Honestly I'm now an adult and at 29 while I do remember my sucky eventful horrible years as a teenager, I am at a loss for how to write a teen. I can't relate any longer. I need to know how to write and angry angsty teen character who changes to be a strong independent person. Confused youth arc. (Not Sexual Orientation Confusion, but Confusion about self and purpose in life.) However I can relate to depression and anger because of my upbringing and some awful things I experienced as a teen. So I have personal experience in areas of abuse, but I'm more thinking along the lines of an upbringing where a kid is just involved in the wrong people, or misguided ideals.
What kind of teen are you going for? Like generation Z or young millennials? Coping habits change with the generations and just different people in general, so there might be a difference in how "angst" is expressed. For example, making suicide jokes expresses growing discontent with (American, at least) governments and a lack of hope for the future. Like, that vine where that guy drives up to a Taco Bell and goes something like:
Employee: Hi, how're you doing tonight
Driver: I wanna fucking die
Employee: Saame
Like that's a kind of standard interaction, I'd say, between teens nowadays. Saying things like "I want to die," "Someone kill me," "I'd rather slit my own throat and set myself on fire than do that," etc. are par for the course. There are also teens who express angst and anger through acting out, obviously, but they don't often realize its what they're doing. And it's not usually a "fuck you" to authority, but more like a cry for help or assuming they have nothing and thus can't be anything more than nothing. There are also people who feel outcast and so change their perspectives to believe they're in fact "special." It really depends on what kind of person your character is, their environment, how they've been raised, etc. Not all teenagers, and people for that matter, react the same way.
Of course, this is all from my experience and might not be as common as I think it is. I've grown up surrounding myself with poc and LGBTQA+, both of which are communities who are more likely to develop mental illnesses and react in more "deviant" ways (according to the media.)
What kind of teen are you going for? Like generation Z or young millennials? Coping habits change with the generations and just different people in general, so there might be a difference in how "angst" is expressed. For example, making suicide jokes expresses growing discontent with (American, at least) governments and a lack of hope for the future. Like, that vine where that guy drives up to a Taco Bell and goes something like:
Employee: Hi, how're you doing tonight
Driver: I wanna fucking die
Employee: Saame
Like that's a kind of standard interaction, I'd say, between teens nowadays. Saying things like "I want to die," "Someone kill me," "I'd rather slit my own throat and set myself on fire than do that," etc. are par for the course. There are also teens who express angst and anger through acting out, obviously, but they don't often realize its what they're doing. And it's not usually a "fuck you" to authority, but more like a cry for help or assuming they have nothing and thus can't be anything more than nothing. There are also people who feel outcast and so change their perspectives to believe they're in fact "special." It really depends on what kind of person your character is, their environment, how they've been raised, etc. Not all teenagers, and people for that matter, react the same way.
Of course, this is all from my experience and might not be as common as I think it is. I've grown up surrounding myself with poc and LGBTQA+, both of which are communities who are more likely to develop mental illnesses and react in more "deviant" ways (according to the media.)
Fantasy setting medieval or renaissance (Mixture since there are multiple societies.) So not modern but I would like some ideas as too how teens act in general since it will at least give me a starting point.
Speaking from a developmental perspective, the brain undergoes a lot of changes during puberty and several years afterward, but different functions mature at different stages. The biggest 'teenagery' one I can think of is that the risk-taking and reward parts of the brain develop sooner, while the prefrontal cortex, which helps with planning, judgment and control, matures later, sometimes not until early twenties.
This means that teenagers are more likely to do things on impulse without properly taking stock of the consequences of their actions.
OK SO heres my take: we aren't all "angsty" or "emo" while a lot of us are sad and dealing with some stuff. Most of us aren't inherently bratty, but can be grumpy bc we're all freaking stressedall. the. time.
As the user above said, yeah, teens can be prone to waaaay overexaggerate. Stuff like "kill me with a spoon" or "Kill me now" can be used in response to small stuff, like losing a video game or getting a big assignment. Also, diversity is really, really important to a lot of teens, so if you're having multiple characters maybe include some LGBT+, POC, and stuff like that. Happy Writing!
