Teen Novel (Ideas and Sketch - This is how I start writing a book)
Could it be the early years of Daniel Moss? At what age do his parents die in Birthright?
Start on last day at school - private school… boarding school, where he is shipped off to by his family
At the Awards Assembly he is given the Science prize and the Head tells students about his prize.
Bad relationship with mother, no father around - trust issues, mother needs looking after, but has a high powered job as a human rights lawyer. She is two people in one. Bipolar disorder? Her housekeeper can be a suspicious figure, as well as the driver.
Perhaps either the driver or the housekeeper can be a protector - but in the style of 'Snape' - so that the main character distrusts them.
School student doing a summer internship at a company - he got it by winning a competition at his school, like a Science Fair, and showing how ###
Science? Genetics?
Whistleblower leaks something to the kid (whose mother is human rights lawyer?), hoping to use him as a conduit
Discovers something about the company, which gives him a suspicion
He gets the info by some mistake, instead of delivering it, he opens it - but realises too late
Kid is chased to get information back to stop him from going public - develop this area to be the major action of the book. He has to get the proof to a
Mother disappears (later find out she is kidnapped) and kid has to solve it alone. With his friend from school, or an ordinary kid from when he was also 'normal'.
At stake are street kids who are disappearing from UK - experiments done on them - this could be expressed in the form of the scientists' medical notes and the kids' memories or first hand experiences.
Then he needs to be cheated on by a trusted figure - maybe his mother, who has been bought off
Denouement?
Have the mystery of the street kids slowly explained in a side story to the main one
Profile of the main character:
Ordinary kid who has had privilege given to him as his mother got a higher profile
Set him up not to be geeky - be a clever, cool kid, who has everything
Interested in Science, a brainiac.
Popular amongst the superficial kids at his school
A teacher who is a mentor
He wants to get the internship out of the way
He struggles with his conscience - just wants to have some fun at school and in life
The reward for the internship will be a wilderness adventure from his mother
The Scientific Research and Human Experimentation Aspect
The street kids are guinea pigs so it has to be something that could not be done legally…
Could it be something more like science fiction that borders on the realms of reality/realism?
Something injected into brain to make children or babies more intelligent?
Notes:
300 words per page x 350 pages is 105,000 words (Colfer)
250 words per page x 280 pages is 70,000 words (Horowitz)
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder (historically known as manic–depressive disorder or manic depression) is a psychiatric diagnosis for a mood disorder. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience episodes of a frenzied state known as mania (or hypomania), typically alternating with episodes of depression.
At the lower levels of mania, such as hypomania, individuals appear energetic and excitable and may in fact be highly productive. At a higher level, individuals begin to behave erratically and impulsively, often making poor decisions due to unrealistic ideas about the future, and may have great difficulty with sleep. At the highest level, individuals can experience very distorted beliefs about the world known as psychosis. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes; some experience a mixed state in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time. Manic and depressive episodes typically last from a few days to several months and can be interspersed by periods of "normal" mood.
Current research suggests that about 4% of people experience some of the characteristic symptoms at some point in their life. Prevalence is similar in men and women and, broadly, across different cultures and ethnic groups. Genetic factors contribute substantially to the likelihood of developing bipolar disorder, and environmental factors are also implicated. Bipolar disorder is often treated with mood stabilizing medications and psychotherapy. In serious cases, in which there is a risk of harm to oneself or others, involuntary commitmentmay be used. These cases generally involve severe manic episodes with dangerous behavior or depressive episodes with suicidal ideation. There are widespread problems with social stigma, stereotypes, and prejudice against individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder exhibiting psychotic symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia.
The current term bipolar disorder is of fairly recent origin and refers to the cycling between high and low episodes (poles). The term "manic–depressive illness" or psychosis was coined by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in the late nineteenth century, originally referring to all kinds of mood disorder. German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard split the classification in 1957, employing the terms unipolar disorder (major depressive disorder) and bipolar disorder.
Street kids UK
Every day hundreds of kids are forced to leave home. According to charities like Railway Children, the number of homeless children is bound to rise as a result of the recent government budget cuts.
This crisis in Britain's families has created an itinerant population of young people without support or a roof over their heads. The state has to provide, at an immense cost, while voluntary organisations try to plug the gaps in the face of drastic cutbacks and closures.
Dispatches follows four teenagers over six months who are struggling to fend for themselves on the streets. They're simultaneously at risk and a risk to society, and for all four of them drugs become a way of life, a means of dealing with the stresses and challenges of life away from family and home comforts.
All talk candidly and eloquently about why they take flight: family breakdowns, addiction, violence, neglect and abuse. The unspoken truth behind their stories points to both inadequate parenting and severe lack of consistent and effective care once they have left home.
Dispatches explores the hidden world of runaway and evicted teenagers, giving them a voice for the first time, and celebrating their extraordinary ability to fend for themselves.
