I'm 14 years old going on 40... aka Unbelievable Characters.

[Brayon]

Something that was brought up in a Writer's Corner thread, awhile back, was the new stereotype of the Teenage Adult Characters. Characters who, according to their Authors, are in fact teenagers, but in word and deed are more like Forty Year Old Adults. It's so prevalent in modern literature and programming, one can't read or watch Young Adult focus programs, without there being an adult teen in the bunch. One article I read on the topic, speculated that the stereotype holds true 90% of the time. Yes, there are teenagers who "wise beyond their years," but those Real Life teens are very few, and far between. 

 

I bring this up because I'm writing a story about a 18yo gay male. A preview of which is in this very club. So, I'm doing my best, not to fall into the trap. It's hard. Don't bet me wrong, I like some stories that have a version of this in it. Myr's Teran Confederate stories have teens who have been forced to grow up quickly. I love those stories and can't wait for more. (Hint, hint, ). 

 

But there are others, who seem to write a story, and then at the last minute say, "Yeah, (s)he's a teenager, and the setting is actually High School! Where they sing and play basketball." So, how do you avoid going down the path of the Teenage Adult?

 

As a side note, if any of my stories, end up with a Teenage Adult, please tell me.

Edited September 3, 2017 by BHopper2

[CassieQ]

As I get older, I struggle to write teenage characters, especially since teenagers today are so different.  I grew up in a time where you only saw desktop computers and there was no social media.  I know some characters can have an "old soul" but if I read a teenage character that is emulating the behavior of a mature adults (*cough cough* Bella Swan *cough cough*) than I'm going to have trouble taking the character seriously.  

[Krista]

I think YA authors fall into the grey area of... Having Late teenage characters living in very real and adult situations. Especially when it comes to relationships. I don't think there are many completely grounded teenagers out there... most are still just living for the day. There isn't a lot of pre-planning that goes into their lives and I feel that is what makes the spirit of a teenage novel good. The feeling of freedom before adulthood and the making of mistakes.

 

When you have series that are popular like:

 

Harry Potter

Twilight

The Hunger Games Trilogy

 

..etc. They all put their characters in extremely difficult positions that would require them to think and act far beyond their years. The better series can do that, but reel back their characters to the proper age groups and allow them to make mistakes in which they grow and come of age from. It is the series and stories that never really show that realistic age and the learning process that comes with those years that bother me. There should be a natural growth to adulthood, the story becomes condescending very easily if they skip that part.

 

--- Having a firm grasp on the language that teens are using as well helps. When they start talking like every character on Dawson's Creek... it just isn't realistic. 

[CassieQ]

46 minutes ago, Krista said:

I think YA authors fall into the grey area of... Having Late teenage characters living in very real and adult situations. Especially when it comes to relationships. I don't think there are many completely grounded teenagers out there... most are still just living for the day. There isn't a lot of pre-planning that goes into their lives and I feel that is what makes the spirit of a teenage novel good. The feeling of freedom before adulthood and the making of mistakes.

 

When you have series that are popular like:

 

Harry Potter

Twilight

The Hunger Games Trilogy

 

..etc. They all put their characters in extremely difficult positions that would require them to think and act far beyond their years. The better series can do that, but reel back their characters to the proper age groups and allow them to make mistakes in which they grow and come of age from. It is the series and stories that never really show that realistic age and the learning process that comes with those years that bother me. There should be a natural growth to adulthood, the story becomes condescending very easily if they skip that part.

 

--- Having a firm grasp on the language that teens are using as well helps. When they start talking like every character on Dawson's Creek... it just isn't realistic. 

I agree that YA is an area that kind of blurs the lines.  I think the characters in Harry Potter, and especially The Hunger Games are very well written, but Twilight is just all over the place.  Bella selflessly leaves her home and her friends (while in HIGH SCHOOL) to live with her father, who she barely knows and doesn't really like that much, just so her mother can have some alone time with her new husband.  This may be because I was forced to move and change schools several times while growing up, but when I read that, I rolled my eyes so hard I'm surprised I didn't sprain something.   

