By Caylah Coffeen
Fantasy and science fiction have become more unique and diverse in the past 5 years alone. As a reader, I’m delighted to see a sudden surge of genre blending, plus stories set in non-western places, by authors from all over the world! I keep picking up these books, only to put them down in frustration when the main character doesn’t live up to the concept.
In the past couple years I’ve started and dropped Throne of Glass, The City of Brass, Spin the Dawn, Jade City, The Tiger at Midnight, Empire of Sand, and more despite absolutely loving the worldbuilding and premise of all of them.
I could not resonate with any of the main characters. After trying all of these in quick succession, it occurred to me that I could swap any of the female leads, and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. They faced problems the same way, talked smack the same way, and reacted to people and changes with a seemingly identical script.
To those who might protest that I’ve just outgrown these characters (that was my first thought too – it’s been a while since I was 17), I’d remind you that the largest demographic for YA readers is not actually teenagers, but women in their 30s-40s!
As another disclaimer, the most common reason I will drop a book is if the characters don’t catch me. I’ve done this plenty of times with adult books. But I’ve noticed a distinct pattern to why young adult characters in particular can fall flat.
Mashing together all personality traits to maximize “reader-insert” potential
These days, large publishing houses only buy books they can mass market. This means they look for stories and characters with the greatest appeal for the greatest number of people. Unfortunately, this results in characters who seem to embody all major personality traits melded together. After all, you want any reader to be able to insert themself.
Some people love personality tests, others hate them, and most agree that there is little scientific basis to any of them. Regardless of your stance, I’m going to reference the Myers Briggs test to illustrate this point.
The Myers Briggs test breaks personalities into 4 categories where people fall along a scale between two major traits. You’re probably familiar with the scale of introversion/extroversion. Most people fall closer to one than the other. Some people fall right in the middle and call themselves ambiverts, and that’s possible for the other categories in the personality test too. This is where we see great variety in people – after all, even if you share the same “type,” no two people are the same.
But I’ve never once met someone who would say that they fall in the middle for every single trait in this (or another personality) test. But that’s just what most YA characters seem to be – an average of everything.
Let’s break down each personality category for some concrete examples. (I won’t explain the test in much detail below, as that’s not the point of this article, but you can find more information about it here.)
Introversion/Extroversion –
Most YA characters I’ve encountered lately are a bit reserved, with one or two close friends, yet they also have little problem meeting new people, engaging in large groups, or persuading strangers and influential people to their opinion. These characters have a small inner circle, or very little in the way of a social support structure, but this often seems more like a choice, as if the rest of the world is just not as cool as them. But if they only put their mind to it, of course they could be the most popular girl in the room (Katniss).
One of the major problems with this is that the character gets to experience the best of both worlds, without the downsides of either. They don’t get nervous and make awkward mistakes in big groups, and they don’t talk way too much and put people off. This makes for boring character development – a rounded character needs weaknesses. But when you average out extremes of a personality, you avoid a lot of (interesting) problems that could make their story more unique.
Book Smarts/Street Smarts (Intuitive/Sensing) –
Can you pick up knife throwing in a week and best everyone else in your party? But can you also analyze a new political landscape and design a strategy that people 30 years your senior somehow never thought of? Well, most YA characters can do both!
They’re athletic, hands on, and pick up new skills quickly, making their odds of survival great. But they’re also of above-average intelligence and are great at coming up with clever plans on the fly, even in situations they’ve never encountered before.
It’d be more interesting if these characters had one set of skills in which they excelled, and struggled with other areas. Someone who spends their whole life physically training will probably have trouble focusing on a book about the local religion and vice versa.
But while characters often make jokes like, “oh, I’m terrible at math,” or “if our wagon wheel breaks, we’ll be stranded for 3 weeks,” these supposed weaknesses never actually affect the character and plot. They still cobble together practical fixes and have no trouble budgeting their finances while on a mad dash across the kingdom.
Feeling/Thinking (what you Primarily base your decisions on) –
Teenagers are hormonal and emotional, and so many YA characters understandably make their decisions based on their feelings in the moment. Yet, likely because authors don’t want their female characters accused of being “controlled by their emotions,” they feel the need to portray their characters as perfectly aware of all logical routes and just willfully choosing otherwise.
For instance, in a book I recently started, we’re introduced to the FL as she spins a magic spell in a public square. She hates this spell and wants to deviate from her mentor’s instructions. She feels very strongly about this, but looks into her mentor’s eyes, sees the warning, remembers her teacher could abandon and leave her in poverty, or that the king could have her executed for the deviation.
