them specifically what they would have to spend money on. Is there a speaker, who they’d have to pay? Are they going to need to pay for the rights to show a film? Are they going to be providing refreshments? Will they need to pay to print flyers to advertise the event? etc. Along with that, I would also indicate some expectation of the group members needed to run the event--would they just need someone to coordinate it, or is it something more involved where 5 or 10 or 20 people would be needed to hand out materials or be actively involved in some other way?

Then you need to tackle the why. Why would this event be beneficial to your university? Why is this something the group should spend their resources on? Think in terms of outcomes--what are students who attend the event going to learn by attending? If you need ideas about what kinds of things you might say here, check out the Council for Advancement of Standards in Higher Education’s Learning and Development Outcomes (try the chart on pgs. 5-6 of this pdf). You don’t have to phrase them this same way, but this at least will give you an idea of the kind of things that universities are actively trying to encourage in their students and therefore might be looking for in an event proposal. If the group itself has some sort of mission statement or list of goals that you have access to, that would also definitely be a good thing to use as a guide, especially if you can cherry-pick some key words from them to use in your proposal.

The last thing I would say is to try to answer all of the above as briefly as possible. Even though I’ve written a giant essay here, lol, if you write pages and pages for your proposal, it’s quite possible they won’t even read most of it, so cover everything as concisely as possible. “I’d like to propose that your organization host [x] event. [Describe the event.] It would need to be held in a space large enough for 40 people and that has enough tables and chairs for all attendees, such as [whatever example room/hall]. A projector would also be helpful but isn’t entirely necessary. The materials that would need to be provided include paper and pens for 40 attendees, as well as flyers to advertise the event to students beforehand. Refreshments could be provided but aren’t essential. Three to four people would be needed to hand out materials and guide small group discussions. I think this event would be beneficial to the university because it would encourage students to better understand their personal identity and their place within a larger culture, as well as provide students with practice on communicating respectfully and effectively about sensitive topics.” Obviously feel free to expand on any of these areas as needed, particularly the why section and the actual description of the event, but a few paragraphs should still definitely be enough to cover all that. 

I would wrap it all up with some indication of how you’re willing to help with the event (assuming that you are actually willing to help) and how they can contact you if they have questions or want to discuss the idea further.

I hope that helps! Good luck!

[consultingwives]

@jamialexandra7 replied to your post “first person narratives are so important when forming kids ideas and...”

Persepolis is soo good!!

have you seen the movie? 

[practicefortheheart]

jamialexandra7 answered your question “I have two more hours of work - long long day how are you all doing,...”

I just got a new laptop, and I'm really pleased with it :)

Ahhh, nice!! Don’t be like me: I dropped mine within days! (it still works perfectly though!) 

[anthonytheshuhite]

jamialexandra7 hat auf deine Bilderserie geantwortet “I don’t know why this just happened and it’s awful timing (look at my...”

All bums are good bums :) ����

@jamialexandra7 :) <3 <3

[queerzaza]

Hi Zaza! You probably don't remember bc you help so many people, but a little more than a year ago you helped talk me through some of the questions I had about my sexuality and helped me realise I'm gay. It’s been a year since I came out on fb and despite having depression I'm really happy about it😊 now it's 2am and I'm feeling sentimental, so I just wanted to say thank you again ♡

i do actually remember, Jami! tho i can’t believe it’s already been a year! time sure flies, all the more reason we should appreciate the moments we’ve got. so i revel in your happy and hope you’re getting the help you deserve for your depression. you are so welcome and if you ever need me again, you kno where to find me! congrats and keep fighting, turtledove.

[liddrose]

jamialexandra7 replied to your post: i googled why do my vibrators keep dying and...

Is the battery removable? You could maybe replace that instead of the whole vibe?

no it’s the motor not the battery