Some creative questions.

[readingredhead]

I don't care if you have five minutes or five hours -- answer these questions for me and I will love you forever.

By which I mean to say: I'm trying to figure out the dynamics of my story and I need a little help, possibly a few suggestions, so it would be awesome if I could get even a few seconds of your advice.

1. Why might a witch curse you to be a werewolf at the age of 15? Because of something you actively did wrong, or just because she didn't like you? How bad of a thing would you have to do?

2. If your son was cursed to be a werewolf, and you were the only other living person who knew about it, what would you do? How would you act around him?

3. What might make a 15-year-old boy hate his father?

Comments

[fallenrose24.livejournal.com]

1. Werewolves are violent to the extreme, so if anything, I would see it as a punishment for violence. Force them to attack again and again to the point of self-loathing so that they learn to hate violence and stay away from it. It could have been an accident, but the witch might not know that.

2. I would probably do whatever I could to keep it a secret and possibly find ways to keep him from running amok at night while searching for cures in books and whatnot.

3. Abuse or abandonment

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Okay, I really like the violence idea. Make him a werewolf but keep his mind human when he transforms so that he understands (and hates) all the things he does... Thanks for the other suggestions, too!

[incaseineedyou.livejournal.com]

To tie 2 a 3 together, perhaps the father would react not to help his son but to avoid the embarassment/social impact of having a werewolf as a son... denounce him? Lead the village in a hunt and force the son to run away? Or just hide him away and make him hate himself for a long period of time?

Or (forgive me for only having seen the Disney cartoon version of Beauty and the Beast), since in the cartoon version the Witch is punishing the Beast for being selfish, perhaps it is the father's action that leads to the son being cursed (sorry if this rings of the Bible and cursing further generations and all that, but I thought it was interesting)? Like either the witch purposely curses the son (or the son and the father) as the father's punishment, or the father somehow sets into motion actions that make the witch blame the son for something, intentionally or not?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I like the idea that the father's involved in the genesis of the curse, but like you I also have problems with the entire family being blamed for something one person did. I think I want this curse to be personal, something specific to the boy. I could see the father being cursed too, though...I could see his father deserving it.

[incaseineedyou.livejournal.com]

sorry to comment again, but now I started thinking about it and can't stop.

To tie all three together again, because that's how my brain works, maybe the witch and the father were in love, but the father leaves her to marry someone for money/social standing. And the witch curses the father's first-born or something less corny, resulting in the son being born/becoming a werewolf... or she meets the son at 15 and he looks like his father, so she curses him. Maybe she went crazy in the interval and actually thinks he is his father? I don't know. But then the father can make the son think it is his fault, and impose extreme restrictions on him etc. to keep his secret affair safe, and then the son finds out and hates him.

Sorry. Don't feel obligated to take suggestions, which I know you know but feel that I have to add.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Wow. That sounds like a completely different story than the one that I'm writing, but still, it sounds like a good one! :) And don't worry about double-commenting.

[alexandria-skye.livejournal.com]

1. most of the 15 year old guys i've known can do some pretty stupid and hurtful things. brace yourself for storytime... maybe he and a group of other teenagers have been talking about the witch for some time. everyone in the village is wary of that old house in the woods, and don't dare to go near it. our guy goes out to the house on a dare, does something stupid, and the witch catches him in the act. perhaps she curses him in order to prevent other nightly mischeif said guy might get into? but the witch would have to be pretty darn crazy or misunderstood. see the witch in tim buron's sleepy hollow or roberta sparrow in donnie darko.

i'll get back to you on the others :)

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Hm. I don't think I want the witch to be crazy -- at least not when she casts the spell. She might turn crazy later and show up in the story because it's something to do, but we'll see about that when we get there. Still, thanks for your suggestions!

[bluephoenix8807.livejournal.com]

1. Any number of things. She could have been in a really awful mood, seen him walk by harmlessly, and curse him just because she could and she was mad. Or she could be paranoid about him for whatever reason that might be, valid or invalid.

2. I would try to treat him normally, but would make sure to stay away (or arrange for him to be away) when the full moon comes.

3. Stern, overly-conservative attitudes; [verbal] abuse, neglect, witnessing the father abuse his mother or siblings...

If I may add something to #1, I would like to say that being a werewolf might not be a curse. Think about it: if you've ever desperately wanted the ability to hurt, or the ability to scare and provoke, you'd have it as a werewolf. You could threaten your worst enemies with the possibility of biting them and dragging them down to your own state (which might not be lower). Plus, the only thing in the world that could kill you would be a silver bullet. I think that could be very appealing to a 15 year-old boy who sees his life going completely down the drain. He might ask the witch to make him a werewolf.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Oh wow...I'd never thought of that before! I mean, that whole bit about *wanting* to be a werewolf. That's good -- that's *really* good. I might have to use that now! I think I do have to use that now. Because I could see this guy being like that when he was fifteen...

[pentaverse.livejournal.com]

1. There's not as much room for growth if the curse is not a punishment. Never met a witch though. What are her motives? Is she an evil witch?

3. 15 year-old boys don't need reasons to hate their fathers.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes, I suppose if you're 15 you don't need a reason to hate daddy. And I agree that the curse ought to be a punishment, I'm just not sure for what...

[bjkrakr-r1.livejournal.com]

I have a question before I answer your questions (I haven't been keeping up with the writing).

What's the setting?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well. 1760s France, actually.

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

1. Possibly, if she's really touchy, because you did something as simple as be disrespectful or play in her yard or something. Break her window. You know, the typical kid-annoying-adult stuff. Or it could be in return for something someone else did, and he just got the blame or the punishment.

2. Maybe overprotective? Although some people, instead of getting protective, just get angry that they can't do anything about it.

3. Maybe it's his fault he's a werewolf??

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I like your #3, and it's something that might work. Whether or not it's actually his father's fault doesn't matter if he just thinks it's his father's fault.

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

That's a good twist on it...