What are the teenage boys into? Seriously. My client has a character with no interests whatsoever. That can't be right. And even if it is, it doesn't make for very good fiction. Suggestions for obsessions of teenage boys?"
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ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Is the boy white, black, latino, rich, poor, city, country? Tell us more about him.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
He's white, middle class, Georgia suburbs, orphaned and living with his tedious uncle and aunt who are self-congratulatory and resentful in equal measure. It's like the teen equivalent of a life of quiet desperation.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
How is he doing in school? Who are his friends? And to piggyback on Brad's thought, where does he hang out online?
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
@SRB: But which ones? What do they talk about?
@MLP: I would totally take that bait and jack my own thread with a paean to how hot and delightful you are (and you are, no foolin') except that I'm on a deadline and I really need to know the specific concrete interests and obsessions of a likely boy of this ilk.
Angus MacSmitey said, (101 days ago)
Is he quirky? 'Cause that to me sounds like he could have interests that are a little off-the-beaten path.
I can chime in on the specific videogame obsessions:
If he's into games and completely average, he's probably playing Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 in online multiplayer. And being a completely homophobic douchebag.
As for bands, I'd say the average suburban white kid is probably into hip-hop. Metal and indie rock are reserved for the outcasts, nerds, hipsters and stoners.
What say you regarding music, Art?
Painfully average kids are also the ones who populate Myspace and Facebook.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
Guys, these are the things we're trying to advise the writer to make up. Right now, he is featureless. I am trying to think of a list of suggestions of stuff he might be into which the client can use as jumping off point to create a character who will be compelling to adults who like to think that they are in tune with the teenage mind.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
Halo 3. Myspace. And -- hey, wait a second. Average suburban white kids are into hip-hop? (I'm not questioning you; I just find that puzzling.) Like who?
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
This is almost circular. Without knowing about him, it's tough to pick out his interests. But without his interests, it's tough to flesh him out.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
BSE: It's no secret that the commercial success of gangsta rap was fueled in large part by it being attractive to suburbanite white youth who listened to it because of its' rebellious affectations.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Here's a question: what was the writer into at that age? 'Write What You Know' might be his best approach.
mizsarah said, (101 days ago)
Kids I've worked with were into tagging and graffiti, learning martial arts, and hanging out at drag races. I don't know if that helps any.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
@ART: The habits of suburban teenagers are totally secret to me. All the teenage boys I know are weirdo children of urban weirdos with weirdo interests and astronomical IQs.
makelikepaper said, (101 days ago)
it sounds to me like there could be some benefit to character development if his interests ARE "anti-social" - video games, obsessions with 'emo' bands, talking on the internet...how archetypal do you want the character to be?
does he hate his parental influences? does he get along with them? is he disillusioned?
i'd be inclined to flesh out a character with a lot less cliches, but teenagers are teenagers.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
@ART: I can try that approach, but the writer is older even than me and I doubt his interests as a teenager would ring true when cast into a modern teenager.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
BSE: Perhaps not, but they can serve as a framing point. If he was into [x], then perhaps researching a modern equivalent would help the writer find a better, more authentic voice for the modern character.
mizsarah said, (101 days ago)
A real team would find the thing that displeases his aunt and uncle the most and hold a deep abiding passion for it. It would help some if there were also some social disapproval.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Here's an example: If the writer was into Cheech & Chong, then presumably he could empathize with a kid who's into Harold & Kumar.
Saint Tee said, (101 days ago)
The south in general, and the Atlanta area in particular, have a distinct flavor of hip-hop. Maybe the kid could be into cars, either street rods or classic American steel...
Angus MacSmitey said, (101 days ago)
I'd never heard it described that way, but yeah.
Keep in mind, though, the kids they don't care about the story or the setting. They care about the frags and pwning noobs.
Chrome Raven said, (101 days ago)
video games: In addition to what Monkey posted, don't forget Madden and NCAA, as well as the basketball set or baseball set as appropriate. These games will be talked about and always compared to the 2004 versions negatively. Tiger Woods Golf and WoW were also surprisingly popular with the suburban teenage white kids I taught.
Monkey hit the nail on the head with Hip Hop - look at the Billboard top 10. If this person is a little more clean cut then average, look at the Billboard for Pop as well. If a little less clean cut than average check out the mainstream metal.
