Fandomsandfoxlore - 🦊Sav🦊

How do I write a Mafia story? Because I’m genuinely lost when it comes to research. I can’t find the information I’m looking for about the way it works and the positions! All I’m getting are famous mafias and guys with jersey accents. If it’s to much work for you, please don’t bother. I was just curious.

Hi :)

I do not have the time to really research it more than on a basis level, but when I was younger I had a phase where I loved to read non-fiction books about the mafia and so I’ll try to get you some information I remember.

How to write the Mafia

What is the mafia?

Plot twist: there is no the mafia anymore

it used to be exclusively about a criminal secret society in Sicily

other mafias are usually called by their region or country of origin (Japanese Mafia, Russian Mafia, etc.)

but they call themselves by their own terms (Cosa Nostra, Yakuza, etc.)

mafia describes a highly organized criminal network, often with international connections to other criminal networks and their own chapters in a lot of different countries

to go from a simple gang to a mafia, they have to be very powerful in their region and resourceful

they managed to infiltrate the political system in their region and became an economic player that shouldn’t be underestimated

the characteristics of most mafias are: a boss that stands over everyone, an initiation ritual before someone becomes part of the mafia, probably for life, a code of honor that says that members have to be silence when they get captured, and protection racket as their main form of criminal business

often the protection they pressure business owners into paying them for, is from themselves and they guarantee that they won’t attack the business or the owner’s family

this often happens in places where the police do not have the upper hand or cannot be trusted either

other types of criminal activities they are involved in: human trafficking, prostitution, gambling, loan sharking, drug-trafficking, fraud

How to write it?

decide on a specific mafia and become familiar with their hierarchies, their special rituals, their main business, their code of honor, what happens if they break it, etc.

if you want to have more creative freedom with your writing, establish your own mafia or create a new chapter to an existing one

but keep in mind that they need the characteristics from above

Characters

decide on who is the boss and how involved he still is (it’s mostly a boy’s club)

pick your main characters and decide on their position in the organization

what is their role, in what part are they involved?

who are the other members they mostly interact with?

do they have a lot of people they have to answer to?

how did they get into the group?

what are their motives?

how do they feel about the crimes they commit?

do their beliefs and morals still align with those of the group?

do they try to have a life outside of the group?

to give your life to a criminal network that functions as a family does not make life easy and you should show the highs and lows of being a professional criminal

think about the side characters

family plays an important part in the mafia, so make sure to include these people and show the dynamics between them

it’s important to give your characters their own personalities and individuality, so they become three-dimensional characters and not gangster clichés

Research

when it comes to writing a real, existing organization research is really important

do your research on the specific mafia you decide on, their rituals, businesses, modus operandi, etc.

all the groups have some things in common with each other, some form of organization, but they differ a lot in the way they operate and what they focus on

a story about criminals practically needs law enforcement

research the laws of the country your story takes place in, a lot of countries have their own laws for organized crimes, often just the affiliation with a criminal organization is a crime

for how it works exactly and the different positions inside the organization, I would take a look at Google Scholar, there are a lot of free books and articles that talk about those things in depth (you can just put in the specific mafia you’re searching for and some catchwords and you can even decide the period of time it was published to not use outdated info)

It’s not that in-depth, but I hope it still helps a little :)

- Jana

Yearning

nice bpd, did ur mom give it to u

I was never meant to be apart of society.

I was meant to crawl around the forest and make freaky noises.

"Sai, who always gave lonely smiles, she wanted to know more and more about him. There was no way she could leave him in such dark place"

- Ino Yamanaka ( Shikamaru Hiden )

Yanshen are so funny to me because Yan Wushi’s supervillain plot to make Shen Qiao evil and spiteful almost barely works but like. Specifically only towards Yan Wushi

Shen Qiao is consistently amicable and peaceful towards people who have wronged him in the past and almost never actively seeks revenge but the literal moment Yan Wushi opens his mouth he’s like “maybe I should give this person a Head Injury”

Virginia Woolf is always in the back of my mind and I never forget about her

This is my favorite shin soukoku art ever. Credit to miuronx on Instagram!

Day 11 "Power"

Here it is folks:

My definitive ranking of my least favorite bodies of water! These are ranked from least to most scary (1/10 is okay, 10/10 gives me nightmares). I’m sorry this post is long, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this.

The Great Blue Hole, Belize

I’ve been here! I have snorkeled over this thing! It is terrifying! The water around the hole is so shallow you can’t even swim over the coral without bumping it, and then there’s a little slope down, and then it just fucking drops off into the abyss! When you’re over the hole the water temperature drops like 10 degrees and it’s midnight blue even when you’re right by the surface. Anyway. The Great Blue Hole is a massive underwater cave, and its roughly 410 feet deep. Overall, it’s a relatively safe area to swim. It’s a popular tourist attraction and recreational divers can even go down and explore some of the caves. People do die at the Blue Hole, but it is generally from a lack of diving experience rather than anything sinister going on down in the depths. My rating for this one is 1/10 because I’ve been here and although it’s kinda freaky it’s really not that bad.

