Saturday, November 6, 2010

#NaNoWriMo Does the Streak Continue?

It does! Today I wrote 1783 words for a grand total of 11058. I really did not think I was going to make it today because my wife and I had friends (seriously what is with friends and the whole wanting to spend time with you think? Again another Scrubs quote) over tonight so I had to spent a lot of the day cleaning house. Then I fell asleep and by the time I woke up I had no time to write. Fortunately, I am at a part in the story that is really fun to write.

I just introduced my main character to one of the pantheon of gods that rule my fantasy world. Needless to say that interaction was fun to write. The only thing that really got me thinking is teenagers have the know all mentality, so do you think that if the teen was meeting one of minor gods that he would show a lot of respect or would he be standoffish?

I wrote the scene so that he is respectful, but I think as he rationalized the experience he is going to go from annoyed to angry that he only met one of the minor gods when he was hoping to meet one the major ones.

What do you think, does this seem realistic or am I pushing teen rebelliousness too far?

6 comments:

  1. It really depends on the personality of your teens. The teens in my book were thrown into a situation where they had to grow up fast. I have an ensemble of 4. 3 would definitely show respect, and one, because of her personality may not (there would be huffing, eye rolling and snorts in there while the others were being respectful). So it depends on how your character acts, and do you expect him to show respect or be a bit "immature" about it? I like the way you described it though. With your world, I would say go with respect, and then the reflection thing. Definitely always respect in your world (whether they like it or not).

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  2. Was the teen taught to show reverence to the gods at an early age? If so then respect may have to be shown, but the character might not have to like it. I'd say this calls for begrudging amounts of respect.

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  3. Must agree with those two. It is a god after all so there would be a little respect but for a teen it would definitely be annoyed, eye-rolling, respect.

    Great jib on your progress!

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  4. WTG on the Nano words!! I've been slacking...going to try to squeeze something out today.

    And I, too, agree with comments above - depends on the backstory of your MC, his personality, his upbringing, his knowledge of the gods. Does his reaction fit? If it's the first meeting with a god, minor or major, EVER - I would think "awe" might come into play. :)

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  5. I think the reaction would depend on the character. Most teens would probably be awed into respect, although without as much of a hold on their emotions (they might bristle at a task handed to them, for example).

    If he is normally rebellious to authority (and by that I mean more rebellious than a typical teen) or skeptical of the supernatural, he might be more rude. Of course, you know how your character would act better than anyone else.

    Sounds interesting, though. Good luck today!

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  6. Abby - thanks for the perspective, the MC is definately immature. However, a lot od his immaturity issues are due to everyone telling him how special and powerful he could be.

    Jeff - The MC was taught to be respectful of everyone, but he has not quite figured out how to balance respecting others with his growing powers.

    Colene - Thanks for the support. I have gone with respect for thier actual interaction, but he reflects negatively afterwards and is punished.

    Donea Lee - This is the first time meeting with a god so he was definately awed, but afterwards he was angry that it was one of the minor god that he met instead of a major god.

    JE - I would say that he is rebellious, but it comes from living his whole life under expectations that are so restricting that he has never had any freedom. He feels like the gods are piling on him too. He would have handled it better if it was a major god instead of a minor god. His rebellion is partly based in a lack of self confidence to meet up with the expectations that have been placed on him.

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