I’ve been developing my characters over the past two days, and one thing in particular has struck me: I don’t have a clue what it’s like to be a normal teenager. Unfortunately, asking most of the guys I know about their lives back then gives me a slightly slanted bent toward a seventeen-year-old guy’s mind. This is because most of the guys I know are geeks, writers, or both. This isn’t bad–in fact, these traits are probably part of why we’re friends in the first place, and luckily my friends were passionate about their interests just like my character is. When your main character’s neither, you have to tap into other areas of the seventeen-year-old mind. The results are similar enough to see a trend, at least among the subjects I’ve interviewed.
Predictably, no guys who follow me on Facebook alone have replied to my Facebook status query. Since they probably won’t, I turn to the rest of the Internet, particularly the guys: What were you like at seventeen? What were your dreams, your goals, your interests, your everyday concerns? How did you perceive your peers? And for other introverts and socially awkwards of all genders: what’s it like? Share that experience.