Research

LOSS- a feeling of grief after loosing someone or something important.

Grieving could be caused by something as small as moving house or changing jobs, or it could be from the death of a family member, partner or financial stability.
There are many kinds of grief, however since i'm basing this off the book i will stick to the themes of death and the loss of a significant family member.
In this case the sibling/twin brother.
A bond many cant understand but empathise with none the less.

I want to show different stages in grief or how more than one is coping with the same significant loss so i researched how many cope with grief, hoping this will allow me to understand the characters more, and found many believe they should ignore the grief and it will fade, or don't cry or show weakness, you should remain strong. And there is only so long it should last. however different people even in the same situation grieve differently and at different times.

Feel like life isn’t worth living

Wish you had died with your loved one

Blame yourself for the loss or for failing to prevent it

Feel numb and disconnected from others for more than a few weeks

Are having difficulty trusting others since your loss

Are unable to perform your normal daily activities

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/grief_loss.htm


Typical Stages of Grief ...
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression 
Acceptance

Hopefully i will be able to arrange the final story and dialogue to portray all these stages, hopefully in the stereotypical order even though most don't grieve in this order.

"there is not a typical response to loss, as there is no typical loss. Our grieving is as individual as our lives.” -Kübler-Ross

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief

I plan on the narration being a look into the helplessness and loneliness of the situation whilst the animation itself will protray someone who is coping reltively well and moving on with her life.

As the character is still quite young, i wanted to rearch further into the differences in grief and younger adults and children, and found it has even more indepth resources and explains that children often feel the same if not more than adults in traumatic situations.
Alot of the time this leads to them feeling unnoticed and helpless since their feelings and loss aren't being accounted for among the rest of the tragedy.
Often children are over looked due to the common assumption 'children don't know any better' or 'they're too young to understand' but i want to show indepth feelings from a young girl who has lost her brother, so understanding her and her thoughts on the whole situation is vital. It could also be interesting to show how her peers and elders react to her emotions or lack of.

“Anyone old enough to love is old enough to grieve.” - Alan Wolfiet

http://psychcentral.com/lib/children-and-grief/000374

Key words and phrases i found will be major inspirations to the story and emotional themes...
shock
disbelief
sadness
guilt
anger
fear
physical symptoms
taken from you
destroyed
negative
no right or wrong feelings
overwhelming
pain
talk it out
rely on family and friends
bitterness
emptiness
meaningless
search for the person in familiar places
avoiding triggers and memories of the deceased
isolation
permanent
irreversible
mourning