Revenge of Gaia - Why the Earth is Fighting Back and I can't Finish this Assignment.

I've gone mad.

I've been trying to write this stupid Environmental creative piece for so long that it's made me bonkers. I can barely type any more.

Let me give you some background info on this assignment. It has to be 2000 words long, easy enough, or so you would think. It has to be inspired by one or more of the four set texts, of which I didn't finish reading. That's right, I confess, I didn't finish reading any of them! That probably explains why I'm finding this so difficult. Also, it has be handed in on Tuesday, in five days time. So that's three reasons for why I'm still awake at 2 in the morning. And yes, I could be writing the assignment instead of writing this, but I need a break at some point, right? Right?

Okay, let me put the sane head on. Take a deep breath and calm down...

I've been writing this piece for over three hours now. I was finding it difficult so I decided to just do some free writing and see where it went. I thought of the premise this morning while I was in shower (ideas come at random times) and started it this afternoon. It's supposed to be inspired by The Revenge of Gaia - Why the Earth is Fighting Back and How We Can Still Save Humanity by James Lovelock. The couple of pages I did actually read were about Earth and how we have destroyed it, yaddah yaddah. I found the book preachy and somewhat boring, so I never finished it. You can just tell by the title what it's going to be like!

The idea of my piece was literally the Earth fighting back. The Earth is living and starts serving us with every natural disaster possible, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, everything! Only it started sounding a bit like a Day After Tomorrow or 2012 spin-off, with endless disaster after disaster. I'm not sure if it is something my lecturer will appreciate. Oh, also, plants become poisonous. I know that sounds a bit like that film The Happening where plants start being deadly and evil but that wasn't my intention. Anyway, eventually, after 1000 words of disaster drivel I actually came to some sort of plot. A boy that survives all this stuff. Him being able to survive the toxic plants reminds me of I Am Legend, you know, where he is immune to the crazy vampire disease, but again not my intention. That just slipped through as I read the book recently (that's right, it was a book first). So, the boy survives the disasters and poisonous plants and meets a woman who is also immune, and works at CERN, which was (conveniently) prepared for all these chaotic events. Together they travel to CERN and...something happens.

I haven't got that far yet.

I'm totally stumped. All together it's 2787 words, way over the limit, and it's no where near an ending.
I thought maybe if I wrote this blog post out an ending would come to me, but nothing has so far. This piece has changed from pathetic ramblings to at least a 30,000 word novel. I wanted to go with my original Revenge of Gaia piece but I couldn't stretch it out to 2000 words. I think my best option right now is to go to bed. Maybe I'll dream up a good ending. If not I may have to start again. Or maybe I'll post it here and you can give me a few pointers.

Anyway, wish me luck!

That Sinking Feeling...

It doesn't seem likely but the night time is the most inspiring time. It's when I'm lying in bed, desperately trying to sleep, that most of my ideas jump out at me. It is also a time of realisation. And last night I finally realised what a comment on a certain piece of coursework meant. For one of my sketches The Armani Assassin I wrote a somewhat ambiguous ending. I wanted to keep the audience guessing. But I now realise that sketches are supposed to be self-contained pieces. They have to make sense on their own. I was kind of writing as if it would be part of a bigger story. But that's wrong. And the piece has already been handed in and marked...

This is why I try not to think of my writing once it has been handed in as I always realise what I could have done better. I am really dreading getting my grades back at the moment, particularly my Fiction for Children piece. If I get a rubbish mark for it I am going to feel really dejected and my enthusiasm for my ECP is going to plummet. I want to write a Young Adult Novel for my ECP and if I'm crap at writing for children then what's the point?

It's only a week away and I guess the nerves are building. It doesn't help that I still have three assignments to complete and hand in by next Tuesday. I love being at home but it is not an inspiring place to write. I'm too lazy here.

But positive thinking, that will help get me through it! I might post some drafts of these three assignments so tell me what you think. Work shopping is key!

Jacqueline Wilson's Lola Rose

This is somewhat of a rant, so apologies. I recently reread Jacqueline Wilson's Lola Rose, which was one of my favourite books as a young teenager. It's about a young girl, Jayni, and her family. After her mum wins the lottery (£10,000) Jayni, her younger brother Kenny, and her mum run away from the  abusive dad who beats up Jayni's mum regularly. Once they run away they start a new life and Jayni chooses a new name, Lola Rose. Sadly, it's not as easy as they expected and many bad things befall them, especially when the lottery money runs out. Anyway, you can read it if you really want.

Here comes the ranty bit.