[Brayon]

On the subject of Twilight...

 

1. Vampires DO NOT SPARKLE!!! EVER!!!!

2. She admits it was basically a masturbation fantasy.

3. The Gay Porn Spoof, Twinklight, was a much better production.

 

 

I don't know how the movies made money.

[JayT]

11 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

On the subject of Twilight...

 

1. Vampires DO NOT SPARKLE!!! EVER!!!!

2. She admits it was basically a masturbation fantasy.

3. The Gay Porn Spoof, Twinklight, was a much better production.

 

 

I don't know how the movies made money.

I just want to point out one MAJOR flaw with the Twilight series.....If he was so addicted to her blood that he couldn't control himself if he smelt it, what did he do when she was on her period???

[Defiance19]

51 minutes ago, JayT said:

I just want to point out one MAJOR flaw with the Twilight series.....If he was so addicted to her blood that he couldn't control himself if he smelt it, what did he do when she was on her period???

I can't..

[CassieQ]

2 hours ago, JayT said:

I just want to point out one MAJOR flaw with the Twilight series.....If he was so addicted to her blood that he couldn't control himself if he smelt it, what did he do when she was on her period???

Forget her period...the dude was dead, how did Bella end up getting pregnant?

[Myr]

On 9/3/2017 at 1:38 AM, BHopper2 said:

Myr's Teran Confederate stories have teens who have been forced to grow up quickly. I love those stories and can't wait for more.

Good thing I'm working on one right now then...  Though, I do that a lot in bursts.  Getting one released is another matter.

 

3 hours ago, BHopper2 said:

The Gay Porn Spoof, Twinklight, was a much better production.

It was quite good, yes.  Much better than the Movie with Shovelface.

 

As a commentary about 14 going on 40 characters... as an only child, I spent most of my time around adults when I was kid and by the time I was 14, I had my stuff packed together fairly well.  I've never had much tolerance for childish behavior... even as a child.  It doesn't help that by the time I was 14, I was a LOT sharper than most of the adults around me.  (add in a BS and two MS's and my geekdom knows no bounds).  

 

One thing to really keep in mind is that people don't read and write about everyday things.  You write about things that are outside of the norm.  This becomes even truer in science fiction and fantasy writing.  I mean... would anyone read a book about Dudley Dursley school days at Smelting? I didn't think so...

 

My characters, in particular, are purposely more adult while still teens.  I've not delved deeply into the lore in the short stories I've shared, but Psionics requires incredible mental discipline.  If you don't learn to control your powers when you're young, you go crazy or worse.  I tried to provide a balance in WET, by making him a mouthy little shit, while, at the same time his actions show he's something more. 

 

Hope this helps.

[FormerMember4]

Authors often screw up with this. Being out of touch with character.

@Comicality is an author who gets it right. Grasping mentality and mannerisms. With stories like GFD, where characters skillfully walk teen/adult line.

Edited September 4, 2017 by BlindAmbition

[Myr]

Agreed.  @Comicality nails characterization. 

 

Out of an abundance of curiosity, I popped over to FanFiction.  Of the 585,000 English language Harry Potter stories.. only 66 have Dudley Dursley listed as the main character and are over 40k words. And none of them seemed to be about Smeltings and his schooling there.  lol 

 

[Brayon]

2 hours ago, Myr said:

Good thing I'm working on one right now then...  Though, I do that a lot in bursts.  Getting one released is another matter.

I think I will go dance a jig right now... SCORE!!! *coughs* Yeah, I'm totally fanboying.

 

2 hours ago, Myr said:

It was quite good, yes.  Much better than the Movie with Shovelface.

Shovelface does redeem himself. In his latest movie, he refused to give a dog a handjob, so that's redemption in my book.

 

2 hours ago, Myr said:

One thing to really keep in mind is that people don't read and write about everyday things.  You write about things that are outside of the norm.  This becomes even truer in science fiction and fantasy writing.  I mean... would anyone read a book about Dudley Dursley school days at Smelting? I didn't think so...

