I need a career of some sort that my character (Ruby)'s parents will disapprove of. Possibly something that doesn't make too much money.... If it helps, the dad is a docter and mom is a lawyer, the sister is a math genius and is going to Yale, and the brother also has a lot of potential for a successful future.
Ruby is a weirdo, but she is also very observant. I was thinking of something like writing, painting, photography, but any and all donations are accepted!
Oh, and thanks in advance! :)
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25,151 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 18 36
Anything in the entertainment industry. An actress, a writer. My family's all in said industry, but I have co-workers who've said they've been virtually disowned for pursuing such an unstable career.
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"NaNoWriMo spares us from three evils; boredom, laziness and free time."
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32,157 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 18 42
Teaching, either art or preschool. Everyone in my dad's family is an engineer, and my mom's a preschool teacher; they blame her for the fact that I don't want to be an engineer either. (I'm a history major, and I'll be going to seminary.)
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35,191 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 18 47
She could always get a job in a used bookstore...
----------2005: Chrysalis - winner!
2006: stalled out
2007: Draco's Dreams - winner!
2008: The Sultan's Slave
50,407 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 18 58
I'm not sure why, but the first thing that popped into my head was tattoo artist.
----------NaNovel 2008: A Queer Sort of Clockwork
//Dead bodies: 7 and then some
//Nights of debauchery: 2.5
//Run-ins with the mafia: I've lost track
//mgs caffeine consumed: I don't need caffeine to function, and you're all jealous. =P
23,785 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 19 12
Well, my first thought was painter, you know the whole starving artist thing.
Maybe working behind the scenes somewhere to be near her dream. Janitor for movies, museum curator?
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45,778 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 19 13
Nothing wrong with a career in a used bookstore.
I may be biased. I own a used bookstore.
Where else can you be surrounded by so many BOOKS?
Just my humble opinion.
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2007 (Won!) Title: The Amber Pendant -- SciFi/Fantasy -- Time Travel Murder Mystery
2008 (Win planned!) Title: The Conspiracy Class -- Mainstream/ Thriller -- Conspiracies
50,028 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 19 38
I was going to suggest photography. For a couple reasons. One is that, while you can make a lot of money at it, it's one of those fields, like acting, writing or any other kind of art, where only a few actually make a living off it.
Also, because a lot of people don't even realize that some people are making millions at it. If her parents don't know anything about photography, the only photographers they come into contact with are school pictures and the ones at Sears. Maybe they think about advertising but never concider it as an art. They would just assume she's putting her efforts into something that would make her very sucessful.
And if you decide to go that route and end up with any questiosn about the process, like if she does film instead of digital and you want to know about developing pictures (which would probably upset her parents all the more, since in the minds of most people, film is dead while to artist it's unbreakable), I'll be happy to help. I'm a film major but do a lot of still photography on film and develop my own pictures.
32,528 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 19 51
Eh.... prostitute?
Or if you want to keep it G-rated, how about a sideshow entertainer?
0 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 19 52
Well my aunt's boyfriend's son wants to live in Cuba for a year to experience communism or something. He's a journalist, I think.
-Painter (and she has little to no talent or she's trying to make money in a small town).
-Supermodel (obviously she wants to be one but isn't)
-Manicurist
-Stylist
-Nuclear bomb builder
-Garbage truck driver
-Nude painting model
-The next Beyonce singer
-Professional surfer
-Stunt double
-Body guard in Morocco
-Mercenary
-Professional Fire eater/performer
-Belly dancer
-Medicine tester
-Lobbyist
-Stripper/pole dancer/prostitute
-Car crash tester
-Airplane tester
-Cashier
-Poacher
-Anything working for a shady or untrustworthy company or employer
-Mafia boss
-Drug lord
-Con artist
-Thief
-Hit man
-Maid
-House or groundskeeper
-Actor
Although really you could put the family's values any way you want to make Rudy's career as unpalateable as you want it to be.
29,112 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 20 05
Hey, thanks, you totally just provided my MC with a weird job. Garbageman it is! :)
----------Murders: 2
Ferris Wheels: 3
Nightmares: 4
Uses of the Word 'Puppy': 31
People's reaction when I try to explain my novel: o.O
4,772 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 21 01
From personal experience! :) The music business. As in, that was my major at school- the deal was I also had to have a "real" major.
25,675 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 21 11
Yeah --- I did 9/9ths of a degree in drama --- everyone wanted to know what I REALLY did for a living!!!!
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*** If you're going to do it - don't feel bad --
-- If you're going to feel bad - don't do it! ***
50,000 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 21 48
My parents gripe at me all the time about not working a "real job"
Their gripe is mostly that I'm not making use of my college degree. So if Ruby has a degree, put her in something that she could do with a high school diploma and that would be enough.
Even better, make it something where she has a crazy schedule that makes it hard to keep in touch with the family, graveyard shifts when the rest of the family works 9 to 5 is good. If they live far away, something that doesn't give holidays off would give room for that (because in fields like retail or customer service, a lot of times they are open holidays, and good luck getting the days off)
55,923 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2008 - 22 15
Stripper.