So, I thought I would reread it as I have read quite a few adult books recently, not necessarily hard but ones that can be a bit wearing, basically Dan Brown. It's nice to take a break and read something easy, and you don't get any easier than children's books. I have only kept a few of my Jacqueline Wilson books, mainly the more young adult ones. As Lola Rose was one of my favourites I was excited to read it again. When I was younger I always thought that Lola Rose was about 12 - 13 years old. I was surprised when halfway through the book it is said that she was going to primary school with her brother. Primary school? She's only in year six? That makes her 10 going on 11. No way. Her voice sounds like she is at least a teenager. I thought Wilson always had a child's voice to a T but I'm starting to doubt it now.

When Lola Rose arrives at her new year six class her first thoughts are 'I thought I was quite tall but lots of the girls were much bigger than me, and so grown-up! They wore tight designer tops that showed their figures, and they had elaborate plaited hairstyles and nose rings and fantastic fingernails.' Now, this may be a reflection of where the school is located; I imagine London children might be more grown-up than the kids are where I live in Devon. If not, then why are these ten year old girls wearing figure showing clothes and have piercings? That's a bit worrying to me.

In the first chapter her mum wins the lottery. Lola Rose, or Jayni as she's called then, says that they shouldn't tell dad as he'll just spend it or ruin it. She then says she always has to be the sensible one in the family. It seems weird that a ten year old is more mature than a mother.

Lola Rose is also already obsessed with her weight. What kind of ten year old is worried about their weight? She talks about how good looking her ex-model mum is, she then goes on to say 'I've tried locking the bathroom door and stripping down to my knickers and trying out some of those poses myself. I look  ridiculous. I'm as tall as my mum but I haven't got a proper figure. It doesn't go in and out in the right places.' Does that really sound like something a ten year old says? I don't think I even considered those types of things at that age. After her dad hits her, spurring them to finally run away, Jayni says 'My teeth felt funny too. I hoped they weren't going to fall out. Still, it might make my cheeks look hollow.' Why would a child care about their fat face? It's crazy.

Another passage says that she is getting too big for children's clothes and they buy her a new jackets from the women's section, which implies that she is not a child any more. She also buys a pair of new shoes. 'Oh, those new shoes - wonderful, strappy sling-back stilettos for Mum and my first pair of proper grown-up heels too. They were only little heels but I still couldn't cross the room in them without twisting my ankles.' Do children care much about shoes, it seems more like a teenager obsession.

Lola Rose knows a lot about sex and relationships too. A bit too much. When her mum has a fling with a footballer Lola Rose knows it is wrong and has to tell her mum to stop before her dad finds out and does something bad. Once her mum gets a job at a pub she seems to get chummy with the pub owner.  Lola Rose doesn't like this and says 'It sounds like this Barry guy is more interested in your nice bum.' A bit of an adult comment. Then her mum gets a new boyfriend Jake. Lola Rose states 'I wasn't in any hurry to meet him. I was very glad that we only had one bedroom , and Kendell and I were sprawled right across the only bed.' It would never have crossed my ten year old mind that adults did naughty things on a bed. Lola Rose even puts on a lot of make-up, she knows how to apply it better than I do now, and goes out in her mum's clothes to meet boys. She even wants to snog. I'm pretty sure at that age boys are still icky.

I'm not sure if this is a statement on what a bad parent the mum is or what, but she often leaves Lola Rose on her own for long periods of time. Is this a usual thing for mums to do? My mum never left me alone at night when I was ten but then some others might have. I may just have a nice mum.

Now you tell me, does this sound like something a ten year old would say; 'You've been down the pub drinking while I've been worrying myself sick wondering where you are!' Is this just Wilson trying to get across that Lola Rose is very grown-up, because she's made her point heavily. Obviously, Lola Rose had to grow up quickly because her mum wasn't being very grown up but it seems to be getting a bit ridiculous now.

The worst thing to happen in the book is Lola Rose's mum gets breast cancer. I don't think I knew what cancer was at her age. I mean, I probably heard of it before but Lola Rose seems to know everything about it, like how bad it is and what could happen. It surprised me a bit.

There are so many examples of a much older voice in this book and I can't mention them all. I'm planning on doing a young adult novel for my Extended Creative Piece (the Creative Writing version of a dissertation) and I always thought Wilson's work was a good example of how to write a child's voice. I not so sure any more. Or maybe being a ten year old is a lot different to how I remembered it. I will have to read more of Wilson's work again to gage if all of them have off-putting voices.