Start on last day at school - private school… boarding school, where he is shipped off to by his family
At the Awards Assembly he is given the Science prize and the Head tells students about his prize.
Bad relationship with mother, no father around - trust issues, mother needs looking after, but has a high powered job as a human rights lawyer. She is two people in one. Bipolar disorder? Her housekeeper can be a suspicious figure, as well as the driver.
Perhaps either the driver or the housekeeper can be a protector - but in the style of 'Snape' - so that the main character distrusts them.
School student doing a summer internship at a company - he got it by winning a competition at his school, like a Science Fair, and showing how ###
Science? Genetics?
Whistleblower leaks something to the kid (whose mother is human rights lawyer?), hoping to use him as a conduit
Discovers something about the company, which gives him a suspicion
He gets the info by some mistake, instead of delivering it, he opens it - but realises too late
Kid is chased to get information back to stop him from going public - develop this area to be the major action of the book. He has to get the proof to a
Mother disappears (later find out she is kidnapped) and kid has to solve it alone. With his friend from school, or an ordinary kid from when he was also 'normal'.
At stake are street kids who are disappearing from UK - experiments done on them - this could be expressed in the form of the scientists' medical notes and the kids' memories or first hand experiences.
Then he needs to be cheated on by a trusted figure - maybe his mother, who has been bought off
Denouement?
Have the mystery of the street kids slowly explained in a side story to the main one
Profile of the main character:
Ordinary kid who has had privilege given to him as his mother got a higher profile
Set him up not to be geeky - be a clever, cool kid, who has everything
Interested in Science, a brainiac.
Popular amongst the superficial kids at his school
A teacher who is a mentor
He wants to get the internship out of the way
He struggles with his conscience - just wants to have some fun at school and in life
The reward for the internship will be a wilderness adventure from his mother
The Scientific Research and Human Experimentation Aspect
The street kids are guinea pigs so it has to be something that could not be done legally…
Could it be something more like science fiction that borders on the realms of reality/realism?
Something injected into brain to make children or babies more intelligent?
Notes:
300 words per page x 350 pages is 105,000 words (Colfer)
250 words per page x 280 pages is 70,000 words (Horowitz)
Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder (historically known as manic–depressive disorder or manic depression) is a psychiatric diagnosis for a mood disorder. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience episodes of a frenzied state known as mania (or hypomania), typically alternating with episodes of depression.
At the lower levels of mania, such as hypomania, individuals appear energetic and excitable and may in fact be highly productive. At a higher level, individuals begin to behave erratically and impulsively, often making poor decisions due to unrealistic ideas about the future, and may have great difficulty with sleep. At the highest level, individuals can experience very distorted beliefs about the world known as psychosis. Individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes; some experience a mixed state in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time. Manic and depressive episodes typically last from a few days to several months and can be interspersed by periods of "normal" mood.
Current research suggests that about 4% of people experience some of the characteristic symptoms at some point in their life. Prevalence is similar in men and women and, broadly, across different cultures and ethnic groups. Genetic factors contribute substantially to the likelihood of developing bipolar disorder, and environmental factors are also implicated. Bipolar disorder is often treated with mood stabilizing medications and psychotherapy. In serious cases, in which there is a risk of harm to oneself or others, involuntary commitmentmay be used. These cases generally involve severe manic episodes with dangerous behavior or depressive episodes with suicidal ideation. There are widespread problems with social stigma, stereotypes, and prejudice against individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder exhibiting psychotic symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia.
The current term bipolar disorder is of fairly recent origin and refers to the cycling between high and low episodes (poles). The term "manic–depressive illness" or psychosis was coined by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in the late nineteenth century, originally referring to all kinds of mood disorder. German psychiatrist Karl Leonhard split the classification in 1957, employing the terms unipolar disorder (major depressive disorder) and bipolar disorder.
Street kids UK
Every day hundreds of kids are forced to leave home. According to charities like Railway Children, the number of homeless children is bound to rise as a result of the recent government budget cuts.
This crisis in Britain's families has created an itinerant population of young people without support or a roof over their heads. The state has to provide, at an immense cost, while voluntary organisations try to plug the gaps in the face of drastic cutbacks and closures.
Dispatches follows four teenagers over six months who are struggling to fend for themselves on the streets. They're simultaneously at risk and a risk to society, and for all four of them drugs become a way of life, a means of dealing with the stresses and challenges of life away from family and home comforts.
All talk candidly and eloquently about why they take flight: family breakdowns, addiction, violence, neglect and abuse. The unspoken truth behind their stories points to both inadequate parenting and severe lack of consistent and effective care once they have left home.
Dispatches explores the hidden world of runaway and evicted teenagers, giving them a voice for the first time, and celebrating their extraordinary ability to fend for themselves.