Very true.

 

2 hours ago, Myr said:

My characters, in particular, are purposely more adult while still teens.  I've not delved deeply into the lore in the short stories I've shared, but Psionics requires incredible mental discipline.  If you don't learn to control your powers when you're young, you go crazy or worse.  I tried to provide a balance in WET, by making him a mouthy little shit, while, at the same time his actions show he's something more.

This was something I always felt, not only with your stories, but any work that involves Psionics, Magic, and other supernatural abilities. It's easier to train a kid in how to use such powers, because they have no preconceived notions in how they can/can't work. At least in my opinion. If they develop as a latent, and coming on years later, it's one thing, but showing signs as a kid, yeah they need help.

 

Like the kid in the Fantastic Beasts, and Where to Find Them movie. So suppressed in magic, he turned into a monster and killed people.

[Brayon]

2 hours ago, BlindAmbition said:

Authors often screw up with this. Being out of touch with character.

@Comicality is an author who gets it right. Grasping mentality and mannerisms. With stories like GFD, where characters skillfully walk teen/adult line.

 

1 hour ago, Myr said:

Agreed.  @Comicality nails characterization. 

 

Out of an abundance of curiosity, I popped over to FanFiction.  Of the 585,000 English language Harry Potter stories.. only 66 have Dudley Dursley listed as the main character and are over 40k words. And none of them seemed to be about Smeltings and his schooling there.  lol 

 

 

I've read some of @Comicality's stories. I love his in process story called Shelter.

[Myr]

There are some good tips from @Comicality, Donh and others here:

https://www.gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/35-writing-tips/

 

Definitely worth a read and a review

 

[Brayon]

27 minutes ago, Myr said:

There are some good tips from @Comicality, Donh and others here:

https://www.gayauthors.org/stories/browse/category/35-writing-tips/

 

Definitely worth a read and a review

 

Those are some good articles. Just read Comicality's The Unknown Audience.

[FormerMember4]

33 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

 

 

I've read some of @Comicality's stories. I love his in process story called Shelter.

Two good examples of how to write child/teen, Jesse 101 and Kiss of an Angel. 

[Timothy M.]

Interesting, I find I hate the other extreme more: the adult characters who are immature teens mentally (think Wheel of Time and Bridget Jones).   

And while teens who are 'too' mature may be unrealistic, they are not as annoying as teen characters who lack any common sense or intelligence and are totally ruled by their emotions, illogical thoughts and silly notions.  

 

I love intelligent, clever characters. It's one of the reasons Will is almost my favorite person in Mark Arbour's CAP series.  

Edited September 10, 2017 by Timothy M.

[Headstall]

5 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

Interesting, I find I hate the other extreme more: the adult characters who are immature teens mentally (think Wheel of Time and Bridget Jones).   

And while teens who are 'too' mature may be unrealistic, they are not as annoying as teen characters who lack any common sense or intelligence and are totally ruled by their emotions, illogical thoughts and silly notions.  

OMG... Wheel of Time... I wanted to smack Nynaeve so many times, and how often can a character pull/tug on her damn braid  .  As far as the topic, I don't like to see young people pigeon-holed.

 

I was more mature than my parents as a young child, and infinitely better read (not to say they weren't intelligent, because they were). Environment dictates how kids act in a lot of cases, but personality has equal effect. My four kids are all different, yet they were expected to use their brains and have manners. My expectations of them also had it's effect.

 

What I'm suggesting is there are so many variables as to how a teenager acts or reacts to situations. Some lead carefree lives, yet are still wise beyond their years. Some lead hellish lives, and make all the wrong choices. There is no hard and fast rule to how a person acts at any age, in my opinion. I can accept teenagers of most levels of maturity as long as the writer gives me reasons or ways to understand them that make sense.

 

So yeah, after raising my own kids and interacting with their horde of friends, I find 'adult' children absolutely believable... as long as the writer does his or her job.  