Character Profile Sheet - Maggie

Character Profile Sheets seem to be very popular at the moment and I did say I would do another one for a new character. So here is a character profile for my new character Maggie, not to be confused with Margaret Jones. I won't bother explaining her or her story as hopefully the profile will. I may make my own character profile as this one feels a bit lacking. I might combine the two that I already have. Some of the headings don't apply to some characters though; like Princess Prudence from Royalteen doesn't have a favourite TV programme as she doesn't even have a TV. I think I prefer my other character profile sheet, which can be found here. Anyway, enjoy finding out about my new character Maggie. 

Basic
Character's Name: Maggie, short for Marjorie. It's a bit embarrassing.  
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: March 18th
Age: 16 going on 17
Marital Status: Single, always have been. But it doesn't really bother me. I think I'm going to be a career woman rather than a housewife.
Nationality: British, but my Dad is part French, hence the awful name.
Social Class: Probably working to middle, but Mum says class doesn't matter, it's just society trying to control us. Right.
Morals: Those are pretty hard to write down aren't they? I would say I am somewhat environmentalist, is that a moral? I'm not one of those crazy environmentalists though, just world concious. My parents are the more dedicated type. It can be a little embarrassing sometimes. They always seem to have an opinion on everything.
Ambitions: My short-term ambition is to become head writer on the school newspaper. You may think that sounds a bit naff but my long-term ambition is to become a big time journalist, and I have to start somewhere. I've been working on the paper for a while, nearly two years now, and this year I am planning on going for the head writer's position. I only have a little column, Maggie's Messages. It's a column about world problems and what we can do to help. I just discuss the rainforest, pollution, human rights, charities, those sorts of things. I sometimes worry people may think I'm pious. I'm not, I guess my parent's interests have rubbed off on me after all. 

Education: Obviously I went to primary school. I have been at the same mixed secondary school for the past six years as it's also a sixth-form college. It's all right, I mean, it gets outstanding from Ofsted, but what does that really say?  Most sixth-form colleges get to wear their own clothes but we still have uniforms. The grey pleated skirt, blouse, and a navy cardigan or jumper. I do feel a bit like I'm going to a fifties boarding school sometimes.
Favourite Subject: It has to be English, particularly the creative side not necessarily the essays and exams. I don't mind Social Studies either, everyone else seems to hate it though.
Most Hated Subject: I confess, I'm rubbish at Art, Science, and Maths. I don't really like Drama or Sports but at least I'm not awful at them.
Family Background: So, my Dad is part French, my Grandmother was from France, and he lived and studied there. That's where my Mum and Dad actually met. My Mum was doing some sort of protest about fashion, skinny models, sweatshop clothing or something. While protesting my Mum bumped into my Dad who was only out doing his shopping. They saw each other across the rioting crowd and knew it was love. They used to tell me the story all the time but I think they realised that I didn't find it that interesting. Who wants to hear about their parents getting together, really? 

We're not really in touch with my Grandparents any more. My Dad's Mum is frail and can't really travel from France, and I don't think my Dad's too bothered about seeing her either. She can be a bit snooty. My Mum's parents didn't appreciate her 'radical' ways. They all fell out when she was a teenager. I think I've seen them once or twice throughout my whole life. Both my parents were single children so I don't even have any aunties, uncles or cousins. And unsurprisingly I'm a single child myself. It can get pretty lonely. And don't think I'm the spoilt type, I'd be lucky to get anything from my parents; all my clothing comes from charity shops, though  I don't tell anyone.


Physical Appearance 
Height: I think I'm about 5 ft 6 inches? I haven't done my height in a while. We have a height chart in the kitchen, on the door frame, that has all my heights from when I was five years old. I'm just an average height person.
Weight: Geez, I don't know. I don't even think about weighing myself. I'm not one of those girls who's obsessed with looks and all that stuff. I just know that I'm not obese and that's good enough.
Hair Colour: Brown, relatively dark but in  the summer it goes lighter. It's shoulder length and very curly around the bottom. If I were to have it any shorter I would probably have an afro. I understand that I could do more with it, but I find it easier to just wear a headband and be done with it.

Eye Colour: Simply ordinary blue. Nothing particularly special.
Tattoos or Piercings: My parents are pretty lenient but I still don't think they would like me getting a tattoo. I don't have my ears pierced as I've never been fussed about jewellery.
Any Other Info: Do glasses count as Other Info? I'm long sighted so I only wear them while I write or read, which is a lot. They're not dorky ones or anything, probably the most stylish thing about me, my parents didn't make me get them from a charity shop, thank goodness!


