So my MC is a fifteen year old girl who moves in with her dad and stepmother who are too busy and self-involved to notice her. To get their attention she acts out, which includes dying her hair, skipping class, and giving a party while they're away, but these actions all sound kind of basic. Short of anything really criminal (it's important that she remains likable to the reader), how else can she act out for attention? Thanks for your help!
-If it works in your story, she could date a guy who the parents wouldn’t want her to date. -She could somehow get into an 18+ club -Listen to loud music while guests are over -Break her curfew -Maybe spray paint the shed out back?
When is it set? I reckon the ways kids act out varies by generation. Dramatically cutting in addition to dying her hair would be something, but I guess that's rather basic as well. Getting piercings -- the ol' 'needle and half a potato' method. Dressing in ways they wouldn't approve of and wrecking clothes they buy her (cutting a skirt extra short or chopping the midriff out of a t-shirt?). Using tons of profanity around them. Breaking or disrupting things that she feels are more important to them than she is.
Todays angsty youngsters don't mutilate their clothes, they buy them pre-mutilated. You can even get jeans with mud stains built it in, and they are kinda spendy. Then they could be a pot smokin' hussy. Could get their eyeballs tattooed or a dermal on the eye. (Uh no thanks) Splitting of the tongue. And if they are really into to bling, but not grillz, they can even get thier teeth pierced. Feeling a bit dark and Emo or Gothic and want to go the extra mile, scarification is all the rage. Ooh the best for last sub-dermal implants.
Dating outside her class/race/religious sub-sect always gets parental attention. Self-harm (cutting) usually starts off pretty low-key too, or an eating disorder. Even something like dramatically changing her diet, becoming a vegan or something, might be (might, don't get upset at me) be used to get attention.
She could also sabotage her parents' plans - deleting phone messages, ringing restaurants to cancel bookings (double points if it was for a business meeting) etc. She could also go through their things when they are out to look for anything she could use against them like old diaries or paperwork. If these are too hard to keep her likeable, I guess things like skipping curfew and staying in the park because she doesn't see the point in going home to a toxic environment. Trying to run away from home for the same reason. Keeping a secret stash of alcohol in her room. Or if they won't let her have pets she could keep letting the neighbour's cat in for company while they're out and they can't figure out where all the hair is coming from.
Chatting with someone older... maybe married... maybe just 18 or 20. Maybe she's using her real age and maybe she's pretending to be over 18.
Eighteen is nothing to a rebellious fifteen year old. Mine were in their 20's. Drinking. Cutting class. Drugs. Inappropriate boyfriend. Shoplifting was a huge one with my friends, but I was too chicken. There may or may not have been a can of spray paint or two... There was a group of girls in my middle school and high school that went around beating up people for the hell of it (no, I wasn't in that group, although one of them challenged me to a fight after school but didn't show up) Drinking or smoking pot at lunch & going to last period baked. Stealing the parents' money or credit card was big with some of my friends Hanging out with older kids ETA: I knew a lot of teenage groupies (girls who have sex with bands) Definitely planning to run away from home Definitely staying out late to avoid the toxic home.
I spray painted the walls of my bedroom, and returned all the appropriate clothes and bought super skimpy ones. Rudeness to business partners or bosses is always a good one. Bailing on family events. Smoking in the house. Dropping out of sports or dance. Flunking classes, purposefully or otherwise.
Thought of the thing I was constantly getting in trouble for (this should not surprise many of you): the mouth. Despite the above in the other post, the biggest trouble I ever got in, in my life, was once when I was 13 and I made snide comments when Mom was saying grace at the dinner table. Mom: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day-- Me {sarcastically]: Some day... [rolls eyes] Only time in my life I literally had both parents physically go after me at once.
I have three girl kids, one is still a teenager, the other two recently were. acting-out is/can be very relative to the kids normal personality and behaviour, normal behaviour for one of mine would have been regarded as 'acting-out' if it was from one of the others. I think perhaps to get acting-out that is really interesting, maintains empathy with the character and isn't generic it would be good to know the 'normal' behaviour/character of the kid in question so that the acting-out could be tailored to fit. PS my little logo thing on the left was made by one of my kids when she was about 12 and just starting to learn photoshop and paper-mache modelling. for another kid such a 'creation' could have been 'interesting' behaviour, but with her it was not - it's just relative.
Here's a thought; kid regularly goes to a sports club, there's a bully who gives her a bit of grief regularly, this time she loses it because of a row at home and knocks the little shit on his arse. justice is done, we all like her for what she did but it could certainly be called acting-out because she wouldn't normally do that.
All because you thought you were rebelling against your uncool parents as a young adult... If you keep making this face it sure as hell will get stuck that way. Just when you think you have covered all the physical ways, you remember this grotesque thing that is becoming popular, and no it is not going to look pretty on anyone. Don't really see this being worth a shit for doing anything really, but hey it must be novel for something.
Have her date a drug dealer or some other type of criminal, but not just a small time one, but a kingpin or something, that would really get the plot going...
So he always chews with his mouth open? That's a total parent nightmare. Maybe she could kick a really annoying dog? Illegal driving / races? Subtler stuff like mixing salt with sugar and mess things up at home to annoy her parents and make them feel stupid. Or just leaving a mess everywhere, not cleaning after herself or doing the chores Loud singing/music always gets their attention Annoyingly persisting for them to give her money
She can always join a Furry group (or one of the more outrageous Therian or Otherkin groups). The ones with less-than-credible people in them can be rather noisy and can include styles of dress, attitudes, and behaviors. This can include things like wearing collars, having a fake tail (or a preserved real one) and wearing it, wearing headbands with cat or dog ears on them, making and/or buying a fursuit, forgoing human behavior for perceived animal behavior (growling, head lowering, rolling over, etc.). Hell, she can join a vampire coven and imitated those behaviors to mess with her parents. While tame-ish (depending on how "dark side" she wants to go), they can be downright annoying while also (if her thought process is illustrated correctly) not being entirely abhorrent to the reader. Edit: I have no issues with furries, therians, or otherkin. I'm just aware of how the "way out there" members of each group can act and how annoying it can be.
Maybe not so astonishing as to mutilate her own face, or dating a Furry, nor so dangerous as to drink, but incredibly annoying: simply, dress well, clean, polite, get good qualifications, be the image of perfect daughter for a while and... mess every single lunch, family gathering or event from there. Every single one. Comment how stupid are the family's activities with a charming smile, with facts in hand and a glass of juice in the other. Speak of religion, politics, crime, infectious diseases... nothing like talking about a body farm onto Thanksgiving with "auntie" sort of characters as guests. Or how funny is to remember that annoying uncle's alcoholism issue when mom has invited her boss to dinner. The looks will be memorable! And the consequences.
She can... drink some of her parent's booze, then piss in it to fill it back up, but just a small amount, so she's the only one who know's they're drinking piss. For likability. bring home mangy, feral dogs. cut the nipples out of all of her Mom's shirts/dresses (same with the crotch for the father). plant evidence that one of the parents is cheating. file a fake report to the cops about abuse. have strange sex toys delivered to the house anonymously. change her name (obviously not legally) to something like Switchblade Killingsworth. start a cult. Are these too dark? I don't know.
Man, I wish I'd started a cult when I was a teen. That would've been rad. Think of the following I could have by now! You gotta invest in your future self when you're young.
Have her become a Goth-Wiccan, that burns incense all the time and blares music like this while performing spells.
