Rant On Writing About Teens

Why is it that you can live with a teen, survive, just barely, that ugly teen gargoyle period, and still not be able to write a convincing teen in that same gargoyle stage? I've lived through it, I've been riding that roller coaster as a parent, and I've survived the first wave of it. Still, I cannot get it right on paper. Either that or the readers who say the kid is unlovable and therefore unsympathetic have never dealt with the wee beasties themselves. After all, how lovable and sympathetic do you think a teen is who has a death wish for you and every other form of authority they see? I mean sure, they can be sweet, when they need money, and they can be kind, when they need money, and they can even revert back to that sweet child you once knew, again, when they need money, but really, those moments aren't often enough to make you forget that, well, they need money. Have you ever tried to wrap your arms around a bony kid who absolutely doesn't want to be touched and unfortunately has the wit and quickness to state this with such rapier sharpness that they cut your heart out and hand it to you before you even know they've moved? They leave no finer feeling untrampled and no kindness appreciated. They are in a word unlovable. Yet, we do love them. So, how do you write it? Apparently, the opposite of how I write it. My kids are written as if you're viewing the world through their eyes. Things are totally unfair. The parent is unjust and downright unreasonable. I mean really, weren't your parents? Didn't they require more of you than you could possibly give? Didn't you heave sighs and roll your eyes and generally make yourself and anyone around you as miserable as possible? Yet, if I write it that way, suddenly my characters are horrors let loose on the world. Well, hello. What do you think populates our schools?

OK, enough rant. Now for the other stuff. I've made some progress on an old piece I found. It isn't much but it might make a good short story. I don't have a lot of time to devote to it and I'm not sure where in the world I would market it but it is fun to mess about with it.

I've been reading a couple of things outside my comfort zone. I like sci-fi/fantasy but not on a regular basis. I like it more in a movie than in a book mostly because the fight scenes are better visualized than read, at least in my imagination. However, the book "Something From The Nightside" by Simon R Green is a pretty good offering. It felt like those old black and white films of the PI and the blonde bombshell. I swear I could hear the movie music in the background and smell the smoke as I read the opening chapters. It gets a little cheesy at times and is in no way a serious read, but, it does nicely to pass the time and I love the ending. The story was completely predictable but fun and the ending was superior. You didn't really know how it was going to end even though you weren't completely surprised by it either. Over all, not a disappointment. I will read the next installment of it if only to find out if he really does keep the girl as his secretary ... and that's all I'm going to say.

In other news, Em had friends over this weekend. The mall may never be the same again. T showed real maturity in dealing with the girls. They are a couple of years younger than him and he could have really put them in their place. He was kind and even shared a few laughs with them before closing himself firmly in his room and sealing the door against all invaders. Smart boy. Mom has bronchitis that won't go away. She does not have pneumonia, the x-rays say so. Could have fooled me. I'm, well, I'm still here, still in school, and still keeping the balance. That's about it.