Message Board Topic For 5/21

[Topaz]

Naturally, a great majority of the stories you see online about teenage boys in love....are NOT written by teenage boys in love! Some are, of course, and I LOVE you boys out there who have taken the opportunity to tell your story while you're living it! But most are written by people who are out of high school. Some have been out of high school for a very long time.

 

There's a challenge in trying to capture the true feelings and emotions of a teenager, experiencing these things for the very first time. And if you slip, people are going to know it. You can't have 14 year old boys talking with the grace and wit of a graduate student. But you certainly can't have them acting so naive and lost as to insult the entire high school population either. There has to be a way to create a believable dialogue and storyline that truly represents the age of your characters, but how?

 

How does an author find a way to give his character a personality that fits their age and level of experience? Have you guys read any stories that were way off in their presentation? Do their characters seem too old? Too young? Why does it seem that way to you, and how can they fix it?

 

Whatever your thoughts are, let us know! Someone who is fifteen shouldn't think and act like a 7 year old, nor should they speak like a 30 year old. How do we find the balance?

[JamesSavik]

>>How do we find the balance?

 

There is the trick: there is so much individual variation in people, that's what makes them fascinating to read and write about.

 

From a sociological standpoint, a 14 year old from a sheltered, wealthy family is going to be quite different from a 14 year old who lives in a trailer with his crack-head, prostitute mother: so different in fact that they would appear to come from two different planets.

 

Teens from sheltered environments would usually tend to be less mature and/or sexually sophisticated. They may or may not have tried alcohol or drugs but are much less likely to be chronic users. Their experience is limited because of familial involvement.

 

On the other hand, a teen from a seriously dysfunctional environment may be very sexually sophisticated. His use of sex may be a learned survival skill (prostitution) or an artifact of abuse. He may have learned how to be sexually manipulative to get what he wants or have his own way. Typically a teen in this situation has tried alcohol and drugs, may have a habit and may even be a small time dealer.

 

 

There is also a great deal of variation physiologically. While height/weight and body maturity falls into some very broad ranges, those ranges are fairly consistent for adolescents of both sexes. Example: a six foot 14 year old male is exceptionally rare but a 6 foot 16 year old male is fairly common.

 

Sexual maturity works pretty much the same way in males. By age 11 ~12% are sexually mature, age 12- 33%, age 13- 74%, age 14- 90, age 15- ~100% It is necessary to point out that since these original statistics appeared in the 50s, these numbers have been sliding lower with sexual maturity occurring somewhat earlier. Theories on why this is is happening range from hormones added to beef & chicken to improved all-around nutrition. Children as young as 8 or 9 are being effected. This is often called petty-adolescence and can be very problematic for the child since they are very much out of synch with their peers.

 

 

In the various theories of character development, Language, culture, personality all play a role. In one school of thought, the character is thought to be a product of the overall culture and specific environment. [Consider how different a person from Southern California and Southern Mississippi might be. How might they be similar? Do we know enough about either culture to know?]

 

While this is logical, how do we explain Goth kids? Is there an invisible vampire culture with its own fashion and music or is this a chosen sub-culture that some people may be intrigued by or feel more comfortable with?

 

How articulate is a character? How smart? What is their history and life-experience? Attitudes? General outlook? These are questions that the author must address in order to build a believable character with depth and dimension. It is not necessary to reveal all of the facets of that personality to the reader but- if you, as an author know that character, you will be able to "write him" more believably.

[Graeme]

I will admit that I try to avoid having too many 14 year old characters in my stories. I try to make teenaged characters late 15+, as I find that easier to write about. As James has pointed out, there is a fair degree of variation in people so there is a lot of room for tolerance. If there are enough characters of a particular age, then there should also be a noticeable range in their maturity and general behaviour.

 

When I started writing, my first novel involved a fourteen-year-old and a group of sixteen-year-olds. I still remember the comment from my editor -- Teenagers don't usually talk as if they had a PhD. My editor is a teenager and he made massive changes to my early writings to make the teenagers sound more realistic. I have (hopefully) learnt from that experience and my characters sound close to the correct age. I will admit that without that experience, my teenage characters probably wouldn't sound too realistic.

 

So, to answer the original question, I have a group of teenagers read my stories before they get posted. They are not backward about telling me if there is something that doesn't ring true... and I really appreciate the effort they make to give me honest feedback.

[JamesSavik]

I still remember the comment from my editor -- Teenagers don't usually talk as if they had a PhD. My editor is a teenager and he made massive changes to my early writings to make the teenagers sound more realistic.

 

Knowing your editor, he is well on his way to a PHD. My respects and regards too the esteemed Aaron & company.