creativedragonbaby · 6 years ago
Currently I have disobedient, but I think I might need a different word.
alekazam · 6 years ago
Wayward is a good one. Unruly... Rebellious..
fell_equinox · 6 years ago
Delinquent
unicycle · 6 years ago
Naughty, devious, deviant, malcontent, trouble, mischievous.
On a side note, don't be afraid to use "bad!" Often writers (especially new ones) try to avoid words like "bad," "good," "said," "very," etc. in their writing, but that's how people actually talk! Using synonyms too much can really detract from the story and make the writing feel frigid and out of touch.
guest_ · 6 years ago
Trouble making, problematic, disruptive, offending.... also I want to second unicycle. You may not want every descriptor to be words like good/bad- you don't want to avoid them all together. Where it fits or suits the rhythm of your work- you don't want your reader needing to grab a thesaurus to read obscure synonyms or wonder why forest Gump just said "grandiose." If I may add though- synonyms are often worse. It doesn't matter how you say "bad" if we have a word that means bad 19 times in one page. The real trick is mixing up your writing enough to avoid that. For instance- if we know they are students or can infer already, why not call them "ruffians" "brigands" "punks" "delinquents" etc. we can infer they are bad without you telling us, and if we can infer they are students-bonus points. You've knocked off 2 unneeded adjectives. The idea behind not using "bad" isn't that it's an evil word- it's that we want to try and show not tell. Creative writing is emotion not ikea instructions
creativedragonbaby · 6 years ago
@unicycle It's just that having a "bad" student feels like it's saying they're C grade or D grade, and not cheaters or ones that skip class.
mrfahrenheit · 6 years ago
Rambunctious, Boisterous
deleted · 6 years ago
I personally like ne’er-do-well or miscreant
creativedragonbaby · 6 years ago
You know what? I like problematic. Fits in with the character.
night_owl · 6 years ago
Hooligans
creativedragonbaby · 6 years ago
Why do you guys all sound like old people?
deleted · 6 years ago
Because many synonyms aren’t used all that often anymore, so if we want to suggest something that hasn’t been said before, we have to use more obscure words that have gone out of fashion
kcowley · 6 years ago
Students of ill repute