If 15yo you made a bucket list...

Hi guys! I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first post so be kind

I'm trying to do a little research for my current project (WIP, I think you writers call it?) Looking for some inspiration for a character of mine, who ends up finding the bucket list years after she's written it. It may seem unimportant but it's actually quite significant for the plot.

So my question is: Imagine you're 15 years old and you've written a bucket list. What kind of things are on it?

I've got a few things already, but any ideas or help at all will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Is it a bucket list for, like, a terminally ill kid who thinks she's only got a few months to get everything done? Or someone who thinks she has her whole life ahead of her?

Either way, I'd expect there to be some fairly immediate goals on it - most 15 year olds don't think all that far ahead! So--get cute person X to fall in love with me, meet celebrity Y, etc.

Longer term dreams? Probably some related to that kid's individual interests - play in the NHL, own her own horse, go to space, or whatever.

And I think most 15 year olds are actually fairly un-original in their relationship goals - I bet a lot of them would have standard "get married, have kids" ambitions.

Nothing too exciting, there...

 

Not a terminally ill kid! It's a bit complicated but the female character, who isn't the main character and the story isn't from her POV, has just gone through a break up and moves in with a friend. While she's sorting out all of her stuff she comes across the bucket list. Her and the (male) friend she's moved in with decide to go through the bucket list and try and do a few of the things on it. So a few ideas I've got are things like going camping, so there's a chapter or two involving those two characters going camping for a weekend. The bucket list isn't really the main focus, it's more the relationship between the two characters and how that develops...that's what I'm trying to do anyway. I like the owning a horse idea though, that could be fun to play around with and try and fit in. Thanks

 

-section from 'Bucket List, aged 15 and 3/4' by MatWoolf.

1. Overthrow fascist, totalitarian government [,] regime. Spearhead popular front.
2. Sleep with at least 250 women before my 16th birthday.
3. Get Dad to buy me a car.
4. Solo album project underway by Easter at the latest/ learn the bass guitar.
5. Get Dad to buy me a bass guitar.
6. Take as many drugs as possible in single school day.
7. Find someone, anybody who has drugs.
8. Be more muscular, tense chest muscles, re-align left/right arm muscular misalignment, somehow, probably receive 'Bullworker' for Christmas.
9. My own TV series.
10. Wait it out, relax. Relax buddy, they, the world shall notice me when I am good and ready, when my life really gets going in a couple of years time, probably. Celebrity is inevitable, does not bother me, discuss fame with Ben, my best friend, drink cider.
11. Get cider money from Mum, tell her I am going to the Royal Wedding, suckers ha ha.

 

I was 15 a few years ago, and if I wrote a bucket list then, it would probably look like this:
1) fall in love
2) see the world (pick a place that the MC loves/wants to go)
3) look good (is MC over/under weight? does she want to change?)
4) go on a road trip
5) go surfing (or skydiving) (or any activity that MC wants to try)
6) backpack though Europe
7) try a (insert gross/exotic food here)

Anyway, I hope this helps!

 

Kind of depends on who your character is as a person! When she was 15 was she into any type of sports or competitions? what was consuming her life at the time. Also what is her driving force. When I was 15 I was ridiculously competitive in horseback riding. My personal list probably would have been along the lines of, 1) Win an overall championship 2) Own my own horse so maybe for one of the things on the list it could be something she was obsessed with as a child, a band she loved, a sport, or maybe she loved jelly bellies and wanted to go into their factory for a not so legal after hours self guided tour. I love this idea so many fun adventures to go on with this idea!

 

I had always planned on going on a cross country road trip after graduation. Never happened, but that would've been number one on my bucket list. Get married would've been on there. Be a scientist would've been on there (whoa, did I go in the complete opposite direction for a choice of career!).

But I think our fellow posters are correct. You need to dig deeper into your character and figure out what she would want to do. I think most people would have the classic get married/get good career/travel on their lists. But to really make it meaningful for the story, you'll really need to go back to her and who she used to be.

 

At 14 I ran away from home, made it from LA to New York before getting caught.

At 15 I was in my 'live for today' phase.

By 18 I wanted to join the merchant marines and sail the world. I had a very romantic idea of what it was like to work on a ship.

I'd say my list would have looked something like @Electralight's does.

