#diys Lockwood ideas

[kentnaturaltribrid]

You’re still 12 years old in my mind….

That’s 2 years older than when I last saw you, Uncle Mason.

#LockwoodDiysCollective #DiysLockwoodideas #Tvdanniversary15

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So the black sheep returns

#Collectivediys

[bumblebeeappletree]

Spring is the perfect time for gardening and planting some wildflower seeds where you can.

In this video, Helen Lockwood shows us how to make fun wildflower seed bombs at home which will disintegrate into the soil when it rains. These seed bombs are fun to make with kids and make the perfect DIY gift for a loved one.

You will need:

Compost

Powdered red clay

A variety of wildflower seeds

Water

For more ideas on what kind of wildflower seeds you can use, check out the Candide app: https://cms.candideapp.com/stories/6f...

Love plants? So do we. Download the Candide app and join the UK's fastest-growing gardening community: https://app.adjust.com/aod5591

[motherhenna]

Writers Rants: Backstory

How to Smoothly Integrate a Character’s Past into the Narrative

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If you are even remotely interested in the process of writing, then you’ve probably heard this phrase at least a hundred times over: show, don’t tell.  Such a vague sentiment, but hell if it doesn’t pack a punch. In fact, it’s probably one of the only “rules” of storytelling that ought to be followed as closely as possible and as often as possible—at least in my opinion. But what, exactly, does it mean? In layman’s terms, show don’t tell is a simple recommendation: that authors should actively illustrate a concept rather than passively explain it. Why? Simple. One leaves the reader more room for interpretation and draws them deeper into the action at hand, and the other just…well, tells them what to see and what to feel in the same way a set of DIY instructions describe how to make a quirky set of kitchen lights out of mason jars. While yes, you got a straightforward idea of what to expect, did you actually have fun reading it?

These basic concepts are important to understand if you consider yourself a writer of any kind, as they function as the foundation for a) improving your prose, b) strengthening your characters, and c) forming a flowing narrative that will catch and keep readers’ attention.  And naturally, this also applies to the art of exposition.

Most people with even a cursory knowledge of telling a story know that characters should never be blank slates. If you have any desire to portray even a facsimile of real life, you have to put at least some effort into fleshing out the main characters. And when I say ‘flesh out’, I mean do more than just describing what they look like, a laundry list of personality traits, and what they’re wearing. I’m not going to go into this process deeply, as that’s a matter for another think-piece entirely, but it’s a starting point for the more convoluted parts to come. What I’m building up to is that your characters need a backstory, especially if they’re the one(s) through whom we, as readers, experience the story, i.e., the point of view (POV) character. This applies to both first- and third-person limited narratives, unless you’re going for a more anonymous / incidental narrator, like Mr. Lockwood in Wuthering Heights.

Now, these backstories don’t have to be a strict, detailed, chronological transcription of every year in that character’s life (though doing so certainly doesn’t hurt!) Rather, you should write it much like you would describe your own life if you had to plot it out on a timeline. At first, just stick with the most essential elements: where and when in history they were born, whether they have siblings or present family, and a simple list of significant events from various periods in their life. What specific things have most influenced who they are as a person, for good or ill? Next, it’s time to look at the family, since nothing impacts an individual more than how they were raised and how they were treated during their formative years. Were their parents present during their childhood? What was their parents’ relationship like before and after your character’s birth? Are they natives of the country in which the story is set, or did they immigrate—and if they immigrated, why did they do so? All of these and more are, to me at least, vital to developing a well-rounded and realistic character. I’ve even gone so far as to type out entire timelines for each character as well as their parents. Personalities, quirks, trauma—these are all just as hereditary as one’s genes, though this doesn’t mean that this inheritance has to be through blood. Nature vs. Nurture: they’re both equally important in the formation of an individual.

…So, what to do when you’ve finished all that? Do you dutifully transcribe it into the first chapter of your story? Absolutely not. Copy it into a separate document window and keep it there. A large chunk of this is for your benefit: most likely, less than half of it will make it into the written canon of the novel, and for good reason. All of that detailed history isn’t for the reader, it’s for you to use as a framework. Some of the most powerful elements to realistic characters are the unseen, the implied: all the hidden little things that lie just under the surface, but are never fully visible to the naked eye.

