Referring to parent characters

[LVUER]

Yeah, forget to add that. Don't forget that how a person call/refer to their parents could change from time to time. When there's somebody else in room, when there are strangers around, when in different moods, and so on.

I call my parents with Dad and Mom, but when talking about them in front of non-relative, I always refer them as Father and Mother.

[clannadman]

Right now my character is quite distant and refers to his mother as Mother, Mom and Shino (her first name). He refers to his father as Dad and Pops.

[LadyAvori]

Maybe it just seems unrealistic because they refer to their parents in a way different from you?? Of course I'm only going off the information I have from this thread so disregard if I'm way off! But when/if you have the proofreaders go over the story point it out to them and see what they think about it. It may sound perfectly fine to someone else.

To me, the terms "Mother and Father" just seem to stiff to be realistic. I never use them when referencing my own. Just using those words would throw me off a bit. I would definitely need other opinions to reinforce that it does sound alright. At the same time though, I've seen anime and read books where the characters refer to their parents as such and it sounds completely right coming from them.

In my story I have one character who refers to his brother as "brother" at some points. Which I never call my own brother "brother". So I have to have my friends go over it to make sure it sounds natural coming from that character.

[LVUER]

It's strange just because you're not used to it... and not like how you usually do. It never strange when Liquid calls Solid "Brother" (or like other video game characters).

[LadyAvori]

Yea, when other people/characters say it, it sounds natural. That's why if something I write sounds weird to me I have either my boyfriend or my friends look at it. I think its the voice I can't get right in my head that messes with me. But the only way to get better is to keep writing so I tread on!

[Meatpie]

I've always referred to my parents as the following:

Parent A or Parent B
Female Parent, Male Parent
Female Lady Woman who takes care of me, Male man person who takes care of me

They didn't like it for some reason. I plan to throw that into my VNs if I can.

I think depending on your characters age, personality (serious, non-serious demeanour) and up bringing should play a part in what they say.
For example, you don't expect a Upperclass scholar student aged 17-18 to call his Father "Daddy" unless he was some sort of nancy boy, or he was playfully doing so because he isn't a serious character by default.

It's always good to keep some sort of consistency with the way your characters speak/act/think and the way they refer to their parents.

[yummy]

On a side note: "Papa" and "Mama" are common to almost all european originated languages. It is suspected to be something left from the Indo-European family language.

I think it depends on how you want your characters to look like. How they talk, how they act in daily life. I won't really say it depends on an individual's age, because I've seen grown people call their parents in the same affectionate way they used to as kids.

I think it depends about the social status and the state in the Maslow pyramid, but also about how close one is from one's parents.