Personal Information
Hobbies or Pastimes: So, you've probably gathered that I like to write. I also like to read, and I like to watch films too. My parents prefer independent or foreign films, but I don't mind any genre, just not too keen on horrors.
Favourite Films: Oh, this links to the last question, doesn't it? My favourite film has to be...um...nope, this is way too hard. I don't have a favourite film, I like them all equally.
Favourite Books: I really love The Secret Garden, I used to read it all the time as a child. If I ever feel down I read it then, too. Do magazines and newspapers count? I try to read a varying amount to broaden my horizons. The only thing I don't read are women's magazines. My Mum hates them. She says they're to blame for today's body image problems. I can see where she is coming from but if I know the problem surely I won't be sucked in by it? She also thinks they're too sexual and are forcing young girls to grow up too quickly. That shouldn't really affect me now as I am nearly 17.
Favourite Album: Music isn't really my thing. I don't mind a bit of pop but I really don't like rapping, it's so offensive.
Favourite TV Programme: Don't really watch television. I do like watching detective shows, I used to watch CSI quite a bit but my parents thought it was too 'adult' for me.
Favourite Sport and Team: Sports? Okay, I said I didn't mind doing it, that doesn't mean I actually know anything about it. I'll have to pass on this one.
Favourite Food: What else can it be other than pizza, really? My parents love veggie food so I get that quite a bit, it's not my favourite but it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Favourite Drink: I'm too young for alcohol if that's what it means. Otherwise, I like orange juice.
Perfect Weekend: Probably getting up late; I do like lie ins. Then, a really big breakfast, maybe a fry up, not likely with my parents around. I'd probably go for a walk after that, like in the countryside, to work off the huge meal. Then maybe watch a film or two, do some writing and finish the day with a giant pizza with all the toppings. Hmm, my perfect weekend seems to be all about food...
Ideal Holiday Destination: I'm not a fuzzy holiday goer, I guess because we don't go on holiday much. Anywhere in Britain is fine with me. I'm not a beach person or a skier, I wouldn't mind seeing some historical sights though.
Accommodation: On holiday or where I live? I'll go for where I live now. We live in a semi-detached house, it's not the biggest but then again there are only three of us. From the way my Dad goes on I would guess that we have a big mortgage, but I don't really understand that sort of stuff. We have an overgrown garden, my Mum wants it to be 'free'. My room is medium sized, it's a bit bland, most of our house is beige and that means my room too. I like my house, but sometimes it's not very inspiring. We live in a relatively rural area, around ten miles from the biggest city, and it can feel a bit dead end.  


Personality
Best Point: It's a bit hard to say the best thing about your own personality. I think I'm rather caring, I listen to others and do try to help. Sometimes I get told I should do the advice column instead.
Worst Point: I can be shy and people can see that as being rude. I don't talk to people because I'm nervous or don't know what to say and people think I'm ignoring them or something. I know this is a bad trait to have, especially as I want to be a journalist. I'm working hard on being more outgoing.
Mannerisms: I fiddle with my hair a lot. I stare into space a bit, too. It's awkward when it seems like I'm staring at someone. I can't think of any mannerisms I really have, this is something someone else needs to say about me. My parents could probably pick out a tonne of my mannerism, most of them bad.
Fears: I'm scared of not becoming a journalist. It's all I've ever wanted to be. If I don't get into a journalism course or never get published, I'll be devastated. I'll probably end up working in Tesco or worse McDonalds.
Looks Forward To: The first time I see my name published in a newspaper. Hopefully it will be in the Guardian or The Times not The Daily Mail. I wouldn't mind writing for a geographic magazine either, you know something specialised. But not something boring like gardening or clouds.
Temperament: I would say I am rather calm, I rarely raise my voice or snap at people. I'm patient too and don't get easily frustrated, which is a talent considering my parents.


Profession
Job Description: I don't have a job right now, but clearly my dream job is journalist.
Salary: A lot? I'm no good with money or counting or any sort of maths. But I'm not in it for the money. But then, does everyone say that when they start off?
Hours Worked: None for a job. I do put in a lot of work for the school newspaper though. I usually hang out in the library in my free time to write. It's easier away from my family. I never miss a meeting either, hopefully this will show when it comes to electing head writer.
Job Satisfaction: I'm very satisfied with the school newspaper, everyone else thinks it's not doing too well though. Mr Harring, he's the teacher in charge, says we need to get some new ideas or the principal's thinking of cutting it, something about saving the trees. Sure.
Reputation at Work: I am a bit of a know-it-all with the school newspaper group. I don't mind that though because I know they respect me and aren't being mean when they poke fun. In class I'm just the quiet one. I do my work and only answer questions when I have to or when no one else puts their hand up.