XD
Note that all I did was read your title and click the 'reply' button, so if you said not a stripper or something, I apologize.
I doubt anyone but the daughter of a stripper could get away with this one. rofl.
35,186 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 00 43
It kind of depends on the parents. Someone upthread said teacher, but half my family are teachers and nobody would be disappointed if I'd become one! And my parents would be thrilled if I actually did something with this whole writing thing. But, my parents are (a) super left-wing, (b) Academic types, and (c) pretty non-judgemental.
So I think it depends on the parents. Sure, they're lawyers and doctors, but that doesn't necessarily mean they disapprove of other careers. Are they fairly conservative? Then they probably would disapprove of their child being, say, a porn star.
Disappointment is not a universal thing - it's pretty personal. Can you tell us some more about Ruby's parents beliefs?
5,342 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 01 57
She could really tick off her parents and become the goddess in a new religion she creates.
If her parents are say, conservative Catholics, she could become a different flavor of Christian and become a female priest/deacon. D-8
----------Pullman, WA Municipal Liason
Pullman, WA Forum co-Mod
5,342 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 02 00
XD
Note that all I did was read your title and click the 'reply' button, so if you said not a stripper or something, I apologize.
I doubt anyone but the daughter of a stripper could get away with this one. rofl.
Quite the contrary. I'm not having children, but if I did, I wouldn't mind of he/she became a stripper, and I've never held any kind of controversial job position. As long as she's safe and happy, I'd be happy and proud.
----------Pullman, WA Municipal Liason
Pullman, WA Forum co-Mod
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 04 24
Stand up comic
Private Investigator/Bail Bondsman/Repo man
Wasn't getting a whole lot of support when I did either.
96,665 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 05 30
Any kind of work in the nonprofit/charity sector. Those organizations sound sexy in theory, but in practicality the pay and hours are usually shit and you expend massive effort on projects that produce small quantifiable returns. Ruby's parents could be looking at her and thinking, "What in God's name are you putting yourself through this for? You could have a cushy office job somewhere in the private sector!" Especially if the organization's cause is one they're not wild about (ie a women's clinic that provides abortions, or a "no-questions-asked" resource center for immigrants) or it's a niche that they don't see the point of (preserving historic architecture, pit bull rescue, urban gardening.)
9,256 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 05 54
My mom would have killed me if I'd become a professional criminal.
Just sayin'.
----------Oh, the insanity.
36,066 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 06 40
Plastic Surgeon
"Why are you giving women fake breasts?!?!"
xD
34,274 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 13 47
To spring off of that, a waitress friend of mine LOVES her job, but her parents hate that she's doing that instead of a dignified desk job. She just can't sit still, she'd be no good at a desk. But her shifts are rather weird...she works one week 5-2pm, and the next week she could have shifts from 4pm-midnight.
Or, my other friend is rebellion against his Episcopalian parents by going to seminary to become a Catholic Priest. They threatened to throw him in the streets over it. lol....its funny. I love my friends.
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Some people follow their dreams. Others hunt them down and beat them into submission.
6,109 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 14 00
Well, my MC had a bright future ahead of her, but then she met a guy at a punk show. She stopped doing her homework, doing chores, and spent all her time with this person (in a platonic relationship). Her parents predicted she'd be found in a dumpster somewhere with a needle in her arm.
Ten years later, the band she started with this guy had one of the best-selling records of the year, a high-grossing tour and the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine.
So, yeah, being a rock star could piss off your parents. Before you get famous, you're poor.
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In the mirror of invention, love discovered itself.
-Tom Stoppard
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 14 14
I'd say, depending on what kind of person Ruby is, 'waitressing'.
If she is rational enough to put this together, she could be thinking:
I'm going to make this amount of $. Plus tips, and on the bright side, I can meet new people every day!
26,184 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 15 22
My parents have had problems with my dreams of becoming an actress, writer, animator, director and journalist.
Parents would also probably disapprove of your MC becoming an entrepreneur and starting her own business, whatever that may be. Simply because it's tough to keep a business going. I've seen plenty of people fail and lose all their money that way.
----------~*~
"I shall never grow up.
Make-believe is much too fun.
Can we go far away to the humming meadow?"
- Eisley, "Brightly Wound"
29,314 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 15 36
My parents would definately dissaprove if I joined the army.
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Screnzy 07 + No Name + EPIC FAIL
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34,018 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2008 - 17 49
Anything in the animal care field will end up making you a small amount of money. I know one side of my family always told me I'd be poor if I became a paleontologist...
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43,015 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 05 50
clown
Planned Parenthood counselor
undertaker
deodorant tester
dancer
casino dealer
loan shark
52,030 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 06 12
The very first thing that came to mind when I read this thread title is "stripper!!" Especially with the doesn't make a lot of money thing. Or, if that's not working for you - blackjack dealer, bartender...
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2008: Indigo - fantasy
"A pretty girl with a wicked smile on".
27,414 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2008 - 08 07
Your character's family sounds a lot like my best friend's family, and she's in the process of choosing a career too.
She's thought about animation, phsychology, teaching, and other things like that, but her parents.... aren't liking those options.
It depends on the family, really.