Girls, hot teachers, and attractive celebrities are also topics of conversation/mild obsession. The homophobia attitude is high even without the homophobia condition (that make sense?).
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Or, you could have the writer cheat and just base him on a GTI'er.
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
I dunno, the music thing is still wide-open to me. A kid in the 'burbs -- and with access to Limewire, Torrent, etc. -- is going to have access to a lot of stuff. What if he's the only kid in the South who likes, say, trance?
Another thought: would it really be so outrageous for him to like country?
CocktailsMalIntent said, (101 days ago)
Sports video games, first person shooter games
music of a disaffected youth (punk, hip-hop, death metal)
books of a disaffected youth (palahniuk, catcher in the rye, sci-fi, fantasy)
role playing games (both video games and pencil and paper variety)
live journal
finding girls, talking to girls, etc.
Some sort of art perhaps: theater, writing, painting, whatever.
Drugs, alcohol, escapism in general
talking about leaving where he is
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Wait a sec. Nobody's mentioned the possibility he might like playing an actual sport?
Saint Tee said, (101 days ago)
For me, country didn't interest me until my mid-twenties, though I am, admittedly, not prototypical.
CocktailsMalIntent said, (101 days ago)
@ABNA: i meant to have that on my list after the video games, but i forgot it.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
@ART: I'm not going to ask the client, because -- well, it's hard to explain but because of the industry protocols -- but just for fun:
I've worked on two of this guy's books so I'm gonna guess that as a teenager he was into
Allen Sherman's Letter from Camp (hello muddah, hello faddah)
Hud
Arthurian legends
Mr. Ed
Plymouth Fury
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
Allen Sherman? Mr. Ed? Criminy pete, what's possessing him to write about a modern teenager?
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
@ART: Who knows? This is the great mystery of book doctoring. Why do people set out to write books they cannot write? But they do.
purl said, (101 days ago)
I loved Allen Sherman as a teen. My uncle had one of his albums at his cabin and we would play it all the time.
I also had a french surrealist poetry phase, so I'm not the model of teen normalcy.
be secret and exult said, (101 days ago)
So:
Halo3
Hawthorne Heights
Lil Wayne
The Flash
NCAA
do these seem like reasonable interests?
(cross-posting)
ABoyNamedArt said, (101 days ago)
I'd fine-tune the NCAA thing. As he's in Atlanta, then perhaps a strong SEC program -- let's say Georgia football. This gives him a natural set of 'enemies' in Tennessee, LSU, et al.
nomi oh my said, (101 days ago)
My brother just graduated high school and he's into DJ'ing, smoking pot and pot culture, cartoon art, photography and tagging (actually got arrested for it once,) girls, classic rap/beats/vinyl (though he is a suburban white kid) and girls who smoke pot. But he is 'cool,' I suppose. He got the cool factor that I never had, growing up.
Oom Mao Mao said, (100 days ago)
He'd be way into U of Georgia football this year b/c U of G is going into the season with the number one ranking. It's ridiculous the amount of U of G merch I see everywhere for sell.
TWIGBy Fierce said, (100 days ago)
look ok, NOBODY PLAYS HALO ANYMORE, have you even tried to get a game going on x box live? it's a fucking ghost town!
EVERYONE plays Call of Duty 4 now!
Branwell said, (100 days ago)
I'm going to say, for no particular reason, that he's interested in sports, but not as a player or a fan. Maybe he's into analyzing baseball statistics. Maybe he wants to be a basketball coach, and he spends his time reading about basketball strategy. (Maybe football, given that he is in Georgia, after all.)
Branwell said, (100 days ago)
I'm going to say, for no particular reason, that he's interested in sports, but not as a player or a fan. Maybe he's into analyzing baseball statistics. Maybe he wants to be a basketball coach, and he spends his time reading about basketball strategy. (Maybe football, given that he is in Georgia, after all.)
Stagewalker said, (100 days ago)
Wow, I missed out on this conversation. Too bad. I'm gonna go play Halo 3 now...
no, seriously, It's all booted up and everything.
(and for the record, my nephew who just graduated high school has been REALLY into skateboarding and Extreme Sports of any kind.)
videogames, masturbation, girls, bands.