do-over stories have to send the person all the way back to 13/14 years old? Is it just so they can have sex with 13-year-old girls? Why not 16 or 18?
do-over stories have to send the person all the way back to 13/14 years old? Is it just so they can have sex with 13-year-old girls? Why not 16 or 18?
In my case it's where I started effin up my life with wrong choices and bad decisions, and iirc, I read on a few (maybe?) stories that was also the reason...but only an author can say for sure
SunSeeker
send the person all the way back to 13/14 years old?
Because that's when they're both young enough and old enough to start taking their preferred sport seriously?
AJ
More than that, if you are going to correct things, it's better to start earlier than later, so starting at thirteen also helps establish patterns that would then seem 'normal' once their hormones start kicking in. So it's more of scouting and preparatory work. But in the U.S. at least, at thirteen you're usually in primary school, as you generally start high-school at fourteen (depending on when your birthday occurs that is), yet even then, the assign those category's to assign who's to attend school in the next year in each community.
do-over stories have to send the person all the way back to 13/14 years old?
I never wrote a do-over story, but I'll give you a real life example.
I was probably around 13. I only remember bits of what happened. Somehow I was riding my bike and a girl I don't think I knew was on my bike with me (I must have met her while I was riding alone somewhere). She must have been sitting on the seat first and then me because I remember her saying: "You're sitting on my pussy."
The only thing I remember after that was me pulling her by her hair and her head crashing into a tree. She ran away. Why did I do that? I was around 13. And probably scared or simply didn't know what to do or say.
I've often wished I could redo that and respond with something like: "Does it feel good?" or "How about we change places so you can sit on my dick." Who knows what would have happened.
Was the bike the old Stingray with the banana seat?
It was like 1961 or so. Probably a Schwinn, but I don't remember what kind. I remember big and chunky, but I was small and skinny back then. LOL
That's around the age when you start getting some autonomy. Like, for example, choosing to study rather than just drift along like everyone did in elementary school. Or to really apply oneself to a sport or seriously work on staying fit.
You might expect people to have a strong interest in making good choices their second time around. Eighteen or older would be too late for lots of things. College choice, for instance. Career choice as well. An 18 year old with mediocre grades is going to have a hard time becoming a doctor.
Ever heard about the insult "The type of guy who peaked in high school"?
That's actually A LOT more common than people like to admit. 13/14 is, for most people, the time when they started high school and found the friends they still have today. It's the deciding moment when the best time of their lives started.
The whole do-over scenario isn't new. Not by any means. At some point in their lives, most people jokingly wish they could send their current consciousness back in time to their younger self. And, non-surprisingly, most people, if indulged in that fantasy, choose the summer break between sixth and seventh grade as the best possible destination.
And, non-surprisingly, most people, if indulged in that fantasy, choose the summer break between sixth and seventh grade as the best possible destination.
Which wouldn't line up with most do-over stories starting over at 14, at least not in a US based school system. Where high school (typically starting at age 14 or 15) starts with 9th grade.
Brain fart on my part right there. You're right, of course. It's the summer break between 8th and 9th grade.
I wonder what the oldest (from antiquity) do-over story might be?
The Sumerian and Mesopotamian mythology has a story/poems called The Epic of Gilgamesh which dates to at least 2100 BCE.
Though not a direct reliving of his past, the myth captures the powerful human desire to undo the past and escape a tragic fate.
The Sumerian and Mesopotamian mythology has a story/poems called The Epic of Gilgamesh which dates to at least 2100 BCE.
Is this something only a uber-nerd would know?
No. Anyone with an interest in ancient history has probably heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Uber-nerds know of the Meme of Girugamesh.
Is this something only a uber-nerd would know?
While I do love history it was part of the required reading for a college class.
Plus it was your fault your statement/question was like a slap upside the head going remember this it may possibly be on the final exam. So yep never thought about it till now ;)p
I guess that is why I barely passed my GED test and that was only because the Government had a crash-corse program that lasted 3 months.
Confession time. I had zero, none, zilch contact with girls, sexual or otherwise, until I was in my mid-twenties. I've always felt that many of my stories focus on younger girls is my effort to make up for what I assumed I missed out on during those years. I've discussed this with a psychologist who more or less agrees with my self-diagnosis, even though he thought I was oversimplifying it. So, there's my reason.
I have enjoyed (or am enjoying) many, if not most of the "Do Over" stories (or at least those are multi-chapter; as I may not have read short stories where the MC is just 13/14 and having sex).
As mentioned by others, around age 13 is where the Foundation of many Good Habits may be established, and bad habits squelched.
In most stories of the "Do-Over" stories that I recall, the MC isn't having any sex, because they need to improve themselves, physically, mentally, and emotionally, to be appealing to teen girls. Mostly the MC is has so much going on, enacting their changes, they don't have much time to appeal to teen girls.
In one current example (Second Down), the MC is aware of issues in the relationship he had at age 14, and because of the changes he is making to improve himself, the teen girl he had been fucking (before the story begins) soon breaks up with him! So, the "improved teen boy" is having Less sex than he did (none of the sex is graphically depicted).
