Narrative Ideas

I have been trying to focus on choosing a subject area for my narrative. I knew I wanted to approach a subject that I felt was relevant to children and something which maybe parents would have difficulty expressing by themselves.

I chose to focus on feelings of loss and bereavement. I am aware that this is a very sensitive and difficult subject but I feel confident that I can develop a narrative which will be appropriate. I will need to carry out a lot of research in terms of choosing my target age range as I know younger children would have difficulty understanding the concept of death.

Although it is a sensitive subject I feel very inspired by a sense of creating something which may help someone to maybe feel a little better about their situation or possibly help a parent to explain or start to help a child deal with those difficult emotions felt when grieving. Although the main theme will be coming to terms with loss on face value the story will just be a fantasy adventure so could be enjoyed by children who aren't experiencing those feelings. I am conscious that I don't want to make a very obvious message, more like an underlying theme to a sensitive, fantasy narrative.

Basic overview of my initial narrative idea:

The story focuses on a boy whose older sister died in an accident. His family is obviously devastated by their loss, especially the boy. Time goes on and slowly the family starts to return to normal and the boy notices that his parents and other family are spending less time crying and seeming sad. This makes the boy angry and upset as he thinks that his family are forgetting his sister. He gets angry and after an argument with his mother he goes to his room.  He angrily proclaims that it’s as if his sister never existed. Some time passes and he goes back downstairs and is shocked to find all the photographs of the family are different somehow… his sister is missing from all of them. He asks his family what happened and none of them can even remember her at all.

Hardly believing what has happened the boy runs to his room crying and soon falls asleep. Whilst sleeping his sister visits him in a dream and tells him she has been taken prisoner by the evil ruler of the land where memories are kept and she needs his help. She gives him clues how to get to her and when he awakes he sets off to the land where she is being kept. He has to fight several creatures and defeat the evil ruler to save her.

Once he saves her the memory of her is restored and she can now pass peacefully on to the next world. The boy is sad and doesn't want her to leave. He asks if he’ll ever see her again and she tells him that she would much prefer him to remember the good times they shared than to get angry that she is gone and as long as he thinks of her with a smile she will always remain with him in his heart.

 I want my narrative to convey an underlying message that may help children to begin to deal with their loss but I also just want it to be a good story that all children can enjoy. I think the main message I am trying to convey is that although someone is gone they will never truly be gone as long as you think of them and also to think of them in a positive way, instead of focusing on feeling sad that they are gone try to celebrate the good times you enjoyed together.

I have done some initial research which shows that children often feel very confused when someone close to them has died and this can lead to feelings of frustration and anger. This kind of feeling is what I would aim to target with my narrative and try to turn those feelings into something more positive.

[some reference for further research]
Although I want to look into more psychological studies themselves than articles which simply reference them like the two below.

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/Childhood%20bereavement%20literature%20review.pdf

http://www.netmums.com/support/miscarriage-and-loss/loss-of-a-child/helping-children-cope-with-bereavement