So I'm writing a book about my character named Harry. He's a normal homeless person living in New York City, and 10-20 years old. Here is his bio:
Name: Harry
Gender: M
Age: 10-20 in the book
Personality: Quiet, violent and harsh.
Likes: Shadows, fighting, punching walls, and his friend Mint.
Dislikes: Sunlight, gangsters, his mom.
Backstory: Harry grew up in Ireland with his mom and twin brother, Gary. When he was four, though, they moved to New York. Harry imediatly hated, and Gary loved it. One night when Harry was just 8 he ran away to live in the streets. His mom barely searched for him. She didn't even tell the police he was missing. For years, he scrimmaged on the street.
Other: I'm trying to write about when he was 10-20.
So, got any ideas? Please tell me!
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mintfang wrote:
a normal homeless person living in New York City
So, mentally ill and addicted to drugs?
Children with absolutely no resources or life experience don't just survive on the streets of New York City by themselves; I had to spend a night on the street once (Just one night) and it was shady as heck and uncomfortable and probably not something a person half my age could do constantly, realistically
So either he found somewhere stable to live or he died on page 6, anything else is not plausible
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Some things about naming,
Try to avoid characters with rhyming names if you want readers to keep them apart, even if they are twins.
"Mint" is a strangely out of context name for somebody in a world inhabited by a Harry and Gary, so that should probably be a nickname, or have some decent justification for it.
Description wrote:
Personality: Quiet, violent and harsh.
Likes: Shadows, fighting, punching walls, and his friend Mint.
Dislikes: Sunlight, gangsters, his mom.
such hardcor emo o my
I assume this means that his motivation for leaving his home was his mother?
The sunlight/shadows and punching walls thing actually made me laugh when I read it so it might be a bit too over the top or stereotypical to be taken seriously
Anyway, you can't just say, "oh yeah he lived on the street cause he's tough" as Sellout said, you'll definitely need a good explanation for why he was able to if you don't want him to die or be taken in by someone.
Last edited by soupoftomato (2013-04-10 18:42:23)
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soupoftomato wrote:
Harry is probably an over-common name,
I don't think so, it's a pretty realistic name. I've only met one person named Harry and it doesn't seem particularly cliche to me, never read a book with a character named Harry either
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Sellout wrote:
soupoftomato wrote:
Harry is probably an over-common name,
I don't think so, it's a pretty realistic name. I've only met one person named Harry and it doesn't seem particularly cliche to me, never read a book with a character named Harry either
Fair enough.
I wasn't trying to imply Harry Potter was an end-all or anything either but when I see people talking about them naming characters it comes up in the back of my mind.
Also, mintfang, if that's all you have of your plot and you're asking for ideas I would try harder on your own first.
Last edited by soupoftomato (2013-04-10 18:43:51)
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Sellout wrote:
mintfang wrote:
a normal homeless person living in New York City
So, mentally ill and addicted to drugs?
Children with absolutely no resources or life experience don't just survive on the streets of New York City by themselves; I had to spend a night on the street once (Just one night) and it was shady as heck and uncomfortable and probably not something a person half my age could do constantly, realistically
So either he found somewhere stable to live or he died on page 6, anything else is not plausible
Maybe a bit mentally ill, but definately not a druggie!
How do you know he dosen't have resources or life experiences? The Backstory I put in there was only half-baked.
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soupoftomato wrote:
Some things about naming,
Try to avoid characters with rhyming names if you want readers to keep them apart, even if they are twins.
"Mint" is a strangely out of context name for somebody in a world inhabited by a Harry and Gary, so that should probably be a nickname, or have some decent justification for it.Description wrote:
Personality: Quiet, violent and harsh.
Likes: Shadows, fighting, punching walls, and his friend Mint.
Dislikes: Sunlight, gangsters, his mom.such hardcor emo o my
I assume this means that his motivation for leaving his home was his mother?
The sunlight/shadows and punching walls thing actually made me laugh when I read it so it might be a bit too over the top or stereotypical to be taken seriously
Anyway, you can't just say, "oh yeah he lived on the street cause he's tough" as Sellout said, you'll definitely need a good explanation for why he was able to if you don't want him to die or be taken in by someone.
Again, how do you know he's normal? I could edit the first post and make him a demigod or Animorph or something. And you should hear Mint's sister's name.
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Hm if it is Fantasy, there could be some evil rats in the sewer who can grow to as tall as 6 feet and stand on there hind legs with long fangs. They hear about Harrys demigodism and are seriously against demigods for some reason.
If its not fantasy, there could be some gang that wants to take him in, but he keeps refusing.
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Okay, if your not going to give ideas, why post? I ask for one thing and one thing only: ideas about the storyline. Not people telling me he can't survive or that Mint's a weird name. And I have already tried. On Wattpad. I got like 3 reads in a month or so. And so what if he likes pain and hates light? Maybe he's just the dark side of me. Depressed, has two friends, and all that. Maybe he's different. Maybe I should just delete this whole topic and try again on my own. Maybe I don't want any advice, I want plot ideas. Maybe I should shut my trap. Maybe I don't want to write about the New York you know, I want to write about the New York I know.I know I sound like I'm ranting, and I kinda am, but I just didn't expect everyone to tell me he couldn't survive.
EDIT: And thank you so much, Waffle. I really like those ideas
Last edited by mintfang (2013-04-10 19:55:01)
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mintfang wrote:
How do you know he dosen't have resources or life experiences? The Backstory I put in there was only half-baked.
Because he's 8 years old
I don't understand why you wouldn't want criticism about the story's plot, we're all just working together here to make sure the story is the best it can be and it can't be that if it's extremely implausible and unrealistic. If Harry was a demigod then I'd think that would be something you included in the plot summary in the first post there so no that didn't cross my mind
And I don't honestly think there's much adventure and fun in being homeless so I don't have any plot points to suggest right now except trying to detail the actual struggles of living on the streets
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Sellout wrote:
And I don't honestly think there's much adventure and fun in being homeless so I don't have any plot points to suggest right now except trying to detail the actual struggles of living on the streets
So you could write about where he sleeps, where he gets his food, how he bathes, how are his teeth under these conditions? Where does he go to the bathroom? What happens if he's sick and where does he get his clothes?
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Sellout wrote:
Sellout wrote:
And I don't honestly think there's much adventure and fun in being homeless so I don't have any plot points to suggest right now except trying to detail the actual struggles of living on the streets
So you could write about where he sleeps, where he gets his food, how he bathes, how are his teeth under these conditions? Where does he go to the bathroom? What happens if he's sick and where does he get his clothes?
He sleeps in random places, he gets food from restaurant trash-cans, he dosen't bathe, his teeth are probably fine (LOL), he goes to the bathroom... that would WAY TMI, he goes to Mint if he's sick and he climbs into donation bins at night to look for clothes. That answer your questions?
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mintfang wrote:
Sellout wrote:
Sellout wrote:
And I don't honestly think there's much adventure and fun in being homeless so I don't have any plot points to suggest right now except trying to detail the actual struggles of living on the streets
So you could write about where he sleeps, where he gets his food, how he bathes, how are his teeth under these conditions? Where does he go to the bathroom? What happens if he's sick and where does he get his clothes?
He sleeps in random places, he gets food from restaurant trash-cans, he dosen't bathe, his teeth are probably fine (LOL), he goes to the bathroom... that would WAY TMI, he goes to Mint if he's sick and he climbs into donation bins at night to look for clothes. That answer your questions?
I wasn't asking to be answered, I was suggesting you write about them because it wouldn't make sense for a boy to just exist on the street without having it explained how he does any of those things
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