Arrested Development/Writing a coming of age novel about an adult

Status
Not open for further replies.

snowpea

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
187
Reaction score
10
I'm working on a novel about a woman in arrested development. She is immature for her age and "grows up" during the course of the novel.
I'd like to know of some movies and books that follow this theme. Young Adult is kind of in that vein, although it's not a great movie. Another one I found was Girl in Progress, although it doesn't really fit my plotline.

If anyone can suggest some good novels or movies where the main character "grows up" or "finds herself" I would gladly appreciate it.
 

LJD

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 12, 2010
Messages
4,226
Reaction score
525
Rachel's Holiday, maybe?
Something Blue?
(read these books a long time ago though...hence I have the paper versions...)

The theme of a woman finding herself is pretty common in women's fiction. However, in most cases, I wouldn't necessarily describe the woman as being immature for her age to start with.
 

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
9,767
Reaction score
3,936
Location
you martyr and shine.
If anyone can suggest some good novels or movies where the main character "grows up" or "finds herself" I would gladly appreciate it.
High-Fidelity by Nick Hornby has this throughline. The main character is a male, but he starts out pretty immature and selfish. Through the novel he carefully re-examines his romantic history and discovers that he's pretty much been an immature dick his whole life, and finally grows up in the end.

It's a novel that has also been made into a movie.
 

The Good Typist

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
72
Reaction score
5
Location
Seattle, WA
Website
thegoodtypist.blogspot.com
I'm currently writing a novel in which the MC is very immature for her age and has to grow up through the course of the novel. I didn't plot this out or plan it, but it turns out a big part of her emotional blockage is due to an unresolved trauma from her childhood. As far as other books dealing with the same theme, I can't think of any per se--sadly, it seems to me that a lot of writers these days will just leave their characters stuck in whatever state they're in at the beginning of the book, and don't bother with character arcs.

Jonathan Tropper writes about adult men who have to grow up. I read a few of his books, and I enjoyed them, although the exact titles escape me at the moment.
 

Captcha

Banned
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
4,456
Reaction score
637
Bridget Jones? I mean, she doesn't mature THAT much, but a little...
 

snowpea

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
187
Reaction score
10
Rachel's Holiday, maybe?
Something Blue?
(read these books a long time ago though...hence I have the paper versions...)

The theme of a woman finding herself is pretty common in women's fiction. However, in most cases, I wouldn't necessarily describe the woman as being immature for her age to start with.
True, but in my novel the woman IS immature. She is in her 30s and still a groupie and partying late nights, and when she finds out her best friend (who has grown out of this) is getting married she decides to do all she can to convince her friend not to get married so they can party together like old times.
 

RightHoJeeves

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Nov 28, 2013
Messages
1,326
Reaction score
155
Location
Perth
High-Fidelity by Nick Hornby has this throughline. The main character is a male, but he starts out pretty immature and selfish. Through the novel he carefully re-examines his romantic history and discovers that he's pretty much been an immature dick his whole life, and finally grows up in the end.

It's a novel that has also been made into a movie.

Also by Nick Hornby, About A Boy
 

Kristenlee83

Registered
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Messages
44
Reaction score
6
Location
SE Florida
Sounds like a cool book, Snow Pea. I believe Amazon has a filter for coming of age stories...you may want to check there. I'd get the link for you, but I'm having some computer issues...
 

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Messages
3,459
Reaction score
653
Website
www.joannabourne.com
As I see it, there's lots of what might be called 'childish behavior'
because it's stuff teens do --
surfboarding, reading comic books, parkour, collecting baseball cards, indulging in Rocky Road ice cream at midnight, playing pickup basketball at the hoop in the park, puns, wearing candy-red stack heels, riding motorcycles ...

Or, in the case of your heroine, going to rock concerts, squeeing over movie stars, dancing, drinking and laughing till 3:00 am.

But none of this is, in and of itself, harmful. All of it enriches life. It adds juice and mystery and delight to our years on earth. It's not something one needs to put away at age 22.

So what is the FMC doing wrong, really?

Is your protagonist wasteful, self-indulgent, shallow, deliberately self-destructive, irresponsible, decadent, unhealthy, dangerous, cruel to others?

Is the protagonist spending money she can't afford? Is she leaving her five-year-old at home with a babysitter three nights a week? Does she offend public order? Does her behavior affect her health? Does it affect her performance at work? Is she taking drugs? Does she have unprotected sex with strangers? Does she drive drunk?

If some of that's true, it might clarify thinking on the story to call the behavior stupid, self-destructive and/or irresponsible rather than using the more polite euphemism 'immature'. Calling it what it is puts an exact finger on why the behavior should stop.

(And if my good friend who enjoys partying, dancing, nightclubbing and painting the town red wants to marry a man whose idea of a good time is sitting home watching sports on TV, I'd be tell her to think twice.)
 
Last edited:

Latina Bunny

Lover of Contemporary/Fantasy Romance (she/her)
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 26, 2011
Messages
3,820
Reaction score
738
True, but in my novel the woman IS immature. She is in her 30s and still a groupie and partying late nights, and when she finds out her best friend (who has grown out of this) is getting married she decides to do all she can to convince her friend not to get married so they can party together like old times.

So, because she likes to party, she's "immature"?

I don't see this as immature, unless she's being irresponsible in some way or drinking to the point of hurting her health or hurting her family/friends.

Like job said, some things that society deems as "immature" are not bad.