[Hudson Bartholomew]

I've definitely seen some stories with teenagers acting like adults. But then, I sometimes get annoyed with teenage characters who act like teenagers... I just want to tell them, "No! Don't do that! You'll regret it later!" hehe. 

 

I don't usually write teenagers. I've always been more mature than my age and never really understood young people (even when I was a young person myself). Kudos to those who can do it well! 

[MrM]

On September 4, 2017 at 5:39 PM, BlindAmbition said:

Two good examples of how to write child/teen, Jesse 101 and Kiss of an Angel. 

 

Oh totally! Especially Kiss of an Angel! Ariel is so SWEET I could eat him with a spoon (non-sexually you pervs!). I'm sorry, I have old Southern expressions running around through my fool head. That there is one of them, I reckon.

 

@Comicality is helping me greatly by example and with guidance to mirror Billy Chase's Secret Life through Brandon's eyes in Brandon Smiling. I've been accused of making Brandon too 'mature' for his age (14-15) in my writing, but, I guess, that's just how I remember talking and being when I was that age. Brandon is basically me at 15. I had a lot of language skills that the other kids didn't because my Mom was a stickler for 'speaking proper'. I actually had to learn how to talk like a teenager when I was a teenager so that I could stop being called 'weird'. So, I remember, my writings being very similar to what you might read in my story.

 

That said, when I go back and edit, if I see a word or a phrase that a teen wouldn't typically use I will use a simpler word or an easier phrase. I also talk with teens regularly as I try to councel gay teens when I can. They help me get things a little more authentic with terms and things they use a lot today. Brandon is in a warped time-space so I have trouble fixing him techwise. He must be in the 90s sometime because he doesn't have a Smart Phone stuck in his face at all times and yet he has a computer and can blog in private somewhere on it. Billy also has a computer though he chooses to keep his diary on paper. But the feelings are the same as today's teens. The insecurities and even some of the same issues like bullying is big as is a general distrust and dislike of School Administrators. Those ring very true to the kids I talk to.

 

The only way I think I could represent a modern teen is if I adopted one directly or raised one to teenhood and develop a bond of trust sufficient to know what they are actually feeling and doing. That sort of defeats the purpose of a lot of Gay Teen stories since they almost always deal with Closet Cases. My teenaged child, if Gay, would, naturally, get all the support, knowledge, and love they could possibly need. Such a healthy situation makes for a good life but not a very good angst filled teen drama story. Also, I would be betraying a loved one if I basically cast them as a character in a story willy nilly.

 

Virtually all my other stories deal with adults. Brandon is deeply personal and I am doing it special because I love the Billy Chase series so much and because I need a catharsis to work through my own teen issues I didn't get to work through when I was that age. I might do teen things in the future, but I can't think of any I have planned off hand. The journey through my past has been a painful one but one worth doing if someone else gets something out of it. But, it is something I would not care to do again. Plus, I'll probably be writing Brandon Smiling for the foreseeable future at this rate. I hope I live long enough to finish! LOL

Edited October 10, 2017 by MrM

[Comicality]

BIG thanks for the compliments, first of all! Snuggles!

 

As for adult sounding teenagers, I actually talk to teens all the time, and I think I've been more worried about insulting them with their portrayal in the stories. Going too immature would be more unrealistic. They're not as blissfully ignorant as some adults would like to believe. So when I write, I try to just think of teen characters as 'adults minus experience'. Rational and aware, but they make mistakes because they haven't learned the dance steps of life just yet. It actually makes for great storytelling. Myr made a good point when he mentioned sci fi and the like. If you think of Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie, or Neo in The Matrix, or Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars...the same idea applies. Someone whose mentally rational and capable of handling certain situations...but they're going through something that they've never experienced before. They can't know what to expected, and they shouldn't be expected to. I usually treat my teen characters the same way.

 

Hehehe, as for Twilight? No hate, but...

