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DandelionFireworks
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20 Aug 2010, 10:55 pm

Does anyone have any tips for writing about cliques? Because a group of four females, late teens and early twenties, has come to figure into my story. They also interact with another character, who is the same age and gender, but from the country (they're from a famous important city known for its culture) and a sudden celebrity (she saved this city from catastrophe and then got engaged to a womanizer they all know that she'd just met).

I guess this is a problem we'll all face, sooner or later, if we're Aspies and hope to be successful authors.


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MrXxx
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21 Aug 2010, 1:38 am

Ever see the movie Finding Forrester?

Best advice I've ever seen for any kind of writer's block.

"No thinking. Write!"

Sounds painfully simplistic, I know. But it's true. I think one of the hardest things to overcome and become a writer is to forget about whether it's right, or good during the creative process. Just write. A lot.

The real work is in cutting out all the crap that doesn't work if you get too attached to it all.

How do you write about anything? Put the pen to the paper, and WRITE! Or, as in Forrester, "PUNCH THE KEYS!! !! !"

Sometimes you just have to let it go wherever it goes just to allow the juice to flow, then pull it where you need it to go. Or...

Let it take on its own crazy direction. Writing can be predictable, or chaotic. You just never know.


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adifferentname
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21 Aug 2010, 1:54 am

DandelionFireworks wrote:
Does anyone have any tips for writing about cliques? Because a group of four females, late teens and early twenties, has come to figure into my story. They also interact with another character, who is the same age and gender, but from the country (they're from a famous important city known for its culture) and a sudden celebrity (she saved this city from catastrophe and then got engaged to a womanizer they all know that she'd just met).

I guess this is a problem we'll all face, sooner or later, if we're Aspies and hope to be successful authors.


Am I right in thinking that you're looking for views on the dynamics of a cliquey social group? I suppose you need to have a spokesperson - someone who the others emulate because she's the richest/most popular/most assertive/most vacuous. I would write it around a pack mentality with a pecking order and shared behaviours. Pick out some key phrases that they all share and have them use them often, but not so much that it becomes distracting - you'll just have to use your own judgement here - unless you deliberately want them to be annoying.

I can think of lots of different things to throw in there, but these are your characters and I'm sure you're capable of thinking through it for yourself.

Good luck!



pakled
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24 Aug 2010, 10:28 pm

Or maybe Heathers? (dated, but cliquish..;)
Condescension, Narrow-mindedness, insincerity, that sort of thing, I'd guess.


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katzefrau
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24 Aug 2010, 11:49 pm

you may have some of this within yourself.

think back to times you have been bullied or excluded, and that will give you some character fodder, at least in terms of dialogue and outward behavior. a character who is subject to bullying might help define your other characters, and this one should be easy.

read some junky teen fiction like Gossip Girl for an exaggerated, melodramatic idea of how those preoccupied with social standing might think. it might help also to peruse the NT / AS hotline as i have seen some topics there that address reasons for bullying and social exclusion / group mentality. you could also ask in the parents' forum where there are a lot of NTs who will be sensitive to their children's experiences with peers, but might understand the peers a bit also.

i also write, and i have trouble with emotive and social characters. i get around this (so far) by overpopulating my writing with characters who circumstantially feel alienated: teenagers, young kids whose parents think they're weird and largely ignore them or misunderstand them. thus, they can be anything i want.


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Meow101
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25 Aug 2010, 5:59 am

dang...this is a good thread for me. I write too, and I always have trouble with characters who aren't straightforward and who are "cliquey"....like what to DO with them...

Thanks. Food for thought.

~Kate


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jojobean
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26 Aug 2010, 1:04 pm

with a clique you have to understand the dynamics
There is usually a ring leader whom all the other cliquy people draw to for leadership and direction and to model after his/her beliefs.
There sometimes is a co-ringleader which they debate, argue, sometimes having oppisite views but some element still holds them together but they usually find that common thread and their relationship is exclusive even within the clique...there are details between them that are not shared with the rest of the group. This creates tension with the rest of the group because they want that bond with the ring leader but are unable to obtain it.
Then you have a pecking order of those whose values, beliefs, talents, family prestege, appearance, or personality is weighed in from most favorable to least favorable. The more favorable and higher on the pecking order a person is the more their opinion is valued and helps shape the group status of what they believe is the status quo. The status quo of the group is something they all must adhere to and the only people with the power to change it is the ringleaders and maybe those on the upper pecking order.
The ringleader is often power driven and craves the adherance of those who follow him/her and will punish those who do not comply with their need for control. There is a constant push and pull between the followers to gain higher positions of the pecking order thus creates the atmospere of compliance to the status quo. The ultimate goal is exclusitivity with the ring leader.
There is alot of maniplulations within the group to gain these possitions. Outsiders are viewed as outcasts and their dislike for outsider has to do with a fear that they too will be outcasts if they dont achieve a higher ranking. This is a real possibility, enough non compliance with the status quo results in being cast out of the clique.
The ironic part is complete compliance only makes the ring leader view the person with a slight disrespect because they are so easy to maniplulate. The only people that can achieve exclusity are the ones who can hold their own opinions while being able to hold their own with the ringleader in both manipulation of others and force of will. It is best to befriend your enemy than to fight him or her.


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DandelionFireworks
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31 Aug 2010, 3:29 am

Thanks, everyone. :D


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