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So Ara suffers from major anxiety, mostly in this first book of the series.
When she was little something occurred that basically marked her (literally and figuratively) and she hasn’t been able to recover since.
ShE’s A’Grend’s princess, but they don’t really treat her with the respect she quite deserves, not that they’re outright cruel or anything but you can tell they’re disrespectful sometimes, and they do sometimes talk about her and stuff.
But even if they didn’t, she suffers with anxiety and it would fill in the blanks (feeling stares, hearing whispers, etc.) and she’s been suffering with terrible nightmares, so lack of sleep isn’t helping any.
She’s been avoiding her family due to the dreams, so guilt piled on top of that…
The poor girl is just going thru it.
But if you’ve ever seen someone with a fear/anxiety of crowds, it doesn’t take much, when in a crowded place sometimes, for them to be overwhelmed, much less when you have everything that Ara is going thru. Does that make sense?
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
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#ProtectSebI get major anxiety in crowds XD so I completely get it
You could just have people bumping into her and then she feels like people are calling her name and it turns into
For me the slightest things can set me off in a crowd
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneOh yeah, just checking!! Poor Ara 😔
So I’ll just throw out some random ideas here– Maybe she gets bumped into and the crowd’s getting tighter, or she hears people whispering about her, or she sees something/someone that reminds her of her nightmares, or honestly yeah, crowd’s can just push people over. Is that what you meant?
"Be careful, for writing books is endless, and much study wears you out." Eccl. 12:12
@hybridlore yea basically! I really like the idea about seeing someone from her nightmares too…
@smiley yea understandable.#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebYay! I always love the scene clips from your books!
As for how to move on, it seems like the scene is ready to move into action/ active discription (I have no idea what the real term for that is). Having something happen such as someone/something bump into her could be a good transition, or saying something like “She wove between the festival stalls as far out of the sea of people as possible” would work.
I don’t know if this will help, but sometimes if I’m stuck in a scene, I try to picture it in my head and then discribe it through my character’s eyes. What are they doing? What are they seeing? And of course, Why are they doing this? Why do they see this? Showing the scene and their reaction is usually enough to get some words flowing… usually. If that doesn’t work I typically talk about it to my sister untill she helps me write it. (So conniving)
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkAww, Ara!
I struggle with crowd anxiety as well. I’m very observant in large crowds, sometimes a little too observant as I read things into a person or situation that aren’t there. Like, someone keeps staring at me therefore my brain starts thinking: am I acting weird? are they judging me? etc.
Maybe you could have Ara keep noticing all of the people casting glances at her and she gets overwhelmed by all the ‘what ifs’ and questioning of herself. I also like @hybridlore of her seeing someone that was in her dream. That would def push me over the edge. 😂
I rolled the log over and underneath was a tiny little stick and I was like, "That log had a child
I’m comfortable in large crowds, so I’m not sure how much I can help. 😅 But I like everyone else’s ideas of like the people just pressing against her, Ara seeing someone from her nightmares, or her overhearing some of the people gossiping about her.
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
I like the start to this scene! It has this mysterious, anything-could-happen-next feeling.
A few random ideas I had reading it were:
– Ara accidentally bumps into somebody’s stall and an expensive thing falls and shatters at her feet. There could be shouting, Ara’s guilt and panic, shards of glass all around her…
– Or a twist on the above idea: Somebody breaks something and blames it on Ara, so she gets really panicky because she’s trying to defend herself and everybody’s looking at her accusingly…
Hope these help! You’ve got this girl!!!
He must increase, but I must decrease.
@godlyfantasy12 I can be like that too, actually…I don’t like being around a lot of loud people. What is she afraid of specifically? Is it that she has to be “perfect” because she’s the future leader? Is it because she just doesn’t like a lot of people? Is there someone in specific she’s avoiding? Do they dislike her for something she did (like the snake incident) or does she merely think they do?
Sorry if you had to answer those questions already. I wasn’t looking at the replies, just at your post.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
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@godlyfantasy12 love it!!!❤️❤️ and I relate, Ara…I don’t like big crowds XD
I don’t have anything else to had, everyone else had such amazing ideas!!! 🥰
I read a thing recently that said that if you’re stuck on a scene, your mistake is probably about five to ten lines back. Not sure if that’s helpful, but there ya go. Also, I’ve had and written anxiety attacks so I’ll try my best to help.
When you get anxiety attacks, there isn’t usually really any internal monologue. When there is one, it’s usually one repeated phrase over and over, or it can be a bunch of disconnected, unfinished thoughts that keep interrupting each other. This is kinda hard to write, so I would recommend focusing less on Ara’s thought process and emotions as she gets more overwhelmed, and instead focus on tiny sensory things in the environment around her. Lights, textures, and sounds especially. Maybe talk about the scratchy clothes she’s wearing , the heat of the day, the din of voices in the crowd, etc.
You could also focus more on her physical symptoms. The classic, rapid, difficult breathing usually just happens during the actual attack. Leading up to it, Ara could start feeling tension in a lot of muscles. She could squeeze her fists, clench her jaw, or fiddle with something to relieve the tension. She could also start to get a stomachache or headache from the anxiety.
Sorry for all the rambling! I could say more, but I should probably go do schoolwork. Hope that’s helpful! 🙃
“Nothing says autumn like slurpin’ apples.” -my uncle
Whoops I didn’t see this…
Seeing as you’ve already got help, I’mma give just general observations 🙂
1. November should buy Ara a candy apple after all this to cheer her up… XD
2. , Throughout the whole book (if you haven’t already because idk XD) give Ara agency in her own destiny. This just means making her an active heroine who is trying to change her situation and others’ for the better, and not just reacting to triggers. Whiiiiiiiich is okay for an attack. Anxiety attacks are reactionary by definition. But when she’s not having an attack, make her very active, IF you havent already. Ya know? To balance it out.
…
Otherwise great job, keep up the good work! 😊 It’s hard, but as long as you keep moving towards that goal of finishing the book, it’s progress.
“Everything is a mountain”
Oh and it seems you have the same problem as me… 😅 …Feeling like whatever you’re writing doesn’t have that unique spark you want in your book.
It’s probably the most discouraging part of writing (for me, anyway).
Don’t think about making it sound perfect, or sound A’Grend-y, if you know what I mean.
Have fun with it! Write like you would an RP!!
It’s because there’s so much pressure in your head to write something awesome, or at least A’Grend worthy, that you can’t have fun with it, and so you end up disappointed.
Don’t set up impossible bars for your first draft.
It’s like when I started Project C. Just…ugh. First chapter? Didn’t have the bling or sparkle I wanted. So when I got really discouraged, I skipped to the next couple chapters, and tried to just enjoy the process, like I would an RP, or a casual fanfiction. And it worked!
Again, I find it SUPER SUPER SUPER helpful to picture your WIP as just a RP or an AU. No more pressure, just fun and games!!!
^^^ Like seriously, try what I just said up there ^^^
❤❤❤
“Everything is a mountain”
@EVERYONE!! Sorry I didn’t respond yall! BUT THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH 😭 YOUR IDEAS ARE SO GREAT!!!
and I will definitely be coming with Uhh…a ton more questions just like this cuz the #struggleisreal XD
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb
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