 

 

[Solus Magus]

Honestly, I am also with teenagers all the time like Comsie up there. (And yes, the effects of characters' circumstances in his stories would really push younger ones to think maturely)  Plus, I major on Psychology during my stay in the Univ. But it really depends on their upbringing, genes and their environment. Also, their interaction with their parents in the earliest years would also act like a template on their temperance as a teenager, until they are a fully grown adult. For example, I have seen, interacted and encountered teenagers who are really lousy at making decisions because they are also with teenagers who also have a habit of making lousy decisions. But then, I have also encountered teenagers who are small group leaders in their church but damn, they have a completely different mindset compared to the other group just because of how they were being loved by others around them. And they can be as young as 14. Although, they still do stupid things from time to time, but they also have the character and maturity to take responsibility over their actions. That part amazes me. Gives me hope for the next generation.

 

I believe in the notion that "You cannot give what you don't have." If those teenagers were able to receive love from people around them, then they would also be generous of giving love to other people and would not have a hard time being empathic to those troubled individuals. But if they grew up not getting enough attention, then they would most likely have a selfish behavior and can be downright rude. But there are also other factors to consider. However, if those teenagers were abused sexually/physically/emotionally/mentally when they were really young (0-5yo), their ability to understand and receive love is heavily compromised. So no matter how much you show love to them, they can't receive it properly and goes down the drain. Those are problematic ones. And I feel bad because I am handling such cases.

 

In conclusion, a teenager with a mind capable of thinking like an adult is very possible given the right upbringing and environment. But yes, if the plot doesn't put them in that category/scenario, then it would be hardly believable.

[Comicality]

 

Very cool, Solus! I would actually love to hear a more psychological view on this type of thing. I'll be honest, it surprised me at first. I remember myself at that age, and just figured that I grew up fast because of what was going on in my own household, and that meant that I wasn't able to accurately judge what your average teenager was going through or what they were capable of. But, email after email after email, and years worth of private conversations, I realized that I wasn't so strange after all.

 

A great deal of my readers (more than half) are teenagers. High school and college. And even the readers that I talk to who are older than that, admit to have started reading my stories around the age of 13or 14 years old. Which still AMAZES me...because I had NO outlet for those feelings at that age. And it really isn't because of trauma or abuse or neglect. They just 'find' the stories on their own and are happy to discover a narrative that they can relate to. You should see their responses to it, they're priceless!

 

Sometimes they just want someone to listen and understand. When I was in high school, that was all I wanted. On an emotional level, I don't think things have changed much.

[Brayon]

I know I started this thread about unbelievable teenage characters, and it sorta derailed. I will say this about "Real World" teens: "I've met some Teens, I would have no issues with having a philosophical discussion with, nor seeing them in some sort of leadership position. I've met some PhD holders I wouldn't let take care of a Two-year-old." To me it all comes down to Maturity of the individual, and common sense.

 

In fiction, I just see a disproportionate amount of Teenage protagonists who have their entire life sorted out, and can do anything. Example: Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys. Or Teenagers thrust into Leadership roles, and being successful, when just a day ago they were playing with dolls. Example: Divergent. Or teens that are so angst that their know it all status is solidified, and everyone defers to them. Example: Twilight. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to read these works, without developing sever eye straining from rolling them so much.

 

[Solus Magus]

6 hours ago, Comicality said:

Sometimes they just want someone to listen and understand. When I was in high school, that was all I wanted. On an emotional level, I don't think things have changed much.

 Sadly, there's a scarcity of those. We are in an age where we have been saturated by social media. And there's a fierce competition of those whose life has it better. Everyone, teenage or adult, would participate and market their own versions of it. Actual and active listening is really a rare gift these days.

 

On topic: For me, the hardest kind of characters to portray in a novel/story are those genius-level kind of people. If you want to have a character with an IQ of 170-200, then their ability to view the world is a whole lot different from ours. My IQ isn't particularly as high as their level and as the story goes on, I might make them do things that they won't do from their own, albeit fictional, perspective. The genius characters might even tell their own creator/author of how stupid they sound if they're given the opportunity. It's both fun and challenging because it forces you to think out of the box. Your thoughts on this?