Comic strips as inspiration

If you ever have trouble following a teen's train of thought, or what he worries about, or what occurs to her that might not occur to the rest of us….try…comic strips? 

My plot is slowly but steadily moving along (I thought it would be at warp speed while I was home all of August but no), and tomorrow I'm back to work at my paid job. Perhaps because I get often get stuck, I always have my radar out/eavesdropping ears perked for something that gets me moving again. Saturday it was a rabbi's sermon (talking about lobsters, how growth is painful and uncomfortable but necessary (like lobsters outgrowing their shells)--and of course he referred to teens as going through this with greater frequency. Then, because my daughter is newly into the Peanuts strip after performing in the Charlie Brown musical at camp, I picked up a vintage one at a book sale. Next to it I found this lesser-known one, "Young Pillars," a strip Charles Schulz did in the late 50s about Christian teens. So if you're stuck thinking of what a teen would say, try what Schulz did--boil it down into one statement and how the speakers onlookers react--or use a statement as a jumping off for a conversation or situation.