Last weekend I drove to a basketball tournament with my husband (who just recently had ankle surgery), my 13 year old son and four of his team mates. It was a three hour drive there, we slept over night, watched them play four games of basketball, saw Star Trek and then drove back three hours.
It was very enlightening.
Now think for a moment if you actually wrote dialogue exactly as adolescent boys talk.
Here are some snippets of what I could distinguish this weekend.
"Dude I am so stoked for this weekend. We are going to kick some major butt."
"That is totally random."
"He totally caged raged on me." (I know I had the same thought. What the heck? By the end of the weekend, I finally had to ask. Apparently it means being verbal abusive. Who knew.)
"It was the funniest moment of my life."
"Every girl I know named Sydney is beautiful." (I might use that one)
"Girls are more trouble than their worth." (This coming from a boy who lights up whenever a girl passes by)
"Richardson is awesome, I'm totally going to become a fan on facebook and invite you all."
(They were watching Hot Rod)
"Dude, what the hell was that for." (Apparently he'd been hit where he shouldn't have been)
"That's the best song ever."
There were a lot of best, funniest, and most awesomes. It was a very funny weekend and I wished that I would have brought a tape recorder. I've also decided that any movie infested with people getting hurt, random acts of nonsense and men getting hit in the groin will keep teenage boys entertained for hours.
Note: Boys won the tournament but had three bleeding noses, five technicals and one flagrant foul. It was a little rough.
It was very enlightening.
Now think for a moment if you actually wrote dialogue exactly as adolescent boys talk.
Here are some snippets of what I could distinguish this weekend.
"Dude I am so stoked for this weekend. We are going to kick some major butt."
"That is totally random."
"He totally caged raged on me." (I know I had the same thought. What the heck? By the end of the weekend, I finally had to ask. Apparently it means being verbal abusive. Who knew.)
"It was the funniest moment of my life."
"Every girl I know named Sydney is beautiful." (I might use that one)
"Girls are more trouble than their worth." (This coming from a boy who lights up whenever a girl passes by)
"Richardson is awesome, I'm totally going to become a fan on facebook and invite you all."
(They were watching Hot Rod)
"Dude, what the hell was that for." (Apparently he'd been hit where he shouldn't have been)
"That's the best song ever."
There were a lot of best, funniest, and most awesomes. It was a very funny weekend and I wished that I would have brought a tape recorder. I've also decided that any movie infested with people getting hurt, random acts of nonsense and men getting hit in the groin will keep teenage boys entertained for hours.
Note: Boys won the tournament but had three bleeding noses, five technicals and one flagrant foul. It was a little rough.
8 comments:
So fun!! I love the caged raged thing! I might have to integrate that into my casual conversations! :)
This is why I can't write YA. I don't know enough kids that age to be realistic in my dialog.
But it does make me anxious for my kids to get to that age.
Cage rage is awesome. I might hav to lift that. :))))
Hehehe! This is so cool! I love listening to teens talk just for that reason! It's awesome you had a whole three hours worth! LOL! LOVE IT! Jenni
Oops! I meant three hour drives and WHOLE WEEKEND! LOL!
Next year my son goes to highschool so that should be even more interesting.
I thought cage rage was hilarous.
LOL! That's so funny! Heeehheee. I can't wait until my kids grow up and I can listen to their conversations.
I never heard cage rage before. Cool term.
Cage rage is a new one :P
I've also noticed that teen boys (as well as young men below the age of 30) use "dude" A LOT.
That was the best, funniest post ever! :)
I think the great part was you had your writer ears on, taking everything in for later use in you writing.
Paul
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