How To WRITE Awesomely

How to CREATE YA CHARACTERS part 1

How to CREATE YA CHARACTERS part 1

Ask any teen or tween about the book their reading and they'll most likely start off with the phrase, "It's about this kid who..." For young readers, the main character is everything.

The teen lead in your Young Adult fiction must be interesting enough to capture other kids' attention. Then he must be sympathetic enough to make readers start caring about him, then conflicted enough for readers to worry about him and then cheer him on. Above all, your teen lead must be the one to change his life and make everything better. Teen readers want a hero. Take the Percy Jackson series for example. In book one, The Lightning Thief, it was mainly Percy, (and partly his two friends), who defeated Medusa, and found the lighting bolt to give back to Zeus.

He was the hero of the story.

In this chapter, you discover how to create sympathetic, BELIEVEABLE, YA characters by mastering teen traits, channeling their views on the world, blending their flaws with budding heroic qualities, and putting them in charge of their own fates. In your story, Mommy won't be coming to the rescue.

Casting Characters Teens Care About

Your goal with your main character is to move the plot forward and in the process transform that character into something better or wiser, thereby giving life to the story's theme. The reader too, should be better off after reading this tale. To do this, they must have to share three things that make them unbelievably a hero.

#1: Determination of the hero

This need or want, (also determination), or even a motive, is the characters goal. In teen novels, it must be something teens can relate to. Another example is Blue Exorcist. Rin is the son of Satan, and he just wants to blend in and be normal. To do so, he decides to become an Exorcist and his goal, or motive, is to be the one to kill Satan.

This goal motivates Rin to accomplish his goal, no matter what obstacles stand in his way. The problem is he wants to be accepted for who he is.

All your characters must have a goal and issue that makes them relatable to teens everywhere. If you were a prima ballerina because your mother made you, you could relate with wanting to quit dancing and becoming a teacher.

#2: A key flaw

The protagonists flaw is that undesirable trait that he keeps tripping over as he tries to attain his goal. Another way to look at his flaw is his vulnerability. Maybe he is afraid of heights, or is shy. He could be overly arrogant, or even clumsy.

Make sure that the character can achieve his goal (or not, depending on your plot). The flaw should make him weaker, but his inner strength should be able to over power it, and allow them to achieve success.

#3: A core strength

This is the personality trait that will overcomes the key flaw. The core strength must be evidenced in the character in one form or another, for the climax to feel satisfying. Maybe your readers/characters dint know about the power, or it was budding throughout the storyline.

Pretend your characters core strength was exreme compassion. The hero may rescue a baby animal and nurse it back to health, or may stop his bike so he doesn't run over a bug. Small moments like these set the stage for core strength to blossom at the end of the story.

Perhaps your hero wants to be popular, but his flaw is glory-hogging on the ball court, (therefore earning him respect, but also furthur alienation). His strength could be a moving compassion for underdogs like himself. In this scenario, his compassion for someone else needs to finally overcome his need to set a point record when he passes the ball to another teammate. Both characters would become school hero's and your main character has made a key transformation.

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That was part 1 of How to CREATE YA CHARACTERS

I hope this helped you begin to think more about your characters, and what their fatal flaw and core strength may be. (Info from Writing Young Adult Fiction for DUMMIES).

I'll see you in part 2!

~ Absolutely_Positive♥