What a lot of inexperienced writers may not realize is that everything doesn’t always have to be stated unequivocally through dialogue or info-dumps. How often, in real life, do acquaintances explain upfront that this specific behavior they often exhibit is a result of how they were abandoned by their father and raised by an emotionally distant mother? Most people don’t psychoanalyze everything, nor do we ourselves do it to others—at least not often! Plus, it’s boring. Getting to know characters over the course of a story should be comparable to meeting a new friend. You find out the surface things at first, but pick up bits and pieces along the way that hint at what lies deeper inside. Little by little, you learn about their family, their hopes, dreams, fears…not always directly, and sometimes even in spite of their desire to keep up a front of normalcy.

With all this said, I think it’s become clear where I stand on backstory: it should be subtle, woven gradually into the narrative rather than stated by the character themselves or described by an omniscient narrator. Not only does this make the process of reading about it flow better and progress more naturally, it’s also far more interactive. Instead of being told why a character acts the way they do, the reader can catalogue said character’s actions, motivations, dialogue, and the way they interact with their surroundings, gradually putting the puzzle pieces together for themselves. In a sense, it’s almost a reward for those who read with a careful, inquisitive eye, and can be just as satisfying as solving a mystery before the detective does in a murder mystery.

I’ve used—and will continue to use—a lot of metaphors in this section because it’s the most thorough way I can to explain this process and why it’s so important. That being said, I approach backstory in the same way I might organize a scavenger hunt. It’s not about a treasure map, but rather an ongoing set of little discoveries without which the ultimate prize can never be found. But in keeping with this analogy, why would anyone want to take part in this if a) they’re just given the prize’s location outright, or b) don’t really care about the prize anyway?

When you’re straight-up told about character’s backstory within the first few chapters, there’s no groundwork for investment. Why should I care about this character’s history if I don’t even know them yet? Investment is a gradual process, and ought to be an interactive process too. One of the best strategies of implying backstory without stating it directly is illustrating how a character reacts to specific triggers. Yes, you can tell the reader in the character’s introductory paragraph that he was almost killed in a house fire as a child, which still haunts him to this day—but how else can you impart this information more effectively and poignantly? For some examples, he might…

Be too frightened to turn on the stove.

Avoid any type of matches or aerosol at all costs.

Get anxious when filling up his car at gas stations.

Constantly check and re-check the smoke detectors throughout his apartment

Panic when he smells her neighbor’s lit fireplace.

Why would we need to explain to readers what made him this way when we have all the evidence we need to figure it out for ourselves? Of course, there’s nothing wrong with, later on down the line, this character actively opening up about this trauma to a friend or therapist, as this is only natural and also supplies us with details we would have never known otherwise. This just shouldn’t be the first way we find it out.

Another efficient and interesting approach to gradual backstory incorporation is through dialogue. The way a character responds to nosy questions, criticisms, or simple observations tell a lot about the kind of people they are and how they’re coping (or not coping) with potentially painful parts of their personal histories / insecurities. For example, Character A can ask Character B, “Why don’t you want to go out tonight?” In truth, B is trying to back out of these plans because she can’t fit into a dress she was supposed to wear for the party, and is trying desperately not fall back into the pit dug by the various eating disorders she has suffered from since adolescence. She is afraid her friends will want to take group pictures, or remark on what’s she’s eating or not eating, or notice the extra pudge in her stomach. She remembers how her mother would chide her for eating second helpings when she was young, or all the times her ex called her fat. But B is not going to be capable of explaining all of this to her partner. So how does she respond?

1.     “I just…feel tired all of a sudden…but don’t let me keep you from going.  I don’t want to spoil your night.” Implication: saving face—she doesn’t want to reveal her real insecurities, so she uses a physical illness as a cover story.

