The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—
producing writerly angst since biblical times
When you’re a grown-up, you understand emotions differently than you do when you’re 15 (which is a good thing, lord knows). But you have to hang out with the Four Horsemen of the Teenage Apocalypse as often as you can if you want to write a believable novel. Who are those Horsemen? Anger, Sadness, Anxiety, and Love. If your protagonist is a teenager, the Horsemen must ride along with every single move your character makes. (Let’s call the Four Horsemen a bonus gift of the 12 Gifts–they’re a pretty good present, too.)
There’s one trick with the Four Horsemen: you have to find a way to get back to your *own* apocalypse-bringers, not anybody else’s. You need a method to find them. Know what mine is? Music, of course (for more on this idea, all you need is this, but you could also read this, too). Specifically, it’s listening to this man:
The 80s version of Phil Collins
My Phil Collins Pandora station gets things galloping every time. Phil is crossed with every sort of 80s pop I can think of (Thompson Twins, Eurythmics, Van Halen), and my teenage years come flooding out of my computer speakers whenever I click it on. Thank god for that, because (despite my last post), some days my teenage version of those Four Horsemen are far, far away. So thank you, internet gods, for Pandora. I need it.
How about you? How do you get your Horsemen moving?
My way of getting my horsemen moving is music also. Music is a way to let your emotions be free and ryn wild
I think the running wild part is a good thing, as long as you can get them to calm down again. : )
I also have music that takes me right back to a specific point in time. Although I have to be careful not to let myself get stuck back there. Especially because I kind of like my life now without teenage angst 24/7. Now I can just dabble when the mood strikes me. Which in all honesty is probably a little too often according to my husband
who left the teenage years behind and never looked back.
You do have to watch out for the getting stuck part, but my teenage years weren’t really anything to get stuck in. My imaginary teenagers have much more interesting and exciting lives than I did! : ) (And my husband doesn’t look back at his teenage years, either.)