Traveling and exploring any and everything was always my main goal in life.

Finally took off on my round the world adventures starting at 19: Moved to Oregon, took a trip to Hawaii and then one to Colorado and ended up moving there. Traveled all over the US then took off for the Caribbean and Central America. Got back, moved to Lake Tahoe then to B'ham WA. Traveled to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, came back. Moved to Richland WA, then to Seattle. Traveled to Europe: Amsterdam England, France, Spain and Morocco. Traveled around the US, Mexico and Canada a bunch. Went to the Virgin Islands. Lived in the Seattle area during that time. Went to Alaska, then to the Galapagos, Ecuador mainland, and Peru. Went to Iceland and around the US some more: Yellowstone and Burning Man.

I'd say I did pretty well if one wants to call that my bucket list.

I've always thought about writing a memoir, I started and stopped a dozen journals. But now I'm writing a fiction novel and I'd say that just about tops off the list.

 

At 15 my bucket list was probably something like :

1. Have first kiss
2. Be in a rock band
3. Go travelling
4. Sing in front of an audience
5. Meet x, y and z bands (I was really into my music as a teen).
6. Have first boyfriend.

I think at that age it was more about the immediate future rather than the distant future. I didn't really have grown up ambitions like marriage or children or careers. A lot of my goals were heavily based on personal interests so that is something to consider with your MC.
9 years later and I'm pleased to say I've done everything on my 15yr old self's list apart from travelling. Time to start a new grown up one I think!

 

I've written a couple of 15/16 year olds recently; their lists would broadly speaking look like this:

For Liz -
1) Get mum and dad back together.
2) Have a proper happy Christmas again.
3) Fall in love.
4) Amazing, special prom night (including new dress, new shoes and boyfriend who knows how to dance)
5) Try acting (mum always wanted me to)

For Elijah (who isn't really a typical teen since he was the son of a cult leader and took over when his father died but still...)
1) Make the church happy again.
2) Make friends.
3) Fall in love.
4) Make the disciples like me.
5) Find my mother.

Kids are way more emotionally honest than grown ups give them credit for. They're smarter too and much less shallow. They definitely put on an act for other people especially for grown ups; trying to look grown up too before they really know how, but underneath it they can be very sweet and thoughtful, especially about things they care about. They might not show that to other people but to themselves? Sure. They certainly wish for material things but on a list of 'stuff to do before I die' unless there's something really breathtakingly important to them they'll go to experiences rather than things and think about other people a lot too. They can be really generous with that kind of stuff, I'd definitely put that in there somewhere.

Cars are something special though. They aren't a material thing as such. To teenagers wanting a car means wanting freedom and independence in terms that fit better in their head. So that's something that a lot of teens want but not something that they necessarily understand why.

Anyway; don't think it's not realistic to not put really meaningful personal stuff in there. Teenagers know what matters to them and it's not just having the cool stuff. Often they really dream of things that they've lost rather than what they can gain, romanticizing earlier childhood when parents spent more time with them as 'perfect'. Especially if they didn't have that experience, they can obsess about that as an idea and try to find experiences that they feel emulate it.

 

Some of this is unlikely to generalize, me being who I am, but I think it might capture where some of that teenage angst comes from:

1. Don't be such a disorganized piece of shit anymore.
2. Improve mile time from 5:45 to 5:15.
3. Write a book.
4. Sleep better.
5. Get into college (somehow).
6. Make more some a friend.
7. Get a girlfriend romantic partner close companion of really any variety beyond the above.
8. Stop being scared to approach girls.
9. Stop being scared that people will think I'm gay for not doing so.
10. Reach my twenties, so that my brain will finish developing, and I will no longer be inferior to my parents. Oh, wait, I have autism.
11. Maybe I should have kept playing soccer.
12. Oh well.
13. Do I have ADHD, or am I just a terrible person?
14. Need to fix my Geometry notebook before it gets me an F.
15. Figure out why I still feel tired now that I get eight hours of sleep.
16. It's August, and I still haven't written a book yet.
17. Need to take an AP class next year.
18. Need to get ready for college.
19. I forgot my AP class's summer assignment.
20. Finish school reading list in one day.
21. Stop feeling so sorry for self.
22. Stop beating self up for feeling bad about things.
23. Get everything together before eighteenth birthday.