2.      “What’s it to you? If this stupid party so important to you, then you can just go without me!”  Implication: defensiveness—she is uncomfortable being vulnerable, and lashes out instead.

Now obviously these are just two examples of a plethora of different responses a person might have to a question like this. But what matters is that each answer should give the reader some sort of information as to why said character reacts the way they do. And these reactions don’t have to have traumatic roots, either! Perhaps, because Character C’s older sister always encouraged them to stick up for and respect themselves, C is able to take that positive reinforcement and pay it forward, inspired to protect others who may not know how to protect themselves.  Positive change ripples and spreads just as much as negativity, and should never be discounted just because a character has gone through their fair share of tragedy, too.

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In short, there is nothing simple or easy about creative writing—there is so much nuance involved in every aspect, though that shouldn’t discourage newcomers from experimenting and taking everything step by step. There are no absolutes in writing, and every rule can be challenged, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But still, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of backstory when developing strong characters, nor how much more natural a narrative will feel when these things are integrated with subtlety and grace. Your characters should never be objects, concepts, or a means to an end: if you want to make them seem real to your readers, then they must first seem real to you.

...And real people all have their own stories: to find them, all you have to do is watch and listen.    

[gillespialfredoe01806ld]

How the Value of Your Home Affects How Much You Pay for College

Brian Bahr/Getty Images

It’s rare for colleges to offer a peek into the complex formula they use to determine how much they’re going to ask families to pay.

But earlier this month, Stanford University did just that, announcing that it would no longer consider the amount of equity a family has in their home when determining how much the school expects them to contribute to the cost of college.

The move illustrates the challenges that even middle- and upper-middle class families face paying for school as tuition costs have skyrocketed over the past several decades, and wages remained relatively stagnant. Students from families earning $125,000 a year or less can already attend Stanford tuition free. (A Stanford spokesman said those are the families the new policy will benefit the most.)

But Stanford’s announcement also highlights the opacity of the college financial-aid process with different schools taking varying approaches to evaluating the same family’s ability to pay. That can leave parents and students confused about where they stand as they approach one of the largest investments they’ll every make.

“Students and families don’t generally seem to be terribly aware of it,” said David Hawkins, the executive director of Educational Content and Policy at the National Association for College Admission Counseling. The idea behind considering home equity is so families could theoretically take a loan against it to pay for school.

“A lot of times I liken the college admissions process to the wedding industry—you’re not paying attention to it your whole life,” Hawkins said.

Considering home equity is rare

That Stanford ever considered home equity makes it a relative rarity among colleges, experts say. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form provided by the government to determine a family’s ability to pay for college, doesn’t include equity in a primary residence in its calculation.

“That’s an acknowledgment of a public policy that you shouldn’t necessarily have to rob yourself of your home equity, which many people think of as a retirement asset,” said Andy Lockwood, a financial-aid and college admissions counselor in Long Island, N.Y.

Wealthy families can look poor on paper

But roughly 200 schools, many of the most elite in the country, also use the CSS Profile, a form provided by the College Board, to determine aid eligibility. The Profile, as it’s known, includes questions about home equity. Many of the schools that use the form, do take that equity into account, but in different ways.

For example, before its recent change, Stanford capped the amount of home equity it considered relevant to the financial-aid calculation at 1.2 times a family’s income. Other schools may use higher or lower multiples of income. The differences in formula can mean potentially thousands of dollars more parents and students would be expected to contribute to college costs.

Schools that use the Profile are often looking to get a more detailed picture of a family’s ability to pay for college, said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of SavingforCollege.com and a financial-aid expert. The FASFA has less than half the number of questions featured on the Profile.

Schools “use the profile because they want to prevent wealthy families from looking poor,” Kantrowitz said. “They’re looking at all the potential loopholes in the FASFA and saying we want to count this and this.” Those extra factors include regional cost of living differences and assessing the assets of any parent in a child’s life, whether they’re custodial or not.

Many of the colleges with the most generous financial-aid policies for low-income students use the Profile, Kantrowitz said. By getting a more detailed picture of a family’s finances, these schools are able to determine who qualifies based on “their definition of financial need rather than the federal definition of financial need,” he said.