In VoaT (Variation on a Theme) the MC is uncomfortable with his "raging hormones" yet his ("hind brain") perception of teen girls being "jailbait" in his fifty-year-old brain; despite being a biological peer to teen girls. While there is a fair amount of graphic (as in detailed) sex, it often emotionally significant, and central to the Plot. Much of the MC's success with teen girls is because he makes sex pleasurable for his partner(s).
Also, in VoaT, the earlier sex scenes are more detailed, to establish the benefits of experience the MC has adds to the pleasure of his partner(s). Subsequent sex scenes are often "off camera" or only significant parts are described. This is (IMHO) good because while it is Plot relevant to mention that the characters are having a satisfying sex life (with the frequency typical of at least some teens) it is difficult to write everyone of those scenes in a manner likely to be entertaining to most readers.
To be clear, not only do I read a lot of "Do Over" stories, I read a LOT of stories about Teen Girls having sex with other Teens, with young men in their 20's, and with Older Men. I haven't seen a "lot" of "Do-Over" stories with boys 13/14 having sex with girls age 13/14; I would have expected those stories to appear in my periodic searches for stories with teen sex.
For that matter, I search for "Do-Over" Stories, partly because I enjoy Sports stories. I believe there is far more detailed amounts of SPORTS, and even Studying, than there is of sex! There is usually more descripions of preparing a better financial future than there is depictions (or even mentions) of sex.
Oddly enough, the majority of 'locker room sex encounter' stories involves gay or lesbian sex, for obvious reasons. Though I do love me a good female soccer player staring on the all-guy football team. I'm not sure that qualifies as a particular kink, yet it is an entertaining twist. And it's generally more believable than sneaking a girl into the guy's locker room (team-skank a hard reputation to live down).
Oddly enough, the majority of 'locker room sex encounter' stories involves gay or lesbian sex, for obvious reasons.
I've seen stories where not-popular girl sneaks to a point where she can peep on the boys in the boy's locker room (high school setting) and gets caught.
Those are fun, as they don't quite cross the line between embarrassing and humiliating (i.e. defining the 'rest of your days' in school).
In life, if you don't occasionally embarrass yourself, then you aren't really living your life, instead you're mere coasting through it. Embarrassment is character building, humiliating rarely is seen the same way.
I may have the answer. I just read an article on the classic movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
"Director Cameron Crowe wrote a book of the same name about his experience going back to high school, at 22, as an undercover senior. His observations on the life of the American teenager at a southern California high school, Clairmont High, were turned into a book, and then, a surprise hit film that's still influencing not just Hollywood, but all of pop culture over 40 years after its release."
But it's the last line in the article that made me post on this thread:
"And it all came about because Cameron Crowe thought it would be fun to live out the teenage experience he never had."
Crowe was thinking high school, but maybe the authors writing those do-over stories were thinking back to their 13/14 years.
I'll second the 'start of high school' reasoning.
My characters actually mention it in my story, both at the time and in comments to others. At least in the United States, high school - particularly early freshman year (14, for most people) - is a particularly important inflection point in one's life.
Most US high schools combine students from three or more junior highs. That means 2/3, 3/4, or more of the student body will have never met any given student. There are also big life changes happening, and people who did know the person won't be surprised by big shifts in interests, in people forming new friendships, and so forth.
There's also a feeling of things being 'wide open.' High school is supposed to be about trying things and finding out what you're good at.
Any time in high school works, as does any time in college, but freshman year of either is the biggest opportunity in terms of getting a fresh start. College isn't a bad choice, but there's a fundamental difference between high school and college. High school offers a cohort of individuals who share quite a few classes. College tends to do that much less. Even in a large high school, it's more likely that one will know a fairly high percentage of their peers compared to most colleges.
There's a lot of 'Goldilocks' there. It's not too big, but not too small. People are known, but not too well known. And so on, and so forth.
Most US high schools combine students from three or more junior highs.
My NYC high school had most new students come from junior high schools, but some from religious schools. The difference was you entered HS from the religious school as a freshman, but as a sophomore from JHS.
The NYC public school system was elementary school (K-6), JHS (grades 7-9), and HS (grades 10-12). But the religious elementary schools were K-8 so they entered HS in the 9th grade.
So the ages for the 3 years of JHS were 12, 13, and 14. And HS, 15, 16, 17. Now if you didn't go to JHS, you entered HS at age 14.
I was 12 when I started high school. I don't recommend it.
(At the time, there was no "middle school". High school started with 8th grade.)
A combination of turning 6 a couple of months after the school year began, and the fact that I was reading at a 3rd or 4th grade level in kindergarten, meant that they didn't want me to wait another year.
"You would be bored", they said, if I was a year older and had to read about Dick and Jane going up a hill...
Well, I was bored anyway, a year more of less wouldn't have made "See Dick, See Jane" any more appealing.
But starting early meant I was (and remained) the little kid that everyone picked on.
I've always believed that the best preparation for high-school life would be 4 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. And since the Marines don't accept elementary-school kids, the alternative would be a do-over.