Saturday 18 April 2015

Alice's Backstory

ALICE MORRISON

Childhood
Place of birth: LA, California
Date of birth: January 11, 1992
Gender: Male
Sexual preference: Female
Ethnicity: African-American, Spanish
Family members: Mother: Scarlett. Father left family while Mother was pregnant
Family relationships: Mother is negligent – has ups and downs due to mother’s mental health issues.
       When she is up she extremely loving. When she is down cannot look after herself, let alone her daughter.
Family occupation: Mother is out of work due – In-and-out of psychiatric wards due her bipolar disorder.
Family class: lower/working class
Education: 
       Primary school
o   Too shy to participate and socialize in class.
o   Had one teacher that paid extra attention to her and provided her with the affection that she lacked.
§  Teacher tutored her for free and she began to excel her classes.
o   Teacher was relocated to another school. Never heard from her again.
Personality: introvert, easily manipulated, dreamer, independent – the type of person that has good intentions and doesn’t want to break the rules, but will do it if she doesn’t see any way out
Physical attributes:
o   Size: tall
o   Strength: weak
o   Health: in poor health – malnourished
o   Looks: thin, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion
Obstacles: has had issues making friends as well as finding someone that she can trust, depend on, and connect with.
Challenges: 
o   Mother is unable to take care of and provide her with the affection that she needs.
o   Has trouble focussing in school because she is looking out for her mother, even at a young age.



Teenage years
Education: High school
Occupation: 
       Interested in photography, journalism, cinema and traveling.
       Enjoys swimming and running – individualistic sports that allow her to focus on herself and clear her mind
Family relationships: Mother has new boyfriend, Sam, who is abusive and a heavy drinker.
o   Alice and her mother have grown apart due to this, and Alice lives in a constant state of fear.
o   Feels the need to leave home.
Alliegance:  Running in a bad circle of older kids whom are bad influences on her.
Other significant relationships: 
       Became good friends with Chase, a boy running in the same circle of friends.
o   Only real friend that she’s ever had.
o   Grew emotionally attached to him.
Obstacles and challenges:
       Chase was forced to move away because his parents’ separation.
       Abusive episode between Mother and her boyfriend.
o   Mother has to go to hospital.
       Mother becomes severely depressed. Alice is there to support her.
Psychology: 
       Fears that her mother will never get better.
       Hopes that she can one day travel the world. She loves her mother but has always felt that she has been caged in due to her mother’s psychological and familial issues.
       She was really affected by Chase moving away. She feels that everyone that she cares for leaves.
       Enjoys skateboarding, writing, painting, taking photos of her environment, talking to her mom when she is well, yoga, reading about different cultures, cooking, learning. She also enjoys partying and losing herself to music, alcohol and drugs.
o   Her interests in art, journalism, photography and travel have grown with passion. She wants to combine them in a way but does not know how.
        dislikes, likes, ideals, beliefs, obsessions, delusions, phobias, vanities


The present
Age: 23
Location: LA, California
Professional: 
       Journalist at a small newspaper company covering fashion.
       Bartender at dingy club.
Personal: Single
Private: his or her inner life.
       She despises that she is covering fashion rather than real news or something more serious. Feels that she is better than that and has been unfairly treated. Hopes to be promoted to a different topic.
       Still enjoys reading, writing, photography, documentaries, cooking, art, yoga, meditating, music.
       Wants to make a difference in the world.
       Dreams of traveling the world and writing about the places she explores and the people that she meets.
       She hasn’t forgiven herself for leaving her mother after her mother’s boyfriend had another abusive episode.
Obstacles and challenges: 
       On her eighteenth birthday, her mother’s boyfriend came home heavily intoxicated and got into a fight with her mother. Alice attempted to stand up for her, and Scarlett hit her in the face so hard that she hit her head on the wall and blacked out on the floor. Scarlett would not let her mother help her. Alice later woke up shaking. Jade and Sam were nowhere to be seen. She packed up her bag, left a note for her mother and never came back.
       She has a hard time coping with the fact that she left her mother.
Point-of-view:
       She’s spiritual but not religious. Believes that being spiritual can come in many forms and that everything happens for a reason.
       Alice dreams of changing the world and of making a difference, but does not actually believe she can. She lacks confidence. She has always been the underdog and does not think that will change.
       She has ambition and will surpass whatever time or effort is required to get there. She is also patient and realistic, she knows that goals need to be worked for and take time to be achieved.
       She believes that people are fundamentally good, but make bad decisions. She sees that in herself and in others as well. Sometimes the right thing to do is harder than doing wrong.
Conflict:
       Alice knows that she is intelligent person, both book and street smart. Due to her lack of confidence, however, she finds it hard to make other people see that as well, while also standing up for herself.
       She strives for a healthy mind and body but cannot turn down a night of partying. She lacks control when it comes to alcohol, smoking and drugs.



Dramatic need/goal

Alice needs to let herself go and she can only achieve that by letting go of everything she owns. She wants to change the world but she will only be able to do so by changing herself.


Reflections:
Alice's personality and aspirations from her teenage years as well as her obstacles, challenges and dreams from the present are relevant to my narrative. She is introverted, a dreamer, independent. She still dreams of changing the world, of making a difference and attaining freedom, but does not actually believe she can. She lacks confidence. She has always been the underdog and does not think that will change. Her mother's abusive relationship with her boyfriend has greatly effected her. This can be resurfaced through flashbacks while her personality traits and dreams can be expressed through her diary entries.

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