swing_it_away

I've been trying to write a story from a characters point of view, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting inside his head.
He's supposed to be a pretty friendly, outgoing guy, but he feels a little lost where he's at, and, as a result, is becoming increasingly more withdrawn. He's probably around 16, and doesn't get along well with his family. He's always been a little bit of a booknerd, and I want that to come out in the writing.
I'm trying to get him to sound more observational than anything else, but also a little on the smarter/deeper end. Whenever I try to put this down on paper, though, he comes across as whiny, superficial, and sort of a jackass.
I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to how I could get a better feel for how to write in his (or any other character who isn't very similar to myself) perpective. If anyone thinks they might relate to him, how would you describe something? How do you act when you are really upset? Anything at all would be really, really useful.
Thanks

spirituous

The best advice I can give you is try to incorporate yourself into the character. In most 1st person stories, you can see parts of the author in the character. So the question you have to ask yourself is, how would YOU be observational or act when your upset, etc. When I am writing 1st person, this usually helps a lot. It also helps sometimes if you incorporate some of your friends, or just people you know, personality into the character. And when you write the character long enough, it should become an entity all of it's own, telling you what to write and what "he" should say. Hope that helped :[ Haha. Good luck and good writing!

__________________
i can do the frug~

Judy

Asking for help is the sign of a great mind!
Have you tried writing a character biography? Free-flow all the ideas that come to you when you think of the character and write them down. Brain-storm, in other words. Then, the character will see what you've written and take on the characteristics that he's/she's comfortable with. If you try to force the character to do something he's not comfortable with, he won't work for you. He'll make you do all the work.

swing_it_away

I just wrote you an incredibly long reply, Judy, but then I accidently went and clicked another link, so I lost it all.
I love your biography idea. I think I'll go ahead and try it, the closest I've come the that are assorted papers describing him.
I've also been trying to keep a fictional blog for him, it's helped me get my footing a little bit steadier.
I've been developing him for almost two years, and the thing I'm really having problems with is describing his characteristics that he wouldn't want to mention. One of them in paticular, is how he's the type of person to sort of quietly pay for everything (examples being things like at the movies he'll always pays for tickets and popcorn, saying something like "it's okay, i already have my money out, you guys can just pays me back later." and then say you should pay him back sometime when your at his house, because he doesn't have his wallet with him), but then feel like he used someone if they try and pay for something they give him. I want to get things like across, but I know he isn't going to bring them up, so I have to demonstrate them in other aspects of the story.

That made me smile.

DawnMorningStar

I think a fictional blog is a great idea. I developed my own character that way, through an RPG setting in a blog, and having him write journal entries and interact with other people's characters really helped me learn what he was all about.

I also like Judy's idea of the biography. Anything that gets you delving deeper into the character's mind and motives is a good thing. It sounds like you already know a lot about your character though, and that's good. Putting it to paper can be difficult, but I think if you use the "show, don't tell" approach, you'll be able to pull it off nicely. Your example about the money issue, for instance, shows the reader what he's like without having to come out and say it. Maybe you can do a few writing exercises, taking different aspects of his personality that you know he'll never reveal verbally, and figure out various scenarios that would allow you to show that side of him.

I hope that makes sense. Good luck!