Hey guys! I'm writing a novel about a 14 year old boy and his struggle to adapt in his new town. I need help with two things, but first here is some background information. My 14 year old protagonist has a pretty big family. He is close to his father and his orphaned brother of the same age. His orphaned brother had a family who died when he was a little kid, and the protagonists parents are his godparents. My protagonist also has a ten year old sister, a seven year old sister, and a five year old brother. Now here are my questions: 1.) I have no idea how the five year old brother of his should act, any ideas would be helpful. 2.) The protagonist has a rivalry with his cousin, a twelve year old boy. I don't know how to portray their rivalry. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
You're such a lucky duckling! I'm going to give you some advice and help you out. Phooey to those who haven't! Pbbbt! Alright compadre or comadre, if you've come to this here forum for writing, I suggest avoiding sounding like you have no idea how to come up with internal relationships and plot elements and yada yada yada. Catch my drift? Between you and me, the folks around here don't take too kindly to the type of posts such as yours. Can't be too aggressive. Don't worry about a thing, though. Everything's A O.K 1.) Do you have any younger siblings? Perhaps around the age of say, five? Because writers, if you didn't already know, draw a lot from their own family and experiences and insert that into their work. Right? So if you do have any siblings or know of friends with younger siblings who are annoying little pieces of $&*% or maybe genuises or adorable honeybunches, you can always get inspiration from those children. Or not. It's up to you. 2.) Same as number one. Draw from real life circumstances. I'm sure every boy has had a rivalry with his own brother or sister or some relative. There are so many reasons for a rivalry to be established. Maybe they're both in sports. Or musicians. Or tap-dancers. Or trying to see who could pee the farthest. No, wait, that's stupid. And their rivalry doesn't have to be all mean. It could be a friendly rivalry. It could be a I'M GOING TO STRANGLE YOU kinda rivalry. So that's a reason. As far as how the two react and interact with each other, is entirely up to you. In all seriousness, this forum is simply a tool. Whatever hiccup you encounter in the beginning, middle, or end of the writing process, try not to rely entirely on this website to help you with everything. Everything here is reciprocal. Lend your critique and insight. You put good in and get good out. Sort of like that orange juice brand.
Additionally if you don't have the experience , then you need research. While Sardonic is right that writers draw on their own experience it is possible to write something thats not wholly your own experience , by speaking to/reading about those that have had the experience. in some cases this can be taxing such as a crime writer needing access to police departments, but in your case its a straight forward one. If you don't have siblings yourself , talk to your friends , colleagues etc and find people who do and talk to them about their experiences, also look at the web /amazon for autobiographic accounts from people in similar circs to those you want to write about. as to the how does a 5 year old behave - again do you know any parents or teachers ? failing that there's any number of parents forums including the big mummy forums like mumsnet and netmums , and there's lots of source material out there in the form of blogs and journals
