The Consulting RPCW

Thank you! Google is always your best friend! And, I usually wouldn’t trust Wikipedia. Here’s a few links I have found. 

• Webmd: Mental Health: Depersonalization disorder
• Understanding and treating depersonalization disorder
• Youtube: What depersonalization disorder feels like
• Overcoming: Understanding depersonalization disorder
• CNN Health: Depersonalization disorder
• Anxiety coach: What is depersonalization?
• Huffington Post: A case study of depersonalization disorder
• Experience Project: I have Depersonalization disorder
• Medical News Project: What is Depersonalization?
• New Scientists: Mindscapes: The woman who has dropped into her body 
• Depersonalization website
• Depersonalization Recovery
• Psychology Today: Life with Depersonalization

Hope that helps!

Well, the definition of an enigma is “a person that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.” With any sort of characteristic, you have to know why that person behaves a certain way. Is the character simply just quiet? Doesn’t like to reveal background? That’s why he is perceived as a mysterious figure? Or, does he do it consciously? Is it a facade that he builds up to protect a secret of his? Or, is he doing it for shits and giggles?

How is he puzzling or difficult to understand? Does he say one thing and behave a different way? Does he say things that no one understands? Like, Luna Lovegood. I would consider her an enigma because she believes in things that others don’t. But she’s not crazy, she’s still down to earth and loyal, she just has a different belief system. Sometimes her terminology confuses others. That could work with a kind of enigma character. 

I would avoid writing the tall, dark, handsome stranger of the night, the bad boy or bad girl, someone with a deadly secret, or spies. You can write an enigmatic character without making him quiet and drawn to the shadows. He could be an introvert that is bright and bubbly when spoken to. But goes off to have side adventures that no one knows about. They can have light secrets, but doesn’t tease everyone with it. Wanna know my secret? Wanna know my secret!? Isn’t always mysterious. The most mysterious characters often hide their secret close to their heart, and in every way try to avoid talking about it. 

How did your character get there? If you’re roleplaying, there must be a reason why your character decided to move to that place or stay there. Others might think that they’ve appeared out of nowhere, but you must be sure of their reasons. 

Don’t just make your character “just” one with a secret. Once the mystery is revealed, then your character would have no more reason to be enigmatic. Your character might be puzzling because they’re trying to avoid talking about the secret. They might suddenly walk away from a conversation because they feel that they are on the edge of revealing it. Who are they when they’re not thinking about the secret? Who were they before? How did it change them? Develop the character beyond this one characteristic. To be fair, they don’t even need to have a secret. They could simply be someone who is different in the way they think and approach people. They could be way too happy all the time. That’s confusing and  puzzling in itself. They can be really rambly and go off into tangents, and that’s difficult to understand. 

Here are two interesting sites I found:

• How to be Enigmatic: 15 Steps
• Harold Pinter: the most original, stylish, and enigmatic writer in post-war British Theatre

Hope that helps!

Sure thing, chicken wing!

Asthma is a long term disease that makes it hard to breathe. There are currently no cures for it, but it can be controlled and managed. People usually get it because they have a family history, air pollution indoors and outdoors, or work-related incidents (such as lab workers working with rats, mice, guinea pigs, spray painters, grain handlers, and crab handlers). Sometimes, pregnant mothers who smoke makes it easier for the child to get asthma. 

Many things can set off asthma: asthma triggers (muscles around airways tighten and gets irritated- comes on suddenly, may not last very long, and can be relieved by rescue medicine) and asthma inducers (makes airways swollen, red, and filled with mucus- may come on slowly, may take a while to treat, can be treated with asthma preventer medicines). 

Triggers include: 

• Exercise
• Cold Air
• Smog
• Pollution and fumes
• Hot humid air
• Scents
• Emotional upsets and anxiety
• Hormones
• Smoking
• Second hand and third-hand smoke

Inducers include:

• Viruses (cold and flu)
• Allergies

Asthma treatments are mostly aimed towards making it manageable. Here are some steps to manage:

1. Work with doctor to get your asthma under control
2. Follow your written asthma action plan
3. Avoid your asthma triggers: smoke, cold air, etc.
4. Avoid your asthma inducers: allergies, viruses, etc.
5. Use your asthma medications as prescribed
6. Know what to do in an asthma emergency (asthma attack)

Asthma attacks

There are two main types of medications:

1. Asthma preventer (controller) machine
2. Asthma rescue medicine (Asthma Inhalers and Asthma nebulizers- changes medicine into a mist)

What to do when you’re going through an asthma attack?

• Sit down, with your back straight.
• Take two puffs of your rescue medicine, usually in a blue puffer (for example, Ventolin®)
• If your breathing is not getting easier, call 911 or your local emergency number.
• Keep taking puffs of your blue rescue inhaler until the ambulance arrives.

More links!

• Webmd: Asthma Treatments
• The Canadian Lung Association: Asthma Treatment
• Webmd: Symptoms of Asthma

I can’t really find a lot of masterlists. But here is one for you.

• Witches and Magic Systems
• A Guide to Writing Witchcraft
• A Guide to Spell Writing
• On Writing: Witch Trials
• Before you cast: Some things to think about
• Witchcraft101 (handy blog to ask questions to)
• Origin of Witchcraft
• On the Origins of Witches, Broomsticks, and Flying
• Stereotypes of Witches
• The Four Rules and The Law of Witchcraft
• All You Wanted to Know About Witches
• Modern Day Witchcraft
• Youtube: Meet a real-life witch!
• List of fictional witches

Hope that helps!

bittersillage asked:

What about japanese characters?? Do ylu have some tips?

I think a lot of media fetishizes Japanese culture. You can see it in 47 Ronin, The Wolverine, etc. Don’t write a Japanese character just because they are “exotic” to you, and you want to portray the “coolness” of the samurai culture. Big no nos. Do lots of research if your Japanese character is into mainstream culture such as Cosplay. Watch films that portray modern japanese characters (instead of this weird imperial historically inaccurate Japan that we are getting). There’s a great character played by Rinko Kikuchi in Babel that you can look at. I’m not too well versed with Japanese movies, but I’m sure that if you ask around and search around you can find a great list. (When I was growing up, I watched this live action tv series of Sailor Moon. Don’t know how accurate that is….) I grew up watching a lot of Japanese cartoons (Doraemon, Gegege No Kitaro, Arale-chan, Chibi maruko chan), so I sort of can see how Japan is portrayed through their eyes. You can check that out and incorporate these into your character.

Here is a list of media tropes of Japanese characters. Be sure to note the stereotypes and try to find a way not to conform. 

Further reading:

• The ups and buts of life in tokyo
• How to play a foreigner
• 5 things nobody tells you about living in Japan
• Japanese customs and traditions
• Basics of Japanese culture
• Growing up in New Japan
• What it means to be a Japanese American woman
• Humor and Angst of growing up Japanese American

Hope that helps!

Avoid stereotypes. Don’t write out the accent as though the person was Mario. Think about how the culture affects the person. Research Italy! Research Italians in a specific place! Were they born in Italy? Is English their second language? Things like that would affect the character and how they speak and interact with others. Also think about where the character lives and were born in. Jersey Shore? New York? Try to catch yourselves with these stereotypes.

Here are some links that might help you:

• Italian Lifestyle
• People and culture
• Understanding Italy
• Culture of Italy
• Controversy and criticism of Jersey Shore
• Italian American stereotypes in the Media

Hope that helps!