I’m back to revising my WIP, and have started this round by
reading through comments I got on the first draft. At first I thought my MC’s
motivation was a bit off, but then it dawned on me that maybe it wasn’t as much
off as I was going into it in too much depth. Perhaps, my main character was
too self-aware of her motivation. What does this have to do with first cars?
My main character is almost seventeen and she wants her own
car, very badly. But I'm starting to think that I
don’t need to have her thoughts reveal why. Heck, I got my first car at sixteen and I
didn’t think to myself—I want a car so I
can be independent and I can make my own life choices about where I want to
live. I just knew I wanted one.
Yeah, there was the whole I want to feel adult thing going on as well.
So my questions to you is:
Did you want a car as a teen and, if so, then why? How badly did you
want it? Did it motivate you to do
things you might not have done
otherwise? What kind did you long for?
By the way, my first car was a used 1969 Dodge Dart (visible at rear of photo). My dad bought it for me with the agreement
that it would also be used for his business (I worked for my dad). Also the town I lived in didn't have school buses,
so it saved my parents from having to tote me around. I drove the old car until even Bondo,
pop rivets and sheet metal wouldn’t keep it together.
After that I had a string of $50 cars, like this red beauty. They weren’t
pretty, but they were mine, all mine! This one had totally rotted floor boards.
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Great photos. I did not own a car until I was 27, so I'm probably not the best person to ask, lol. The only reason my hubs and I bought a car then was because we were moving from Boston (where having a car is a huge liability and makes life harder not easier) to New Hampshire, where public transportation isn't as readily available.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in my early twenties, I bought plants for a company. One of my jobs was driving from northern Vermont into the flower market in Boston, choosing the plants, and then hauling the load back. I'm glad I was young. The whole concept of interstate traffic going in one direction at one time of day and then changing didn't seem to baffle me like it would now.
DeleteMy car was SO important to me when I was 16. For me it was a combination of two things. One was definitely the independence. My own thing, my own space, my own not-having-to-take-the-bus-to-work. But the other was that I was kind of a speed demon. I got a lot of tickets. My relationship with my car was definitely the inspiration for my MC's connection with her plane in my current WIP.
ReplyDeleteAnd LOVE your Bondoville! :-)
LOL. Bondoville is perfect (her name actually was Louise).
DeleteI think your feelings toward your car confirm what I was thinking about my MC's motivation. A car can mean a bunch of things to a teen at the same time. Me trying to separate those into one thing probably makes the MC seem less real.
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ReplyDeleteSo true. What teen doesn't look forward to the day when they can have a car of their own? My first car (a Dodge Daytona at 18) would be too dramatic of an inspiration to enjoy writing about--after only 11 days of owning it, I was involved in a crash that totaled it and the other car involved and sent 4 people to the ER. Not fun but at least everyone was okay after a bit of mending.
ReplyDeleteAfter only 11 days? That must have been horrible tough on so many levels. I think it was sheer luck that I never had an accident.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. My first car was also $50. It lasted...almost a year, I think? Then it broke down on Valentine's Day in the middle of the night on a sketchy bridge. During a thunderstorm, I might add.
ReplyDeleteYeah, in retrospect, I'm pretty sure that car had it out for me.
A Charles de Lint novel opens with a similar scene. I think it was Widdershins (probably spelling that wrong). Except in his story--as you might expect--some funky happenings follow.
DeleteOh man, this post brings back memories. Coincidentally, I was planning on blogging about cars at some point. Might have to hit you up for your take on it!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the memories -
When I was "of car age" I wanted a car. Here's where my experience might not be the same as everyone else's, which might reveal it's exactly the same as everyone else's.
I *knew* the reason why I wanted a car: Because it's a rite of passage.
More importantly, It's an AMERICAN rite of passage.
From everything I'd seen on TV, a kid turns 16, the kid gets a car. A clunker, a beemer, a lemon, a luxury model with a big red bow. Didn't matter. American kids get cars when they turn 16.
I didn't get a car.
I emo'ed about it for ... two weeks.
Then the feeling of "I need a car so bad Imma cut my foot off" passed.
I moved on to "I need a boyfriend so bad, Imma cut my foot off."
Then "I need to get into this college so bad, yadda"
Weird how fast emotions flipped when I was that age.
Also weird - how rational those emotions seemed then, how ridiculously self-centered they seem now, examined from my adult perspective.
Anyway, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
J
Hit me up all you want. I think I could do a post on the stages of life as marked by cars--but it would probably reveal too much :)
DeleteYour reply made me laugh. It's so true. I think it's also partly why I love writing YA. I couldn't understand why my dad wouldn't by me the used police car that I desperately want.
Interesting! Yes, as a teen I wanted a car. A yellow mustang was the car of choice and no, I never got this car : ) I also didn't try very hard to save for it. I wanted a yellow mustang because I liked that it seemed to stand out and looked like something that a woman who was independent/free-spirited would have.
ReplyDeleteGood question and hope the WIP goes well!!
The WIP is going great, actually. A yellow mustang? As a teen I longed for the blue convertible mustang that my friend's grandmother drove. Seriously, she seemed ancient to me and yet she had the coolest car in town!
ReplyDeleteThose cars are pretty saweeeeet!!! My first car was my mom's used Suzuki Samurai jeep. It was a total clunker. Of course I longed for a cute little sports car, but it got me and my friends around. I was definitely dying for a car...for freedom, that feeling of achieving a milestone, and to be able to listen to MY OWN music whenever I wanted :p
ReplyDeleteNot just music, but your own and as loud as you wanted. Oh, man, I wanted to blast music so badly. I remember turning it down before I pulled into our driveway at home.
ReplyDeleteOh, I so wanted a car when I was 16! I bought a '68 Buick Riviera with a HUGE engine! It represented complete freedom. I could go anywhere, anytime - I could have my own life! (This isn't entirely true, but at 16 it sure feels like it is!)
ReplyDeleteI think cars have always represented not just independence for Americans, but the way they see themselves - big and powerful, or sleek and pretty, or tough and durable. Rightly or wrongly, a car is an extension of who we are as a person. Or more correctly, who we'd like to be.
Your last thought about representing the way Americans see themselves, just gave me wonderful insight into something going in my story--how my MC sees herself vs how other people view her! Yay for revision brainstorms.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was about freedom! I didn't "own" my own car when I was in high school, but the ability to drive and use our car gave me a new sense of freedom.
ReplyDeleteNo more pickups, no more worrying about catching the bus, I could go where I wanted when I wanted.
That said — I didn't really think about it in that way when I was a kid. I just wanted to drive! LOL.
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, I rarely fought with my parents. But I still remember the day my dad took my keys away for like the whole afternoon. Strangely enough, I can't recall what the fight was about--just how mad the punishment made me.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm a not a great person to ask. All my friends had cars or at least access to them, so I never felt the need to get one of my own. But I will admit that when my boyfriend went away to college and lent me his '74 Cutlass Supreme, I was in heaven. The floorboards were completely rotted out, the alternator was iffy and the heater only have two settings - high and baked potato. But, it also had a great stereo and a V8. :)
ReplyDeleteI would have killed for baked potato. A couple of my cars were total ice boxes. Man, I'm feeling really grateful for the car I have now.
ReplyDelete