So, reading over today’s news stories this one came up on eating disorders.
I had already thought of addressing bullying in the novel.
So, in going back into my own days in Junior High and High School bullying was also a thing that happened at school. I remember a distinct episode where a gang of girls ripped the sash off a dress I had designed, while I was wearing it. These two themes can be addressed in The Seaheart by filling in backstory on the sorts of things in family systems that create these sorts of things in children.
In terms of eating disorders proper — what we know as therapists is that control is often at the root of that. What one “intakes” as food is one of the last bastions of “control” over oneself that one has.
I have decided in these novels that Teenie Alexander will come out “whole” and so any interventions I make will be in the circle of people that surround her. Problems that exist for teens today are not that different than the ones we faced as teens in the 70’s. What is different is the technology that they have available. Because they are all on this machine, or connected to various devices, things move much faster in their world than they ever did in ours.
I’m going to have Teenie make friends with a girl with an eating disorder and I will show the dynamic. She is living on an island this year with her father and she is fourteen and a half. Her parents are going through a divorce. She is going to be meeting a boy called Lancer — and I will show bullying and that dynamic in terms of him.
I have spoken before in terms of ECOPSYCHOLOGY and SOCIOPATHY and referenced Sardello on all that, in terms of pre-scripted games.
Here is a story on teen behavior in terms of all the texting they do.
Here is an article on how they are thinking in green ways about the future, but, I doubt 2015 is going to be quite what they are wishing for. I read a piece by Naomi Wolf some years back on what imagery kids had watched? More on that is here.
The world that I am creating in the novels is basically the world that existed in the 70’s in America. I am modeling age appropriate behavior. In my book Heart of Clouds my character Teenie had held hands with a boy, been kissed on the cheek and once on the mouth by the end of the novel. That was age appropriate behavior for girls in my era. In a sense these novels will look like another planet to the reader. Because they are set as allegories they are outside time, although, the themes are timeless.
xxoo!
Because of the complexity of the interventions I am writing — this book is probably going to take one year. It is far more complex than Heart of Clouds was. Really.
You can follow the writing here:
http://theseaheart.wordpress.com/
It’s a rough draft, btw — so? Ignore typos! Also my letter “N” appears to be going out on this machine. Drat!
VALENTINE BONNAIRE - WRITER 