You said it yourself – building trust between your characters is instrumental for what you want to happen. So let’s look at how trust is built in relationships.
1. Communication. No relationship grows without healthy, two-sided communication. So give your characters opportunities to talk to one another. If they’re not naturally chatty, force them into situations where they’ll need to or want to speak to one another.
2. Trust is based on history – not on short-term decisions. To that end, as your characters begin to develop relationships with each other, be sure that they begin to consider the consequences of their actions in the long term, and not just in the short term (unless their character dictates otherwise).
3. Be sure your characters are honoring their commitments to one another, both large and small. If someone says to another character, “I’ll keep you safe,” be sure they show that they’re helping to keep that character safe in some way.
4. Ensure that your characters are showing one another respect. Even if they don’t have respect for one another at first, this is something that can grow over time. Gimli and Legolas don’t respect each other’s mutual races at first, but getting to know one another allows them to gain a respect for each other’s heritage despite their initial heritages in LoTR.
Above all, remember that relationships are a constant work in progress. So as you’re building your plot, remember to also be building your relationships. You may even build a chart for each relationship that coincides with the plot, and scribble in notes that help you figure out what should happen with each relationship so you can be sure to write in certain details and moments to help with the development of their relationships as you go along. Ultimately, it’s all about remembering to let the relationships constantly grow, along with the characters.
Month: January 2016
Are the wraps helping? Have you noticed a difference?
Yes and yes. I have been using just the calf wrap (thigh is coming later this week, I think) on my right leg, and it has stopped it from being in pain. It’s heavy, but my leg doesn’t feel swollen, if that makes sense. Like double bagging a grocery bag, almost. And coupled with lying on the couch with my feet up for a couple of evenings, and wrapping during the day, I’ve had to run to the bathroom every hour. Which is annoying, but great.
My leg is much smaller than it was even just two days ago. It also hurts way less than my left leg, which has never been quite as bad as my right. I hope I can order more wraps soon.
And here I get long-winded about lymphedema. TL;DR: yes, the wrap is great.
The lymphatic system is like a bunch of roots that go all over your body. Its job is to circulate all of that water that humans are made of. Going in, it drops off proteins and nutrients, going out, it washes the debris and bacteria away. But, just like roots, if the lymphatic system is damaged (through injury or, in my case, radiation during cancer treatments), it stops being able to do its job so well. It delivers the fluid and then the fluid just sort of… sits there. And the longer this goes on, the more damaged it gets, the harder your heart works, the more your skin stretches… and pretty soon you can get lesions and super bad infections and blood clots, etc, because your muscles and skin are saturated with this dirty protein water. Super gross.
It can’t be cured because they have no idea how to repair the tiny little fragile lymphatic veins. They’re working on it, sure, but right now, all we can do is drain and compress.
Draining is done with massage (manual lymphatic drainage/total decongestive therapy) by a specialized therapist. You can also do dry brushing yourself, massaging the skin to get the fluid to go back toward your heart. Gravity helps, putting your legs above your heart for long periods of time. That makes your legs more squishy and stuff, but the skin is still stretched out and the lymphatic system is still just gonna drop more fluid down there. So you moisturize your skin to try to get it healthy, elastic, and tight again, and put on a compression wrap (or sock, if your leg is small enough) so that the lymph fluid CAN’T JUST SIT THERE; there’s NO ROOM. This enables you to sit at a desk and stuff and your leg is like ‘man there’s lots of pressure, just gonna push that lymph fluid away.’
Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day. For the rest of your life.
Are the wraps helping? Have you noticed a difference?
Yes and yes. I have been using just the calf wrap (thigh is coming later this week, I think) on my right leg, and it has stopped it from being in pain. It’s heavy, but my leg doesn’t feel swollen, if that makes sense. Like double bagging a grocery bag, almost. And coupled with lying on the couch with my feet up for a couple of evenings, and wrapping during the day, I’ve had to run to the bathroom every hour. Which is annoying, but great.
My leg is much smaller than it was even just two days ago. It also hurts way less than my left leg, which has never been quite as bad as my right. I hope I can order more wraps soon.
And here I get long-winded about lymphedema. TL;DR: yes, the wrap is great.
The lymphatic system is like a bunch of roots that go all over your body. Its job is to circulate all of that water that humans are made of. Going in, it drops off proteins and nutrients, going out, it washes the debris and bacteria away. But, just like roots, if the lymphatic system is damaged (through injury or, in my case, radiation during cancer treatments), it stops being able to do its job so well. It delivers the fluid and then the fluid just sort of… sits there. And the longer this goes on, the more damaged it gets, the harder your heart works, the more your skin stretches… and pretty soon you can get lesions and super bad infections and blood clots, etc, because your muscles and skin are saturated with this dirty protein water. Super gross.
It can’t be cured because they have no idea how to repair the tiny little fragile lymphatic veins. They’re working on it, sure, but right now, all we can do is drain and compress.
Draining is done with massage (manual lymphatic drainage/total decongestive therapy) by a specialized therapist. You can also do dry brushing yourself, massaging the skin to get the fluid to go back toward your heart. Gravity helps, putting your legs above your heart for long periods of time. That makes your legs more squishy and stuff, but the skin is still stretched out and the lymphatic system is still just gonna drop more fluid down there. So you moisturize your skin to try to get it healthy, elastic, and tight again, and put on a compression wrap (or sock, if your leg is small enough) so that the lymph fluid CAN’T JUST SIT THERE; there’s NO ROOM. This enables you to sit at a desk and stuff and your leg is like ‘man there’s lots of pressure, just gonna push that lymph fluid away.’
Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day. For the rest of your life.
Someone bring me some french fries.
And like 20 tacos.
Someone bring me some french fries.
And like 20 tacos.
Honestly, Rick Rolling is the best practical joke ever. Like, there’s nothing offensive or mean spirited about it. It’s just like “Oops you thought there would be something else here but it’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.” which isn’t even a bad song. It’s fairly enjoyable to listen to. There’s no jumpscares, no screaming, no ill will. Just Rick Astley telling you he’s never going to give you up. I think that’s great. “You fell into my trap! Here, listen to this completely benign song that will have no negative effect on you.”
I wish this were true. There’s a really good article about the problems inherent with rickrolling here.
Very interesting. I never thought about that and now I feel bad.
Man, that sucks.
@anyahatesbunnies finished her first FULL DRAFT of her latest novel today. OMG. So proud.
Meanwhile, I’m looking at convention fodder for next year instead of working on my current book. Or portfolio. Or commissions.
Uhm.
@anyahatesbunnies finished her first FULL DRAFT of her latest novel today. OMG. So proud.
Meanwhile, I’m looking at convention fodder for next year instead of working on my current book. Or portfolio. Or commissions.
Uhm.
