Blog Post 2: Outline

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my story project! This post will have the rough outline for my story.

So, instead of the traditional start-building-climax-falling-end type of story, I have decided that this story, which features themes like coming of age, bullying, teenage drama, and all the other things associated with growing up, will be composed of fifteen snippets/chapters one for each year of the main character’s (Andy’s) life up until their current age (15).

The snippets from the years where nothing really of note happens (like the infant and early toddler years) will contain information like parental background/ancestry, family values, discipline/learning styles, basically information that is not directly relevant to the story but provides additional understanding.

So, without further ado, here is the snippets and an overview of their contents!

I Andy – in this chapter, we get information like name, name meaning/origin, gender, ethnicity, and an opening.

II Background – this chapter is primarily focused on the history of the main character’s parents and hopefully provides some understandings of their actions, particularly towards academics.

III Singled Out – this chapter is about the one-child policy, how smaller family size affected Chinese families and how it will affect Andy, who grows up in a place where siblingless kids are a minority.

IV Moving – Andy’s immigration from China to Canada, the reasons why, and the results.

V Disconnect – this chapter explains the way Andy holds onto his Chinese background when his mother tongue transitions from Chinese to English

VI Religion – Andy has an “I’ll believe it when there is proof” mindset when it comes to religion, making him atheist/agnostic, though he respects others’ religions.

VII Homework – mostly about Andy’s own relationship with academics

VIII Trust – this chapter is focused on the line between discipline and abuse, and whether Andy’s actions really warranted such reactions from his parents.

IX Teenage – this chapter touches on how the family handles puberty (nothing graphic is discussed)

X Coping – Andy has never tried to run away physically, and this chapter explains why.

XI Two Minutes – where the title of the story comes from, this chapter is about emotional regulation in tiger parenting and how Andy only allows himself to be sad for two minutes before he composes himself, and also the effects of such actions.

XII Inadequacy- my personal favorite chapter, this chapter highlights how most of the Chinese kids I talked to have the shared experience of being unfavorably compared to their peers by their parents. While this experience is not limited to Chinese parents, and some Chinese children may not experience this at all, it plays a big part in Andy’s life and self-esteem.

XIII Standards – somewhat similar to the previous chapter, here Andy receives a gift that his mother would scold him for giving, because he should have higher standards for what he gives but can’t control what others give. Andy feels confused at the different standards and aggrieved that his parents have such different reactions.

XIV Drama – how Andy reacts to non-academic related school matters, such as peer relationships.

XV There’s still time – brief description of the life he is currently living, and his ongoing identity crisis.

Once again, I would like to mention that this story comes from experience (my own and stories from others) and research, and is not necessarily true for every Chinese household. I know that some of the topics here may be sensitive, but that is all the more reason to talk about them to foster understanding and empathy. Please let me know if any part is offensive or inappropriate.

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think of this!