Today's my first day back at work after a glorious three-day weekend. I did a little reading, did a little revising, and did a TON of relaxing. Nothing crazy--but I'm curious about what kinds of stories my students will share with me today. Which leads me to my big question:
What do teens do on weekends??
I mean, if you believe the movies, they're probably doing this:
Or this:
Or pretending to do this:
When they're actually doing this:
BTW, if you can name all of these movies, then I hereby dub you a rock star. But I digress...
When I'm writing a manuscript, I'm usually on the fence as to whether or not my characters should be throwing or attending a party. Of course, this depends on your characters' personalities but still--are teens partying as much as we think they are?
My trusty cousin helped me out with this by polling some of her students on how their weekends are spent:
"I usually stay at a friend's house, but when I stay home, I do school work."--Allyssa, Age 14
"I stay home most of the time and play music or PS3."--Sandra, Age 16
"Saturdays I spend the day with [my boyfriend]. We go to my grandparents' for cookouts or watch movies at home. Sundays, I spend time with my family."--Savannah, Age 15
"Go bowling; eat pizza; sleep late; ask mom to make muffins; go four-wheeling; play with dogs; see family; eat steak; play Wii with stepfather; spend money and get me some clothes or shoes."--Avery, Age 15
As you can see, not every teen hooks up or parties hard--so if you're dreading including those scenes in your WIP, it's okay to skip it. Remember, just write what feels authentic to your character. So, you tell me, as a teen--how did you spend YOUR weekends?
Oh, and just for the hell of it, here are those crazy Glee kids covering the weekend classic, "Friday."
11 comments:
The first pic looks familiar, but I can't really think of the movie right now. I guess I'm only 75% a rock star then because I can name the last three.
Those teen parties in movies always struck me as a Hollywood creation. None of the parties I've ever been to involved any hilarious hijinks or shenanigans. Although a lot of fun was had.
Growing up, most of my weekends went the same as the students who commented.
The first pic is throwing me off, too - is it Can't Hardly Wait?
I did a lot of hanging out when I was a teen. In my room, in basements, in parking lots...nothing as exciting as in the movies.
When I was a teen, on the weekends you'd find me and my best friends baking cakes usually. lol Or we'd go to our guy friend's house and clean and cook for him -- he was in a bad situation. If not doing that, well, we'd be in the drama room painting sets for our next production or laying on the roof catching some sun. :)
The roof? Yeah, idk why we didn't just go to the beach. lol
This is an AWESOME post! I found it really interesting to see just how boring teen's weekends are. Just like mine :) And, I know 3 out of 4--Superbad, Jennifer's Body, and Easy A--right, right? What is the first pic? Oh, am I not supposed to give the answer's away?
And you know that I was lame as a teen--I didn't do anything but read, write, and talk to you over the phone while we watched 90210 :)
BTW- thanks so much for the Glee performance- truly.
This is so true. As a teen, we didn't party every weekend. A lot of it was going out to dinner or to the mall with friends, having sleepovers, or going to the movies.
OK, I'm stumped by the second and third photos. Which movies are they from??
Also, the guys from Glee actually made that song sound halfway decent.
If I wasn't watching TV with my friends, I was home reading. There were parties, but the popular kids were there.
Hahaha, thank you for posting this! My MC dubs herself a loser because she spends Saturday nights with her family. If only she knew how normal she is.
I don't think I "partied" at all as a teen in high school. It was mostly hanging out with friends either at someone's house or going out to eat together. Movies, there was also a lot of movie watching.
Thanks for the comments! :) I was never a party-er myself. In fact, I was so introverted, that my mom sometimes had to force me out of the house. Oh, and as for the movies: Can't Hardly Wait, Superbad, Jennifer's Body, and Easy A. Sorry the pics were so small! :)
I was a nerd. I usually spent it reading or writing. If I wasn't doing that I was with my family. I also often went to Barnes and Noble where I would spend the whole day. I was a band geek too, so I would also practice my flute on the weekends. If I did hang with friends, we would go to dinner at the Macaroni Grill and see a movie. That's about it. LOL. Great post Pam, glad you cleared up that myth. :)
Good to know! I definitely wasn't a big partier when I was in high school. I had a lot of sleepovers with friends. :)
Post a Comment