The topic of YA parents came up recently and it got me thinking so I contemplated the parents in my works-in-progress.
What is wrong with me? I had a normal childhood, nothing to send me to therapy for twenty years. My parents are still married and were quite good, as far as parents go. But my parents I write aren't worth anything, except my first manuscript, in there they are great parents, just not human.
The parents in the other manuscripts include an abusive father, absent father, drunk father, emotionally abusive religious freak mother, certifiably crazy father, dead mom, missing mom, and absent parents (but they really aren't parents, MC just thinks they are). Not one normal parent in the group. And I only have one with an actual mom, what is with that?
I didn't set out to write parents like these. In fact in the most current WIP, the mother was wonderful, until she found out her daughter was doing something she shouldn't, and then little by little she showed her true colors, and as I got to see the MC's home life I realized how warped and covertly cruel the mom actually is. That was quite scary.
I've been told I write characters that teens can identify with. I don't know about that but I do wonder about other's fictional parents. What kind of parents do you, dearest readers, write?
LOL, I think a lot of us have been looking over manuscripts since that woman wrote her article.
ReplyDeleteI'm unrepentant. The parents that I write about are all flawed. Basically because this is how teens see their parents. You might hero worship one of your parents, and then watch in horror as the other parent seems to suck, embarrassing you no end. Even if that's not realy the case.
My mom was horrified when she read one of the first drafts of Spheres. The mother is the most uncaring mother in the world. She wondered if she'd done something wrong and I was taking it out on the MS. Bless her. I just explained to her, having sucky parents in the story brings interesting plot twists and it adds to the drama.