Lake Baikal, Russia

When I want to give myself a scare I look at the depth diagram of this lake. It’s so deep because it’s not a regular lake, it’s a Rift Valley, A massive crack in the earth’s crust where the continental plates are pulling apart. It’s over 5,000 feet deep and contains one-fifth of all freshwater on Earth. Luckily, its not any more deadly than a normal lake. It just happens to be very, very, freakishly deep. My rating for this lake is a 2/10 because I really hate looking at the depth charts but just looking at the lake itself isn’t that scary.

Jacob’s Well, Texas

This “well” is actually the opening to an underwater cave system. It’s roughly 120 feet deep, surrounded by very shallow water. This area is safe to swim in, but diving into the well can be deadly. The cave system below has false exits and narrow passages, resulting in multiple divers getting trapped and dying. My rating is a 3/10, because although I hate seeing that drop into the abyss it’s a pretty safe place to swim as long as you don’t go down into the cave (which I sure as shit won’t).

The Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota

This is an area in the Brule River where half the river just disappears. It literally falls into a hole and is never seen again. Scientists have dropped in dye, ping pong balls, and other things to try and figure out where it goes, and the things they drop in never resurface. Rating is 4/10 because Sometimes I worry I’m going to fall into it.

Flathead Lake, Montana

Everyone has probably seen this picture accompanied by a description about how this lake is actually hundreds of feet deep but just looks shallow because the water is so clear. If that were the case, this would definitely rank higher, but that claim is mostly bull. Look at the shadow of the raft. If it were hundreds of feet deep, the shadow would look like a tiny speck. Flathead lake does get very deep, but the spot the picture was taken in is fairly shallow. You can’t see the bottom in the deep parts. However, having freakishly clear water means you can see exactly where the sandy bottom drops off into blackness, so this still ranks a 5/10.

The Lower Congo River, multiple countries

Most of the Congo is a pretty normal, if large, River. In the lower section of it, however, lurks a disturbing surprise: massive underwater canyons that plunge down to 720 feet. The fish that live down there resemble cave fish, having no color, no eyes, and special sensory organs to find their way in the dark. These canyons are so sheer that they create massive rapids, wild currents and vortexes that can very easily kill you if you fall in. A solid 6/10, would not go there.

Little Crater Lake, Oregon

On first glance this lake doesn’t look too scary. It ranks this high because I really don’t like the sheer drop off and how clear it is (because it shows you exactly how deep it goes). This lake is about 100 feet across and 45 feet deep, and I strongly feel that this is too deep for such a small lake. Also, the water is freezing, and if you fall into the lake your muscles will seize up and you’ll sink and drown. I don’t like that either. 7/10.

Grand Turk 7,000 ft drop off

No. 8/10. I hate it.

Gulf of Corryvreckan, Scotland

Due to a quirk in the sea floor, there is a permanent whirlpool here. This isn’t one of those things that looks scary but actually won’t hurt you, either. It absolutely will suck you down if you get too close. Scientists threw a mannequin with a depth gauge into it and when it was recovered the gauge showed it went down to over 600 feet. If you fall into this whirlpool you will die. 9/10 because this seems like something that should only be in movies.

The Bolton Strid, England

This looks like an adorable little creek in the English countryside but it’s not. Its really not. Statistically speaking, this is the most deadly body of water in the world. It has a 100% mortality rate. There is no recorded case of anyone falling into this river and coming out alive. This is because, a little ways upstream, this isn’t a cute little creek. It’s the River Wharfe, a river approximately 30 feet wide. This river is forced through a tiny crack in the earth, essentially turning it on its side. Now, instead of being 30 feet wide and 6 feet deep, it’s 6 feet wide and 30 feet deep (estimated, because no one actually knows how deep the Strid is). The currents are deadly fast. The banks are extremely undercut and the river has created caves, tunnels and holes for things (like bodies) to get trapped in. The innocent appearance of the Strid makes this place a death trap, because people assume it’s only knee-deep and step in to never be seen again. I hate this river. I have nightmares about it. I will never go to England just because I don’t want to be in the same country as this people-swallowing stream. 10/10, I live in constant fear of this place.

Honorable mention: The Quarry, Pennsylvania

I don’t know if that’s it’s actual name. This lake gets an honorable mention not because it’s particularly deep or dangerous, but it’s where I almost drowned during a scuba diving accident.

Edit: I’ve looked up the name of the quarry, it’s called Crusty’s Quarry and is privately owned and only used for training purposes, not recreational diving.