Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts
Have you written a character who lives in foster care or an orphanage? Are they in these living situations because their parents died? Today, we are talking about what cliches you should avoid when writing about children in foster care, orphanages, or adoptive homes.
In this episode, we are digging into common cliches when writing about children in foster care, adoptive homes, and orphanages. We are talking about whether or not the parents need to be dead in your story, how writing one cliché leads to another, why writing cliches about foster care and adoptive homes are harmful, and examples from movies such as Anastasia, Despicable Me, Harry Potter, and Hercules. Before writing about children in these living situations, I encourage you to think about if their parents need to be dead, if the child needs to be in foster care or an orphanage, or if the place they are living needs to be terrible.
Are you writing a book and looking for support? Registration for my coaching membership, Real Talk, is now OPEN! In this membership, you’ll have access to monthly writing courses, weekly group calls with live edits, and personalized feedback and encouragement to help YOU exactly where you are in your writing journey! Don’t miss the opportunity to join other authors learn from each other to write the best book YOU can write!
As always, I’d love to hear from you on Instagram @ariellehadfield.authorcoach or join me in a coaching call where we can discuss your story and dive deeper into your questions. Did you love this episode? LIKE & SHARE with others!
In this episode we cover:
- Why the parents in books do not need to be dead and other options to make parents unavailable
- Why it is so important to consider what all comes with writing dead parents
- How writing one cliché, like having the parents be dead, leads to more cliches
- Commonly used foster and adoptive home stereotypes and why to avoid using them
- Examples of children in orphanages and adoptive homes in movies such as Anastasia, Despicable Me, Harry Potter, Hercules, and Shazam
- Four things to ask yourself when writing your story where the child needs to be angry
Related Resources:
Join the Real Talk Membership here!
Join the Group Coaching and Editing sessions
Related blog posts & episodes:
Episode 2: Your First Draft Isn’t Bad
Episode 10: When Stories are Familiar
Episode 5: Writing More Powerful Scenes
More about The Prologue: helping authors craft a stronger story
Welcome to The Prologue, with author coach, Arielle Hadfield.
You’ve got an idea for a story. Now it’s time to get it on paper. The writing world can be a strange and scary place, but you don’t have to face it alone.
In this podcast, Arielle guides authors through all the steps of writing a book.
This includes how to take a simple idea and transform it into an entire story with complete characters and a compelling plot, editing strategies, and mindfulness skills to help break through writer’s block, handle rejection, and find courage to step outside your comfort zone to get your story out of your head and into stores.
Arielle Hadfield began as an author. Soon she was able to combine her writing and editing skills with her background in mental health and life coaching to become the first of its kind author coach!
Tune in every Tuesday to learn how to craft a stronger story. With examples from books, movies, and music, and a fun, encouraging, and kind environment, Arielle will help you reach your goals, no matter how far-fetched they feel today.