When I hear "immature", I'm thinking of selfish, stupid or dangerous behavior.

The selfish aspect of your heroine is not the partying aspect (unless it negatively affects work/family/friends/health/etc), but the trying to stop someone from being married bit.
 
Last edited:

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
9,767
Reaction score
3,936
Location
you martyr and shine.
I agree with Job, too.

Immature people blame everyone else for their problems, dump their problems on others to solve, constantly make excuses for themselves, don't manage their own finances well, whine instead of doing something to fix what is wrong with their lives, and fail to consider how their actions or behaviors affect others.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
I love coming of age stories, but I don't think they should apply to people in their thirties. Stories dealing with people this old need another name.

I understand arrested development, but if it has happened by then, it's been arrested, and handed a life sentence.
 

Captcha

Banned
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
4,456
Reaction score
637
Well, still a groupie, and partying late nights? Yeah, I'd say this is a problem.

Why is it a problem?

I mean, it's not following a traditional life path, but I don't think that's automatically a problem. If she's happy and not hurting anyone else... it's her thing, right?

OP, I would think you might need to spend some of your book showing that she's NOT happy, or IS hurting other people. (I don't think trying to convince a friend to not get married counts as hurting other people, unless she's going way over the top with her 'convincing').

In terms of movies about women converting from shallow and selfish to deeper and giving, you could look at several Goldie Hawn movies - Private Benjamin, Overboard, The Banger Sisters (that last one seems right up your alley, at least for the setup - maybe not the resolution, I can't remember). Maybe some Sandra Bullock movies, too? - 28 Days she's a drunk party girl who goes to rehab (and gets to bang Viggo Mortensen!!!). I feel like she might have others in a similar vein. Party Girl (with Parker Posey) seems like it would fit.
 

snowpea

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
187
Reaction score
10
As I see it, there's lots of what might be called 'childish behavior'
because it's stuff teens do --
surfboarding, reading comic books, parkour, collecting baseball cards, indulging in Rocky Road ice cream at midnight, playing pickup basketball at the hoop in the park, puns, wearing candy-red stack heels, riding motorcycles ...

Or, in the case of your heroine, going to rock concerts, squeeing over movie stars, dancing, drinking and laughing till 3:00 am.

But none of this is, in and of itself, harmful. All of it enriches life. It adds juice and mystery and delight to our years on earth. It's not something one needs to put away at age 22.

So what is the FMC doing wrong, really?

Is your protagonist wasteful, self-indulgent, shallow, deliberately self-destructive, irresponsible, decadent, unhealthy, dangerous, cruel to others?

Is the protagonist spending money she can't afford? Is she leaving her five-year-old at home with a babysitter three nights a week? Does she offend public order? Does her behavior affect her health? Does it affect her performance at work? Is she taking drugs? Does she have unprotected sex with strangers? Does she drive drunk?

If some of that's true, it might clarify thinking on the story to call the behavior stupid, self-destructive and/or irresponsible rather than using the more polite euphemism 'immature'. Calling it what it is puts an exact finger on why the behavior should stop.

(And if my good friend who enjoys partying, dancing, nightclubbing and painting the town red wants to marry a man whose idea of a good time is sitting home watching sports on TV, I'd be tell her to think twice.)

I've decided to make my MC 25, turning 26. She likes to stay out late at night, she's basically an alcoholic, she doesn't have a job and relies on her parents for money. The money she does get she spends on partying. Like I've said she tries to break up her friend's engagement so she can have her to herself. She also gets incredibly jealous when she finds out the maid of honor is the best friend's little sister.

By the end of the story I intend to have her enter rehab.
 
Last edited:

snowpea

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 11, 2014
Messages
187
Reaction score
10
So, because she likes to party, she's "immature"?

I don't see this as immature, unless she's being irresponsible in some way or drinking to the point of hurting her health or hurting her family/friends.

Like job said, some things that society deems as "immature" are not bad.

When I hear "immature", I'm thinking of selfish, stupid or dangerous behavior.

The selfish aspect of your heroine is not the partying aspect (unless it negatively affects work/family/friends/health/etc), but the trying to stop someone from being married bit.
No the selfish aspect is not the partying. She is selfish in many ways, and she is an alcoholic. I still go clubbing and I'm in my 30's, but I wouldn't make it the main part of my social life and get plastered 3 times (or more) a week.

I think this is just me not knowing how to communicate what I mean, and sorry for that. But still struggling with selfish issues when you're in your 30's is sad and immature to me.

Why is it a problem?

I mean, it's not following a traditional life path, but I don't think that's automatically a problem. If she's happy and not hurting anyone else... it's her thing, right?

OP, I would think you might need to spend some of your book showing that she's NOT happy, or IS hurting other people. (I don't think trying to convince a friend to not get married counts as hurting other people, unless she's going way over the top with her 'convincing').

In terms of movies about women converting from shallow and selfish to deeper and giving, you could look at several Goldie Hawn movies - Private Benjamin, Overboard, The Banger Sisters (that last one seems right up your alley, at least for the setup - maybe not the resolution, I can't remember). Maybe some Sandra Bullock movies, too? - 28 Days she's a drunk party girl who goes to rehab (and gets to bang Viggo Mortensen!!!). I feel like she might have others in a similar vein. Party Girl (with Parker Posey) seems like it would fit.

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried to watch Party Girl and I couldn't get through it to be honest. But I was watching 28 days and it fits very well. I will also look at The Banger Sisters.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.