She thinks through all these reasons even as she’s apparently swept up by her own emotions. Then decides, “I’m going to do it anyway.” The spell shatters and she is punished – an entirely avoidable scenario.
More and more, I see scenes like this, where the character creates problems for themselves with stupid decisions. That’s definitely something humans do ALL THE TIME. But these choices are often strangely depicted, not as stupid, but as daring or assertive.
And again, these authors are trying to have the best of both worlds – “oh, yes my character feels very deeply and just gets carried away sometimes – don’t we all? Oh, but she didn’t really get carried away – you see, she thought through every possible problematic outcome first, and just decided to face them all! It’s not like she’s foolish or incapable of controlling herself.” Um… ok?
Go-with-the-flow/Structured (Perceiving/Judging) –
Again, many teenagers are impulsive as a result of their rapidly shifting hormones, so it’s not too much of a stretch that many YA characters would be perfectly happy to abandon their home on short notice for a new quest. But people still tend to prefer one or the other in their life and day-to-day schedules – flexibility or consistency.
Yet so many of these impulsive characters also fit perfectly fine into more structured scenarios. I need to go undercover at a royal court, which has a rigid set of rules? No problem! I’m not bouncing on the balls of my feet all day – I can keep my cool perfectly in any situation.
Some characters are the opposite – they’ve grown up with the same schedule every day (a farm, the military, a magic school), but when their whole world is upturned, they do just fine.
Sure, they may miss their old life, but they don’t feel lost, agitated, lose sleep or perform more poorly than usual because of this sudden shift which does not suit their needs. Or if they do, they very quickly overcome it, as though it was just a habit, and not one of their core traits as a person.
YA personalities embody everything and nothing
Whether you agree with this way of analyzing a personality or not, the point is, YA characters these days are designed to embody everything and nothing at the same time, so that they will resonate with the most readers.
This is not only unrealistic, but makes these characters exceptionally boring. Where are the unique quirks and flaws that make you laugh and want to talk about a character for years to come?
I have a couple friends who love YA, and it’s struck me that no matter how many YA books they recommend to me, they never say, “oh, I just loved this character because x.” They rarely mention the characters at all. Because most of these books are situational – they’re about what happens, not who is facing these trials.
But do readers actually want characters like this? Sarah J. Mass books are wildly popular after all – so clearly plenty of readers love these stories, but do they really love these characters?
Or do they get swept up in the quick pace and frenetic emotions that define the YA genre, and not realize that if the plot paused, they might not really care about the characters themselves?
Writing Tips: how to avoid this pitfall
Personality tests can be a fun way to analyze your character and make sure you write them with consistent reactions across your stories. It can also help you flag if you’re writing too many characters of the same type. That’s only natural as writers – we write what we’re familiar with and drawn to. But opposites attract and create all sorts of other sparks that make for great stories.
If you’re writing a female young adult character, you may be afraid to give her flaws, especially ones that women have often been accused of, and with good reason. Women are far too often portrayed negatively in fiction. But it’s just as bad when they’re underdeveloped, 2-dimensional, or cut-and-pasted.
If you play it too safe, making your character a little too perfect, too talented, or too generic, you’ll unintentionally be adding to the crowd of flat female characters. Be bold! Give your female characters personalities with more extreme quirks. Some readers may be turned off. Who cares? There should be a space in fiction for all sorts of main characters, not just the brash, aloof Homecoming Queens.
Writers hate on ourselves and compare ourselves way too much to others, so I say this with caution, but it’s worth asking if your character feels too similar to a slew of other heroes. I’m also a marketing professional, and it’s necessary to analyze the market.
If you see a lot of similar characters out there, it can mean they’re in high demand – readers do seek out the same archetypal characters again and again (the antihero, the guy next door, the angsty assassin). But it’s also a sign that your character may not feel original to your readers. Trends do come and go, and if a press has already published a lot of Sarah J. Mass lookalikes, they, and their readers, may be looking for something fresh.
Hi, I’m Caylah Coffeen, a freelance editor and marketer of sci-fi and fantasy books. I love reading and writing and am a follower of Jesus Christ.
I’ve worked for Monster Ivy Publishing and Eschler Editing, and am currently a weekly editor with Havok Publishing. Reach out to chat about books and publishing!
Thanks for stopping by my website! I hope you’ve found some helpful resources about reading, writing, and publishing. If you liked this article, here’s some more free content…
- Find some well-developed high fantasy young adult books here
- Send me an email to receive a free sample edit on the first 5 pages of your story
- Subscribe for future posts