Looking at home equity can give a skewed picture of a family’s resources

Though some schools may still expect that equity in a home puts parents in better position to pay for college, the reality is many can’t realistically tap into it. For families that live in high-cost areas an increase in equity may be the result of growth in the value of the home, not that the family paid down more of the mortgage, Kantrowitz said. In that case, it’s not realistic to expect parents to be able to afford payments on a loan that’s the size of the equity in their home, he said.

What’s more, families in these types of situations are often “tapped out” with mortgage and property tax payments, said Lynn O’Shaughnessy, the author of the College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price.

“In a way it’s unfair that schools use home equity because, hey, you’ve got to live in your house,” she said. “One reason why elite schools can do this is that most of the students that come to their schools are very wealthy, they’re going to pay full price because their income is so high.”

Still, there are steps families can take if they want to be mindful of home equity’s effect in the college financial-aid process, experts say:

Find out if the schools you plan to apply to even count it: There’s no central database of schools’ home equity policies, but there are a few resources that can provide clues. Edmit, a website that helps families understand college costs, features a free calculator parents and students can use to get a sense of how their home equity may affect how much they’ll pay for college.

O’Shaughnessy also keeps a list on her site based on information from Paula Bishop, a Bellevue, Washington-based financial aid advisor.

Families can simply ask the schools they’re interested in about their policies, though it’s not always easy to get an answer, Bishop says. If a college won’t share its policy then families can play around with their net price calculator — a tool colleges are required to have on their website that shows how much families in different financial circumstances might pay — to see if they can get a sense of how home equity factors in, O’Shaughnessy said.

“If you’ve got a family that’s got a house that’s worth a lot of money and you’re going to get knocked out of the ball game with all of this home equity that’s something you should know ahead of time,” she said.

Make a college list with these considerations in mind: Sabrina Manville, the co-founder of Edmit, says they always advise students to create a list of colleges that will offer them a range of outcomes. The list should not just prompt students to ask themselves the question, “Will I get in or not?” They should also ask if they can afford it, she said.

But don’t knock schools off the list just because they consider home equity: The financial-aid process is largely income-driven, Hawkins said, so a family’s home equity may not wind up making that much of a difference in their aid package, even if a school considers it. “It certainly wouldn’t be advisable to rule out a college before you’ve even applied,” he said.

Prepare to appeal the award: Families who can’t realistically tap their home equity to pay for college, but believe it could be counted against them, can prepare ahead of time to appeal their financial-aid award, Lockwood said.

In some cases, he’ll advise clients with a lot of equity in their home and a low income or a recent business loss to make an argument to colleges after they receive their financial-aid award that they couldn’t possibly use the equity as a resource to pay for college because of strict underwriting standards.

“Sometimes we’ll tell clients to get a rejection [from their lender] ahead of time,” he said.

The post How the Value of Your Home Affects How Much You Pay for College appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://bit.ly/2BEtjB0

[jps300spatial]

National Building Companies NZ - Research

Golden Homes

https://www.goldenhomes.co.nz/

Homes are large and relatively similar. Conventional building materials susch as timber, and brick.

GJ Gardner

https://www.gjgardner.co.nz/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4MrEgN3o3AIVEqqWCh2zdQN7EAAYASAAEgKzUPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

-All the houses are over 130sqm, some more than double and are built on site.

-Conventional materials such as timber and brick

Lockwood Homes

http://www.relocatable-homes.co.nz/

Lockwood houses are built so they can be located and are therefore smaller and more light weight - mostly timber. 

Useful Focus:

The main aspects of this idea are things that are important to my idea. 

-No build times = less people waiting to get into homes and taking up other occupanices

-Customisable interior is something I want to explore further to the DIY culture.

- Cost-effective and more affordable. 

-It would also fit into the idea of the planned community better - as the homes are going to be so close together, construction would include difficult logistics. 

-So the houses can be built off site and then transported to the site, then ‘installed.’ 

- Lighter materials are must.