Young Writers Society

Character 1

- believes xself to be completely free
- never commits or stays
- travels from school to school, wandering
- brooding, antisocial, isolated, independent
- always carries at least one weapon with x
- careless regarding rules and authority
- several scars on body
- most relatives are dead, including parents; those living are emotionally detached and do not care for x
- always genuine, never “fake”
- almost always silent
- strong dislike of people
- trust issues
- very direct, does not ask, more commands and demands
- gets good grades on homework/tests, but carelessness and refusal to speak leaves bad impressions on teachers

Relationship with Character 2
- initially finds eccentricity to be irritating and peculiar
- finds that there is a deeper side to character 2, and thus becomes interested
- often finds character 2’s witty one-liners to be amusing
- admires character 2
- bond over deaths in family
- learns much from character, and the same vice-versa
- character 2 is among the first x learns to trust

Relationship with Character 3
- see below

Character 2

- alignment is chaotic neutral
- secretly fears being alone but isolates self
- unafraid of experimenting (both sexually and intellectually)
- deceptive
- relatives live states away
- accepts little responsibility
- trust issues (due to father committing suicide, does not take blame/feel guilt), thus unable to commit to relationships, “mood-swingy” when it comes to human interaction (often isolating xself to extreme levels and then being loud and energetic and approachable)
- often looks crazed
- always carries a lighter with x
- famous for one incident in which x burned items in public
- highly self-aware but unable to fix any of her “flaws" and instead flaunts them as a trait of x’s “humanness”
- has dated here and there, but only for short periods of time
- often does not mean what she says, threatens and insults and uses vulgar language but nothing is meant to be hurtful
- highly eccentric

Relationship with Character 1
- romantically interested in character, but unable to act on feelings
- admires lack of “fake” traits
- pities character in some form or aspect
- disapproves of general dickyness around most people and how judgmental character can be
- at times, unsure of whether or not x’s feelings for character are due to actual romantic emotions or that x enjoys learning about character but only as an “experiment”

Relationship with Character 3
- before meeting character, was uncertain of the character’s personality due to the rumors heard
- first spoke to character, saying the most outrageous things to test character
- genuinely enjoys character’s company
- finds character to be a genuinely beautiful person despite flaws, but nonetheless, very explicit when it comes to picking on them
- finds character’s advice to be highly useful
- disapproves of character’s obsession with objects
- “I hate so much that I love x”, x being in reference to Character 3, is a statement most likely to be used by character 2 to describe feelings towards character 3
- the two are fair opposites in terms of personality

Character 3

- hoards many things (ie. clothing labels, books, etc.) to look good
- secretly fears losing x’s self identity but throws xself into groups with other people, more interested in their issues and lives
- highly materialistic
- lacks ability to commit in x’s relationships but considers xself to be “open to love”
- as for friendships, unable to sustain one for more than a week (a week being a record)
- fairly popular among the student body
- “perfect family”
- trusts easily and expects the same in return
- considered a player because of large amount of previous relationships
- does not enjoy going out of his comfortable zone
- always dresses formally and nicely
- extremely neat and micromanages everything

Relationship with Character 1
- initially intimidated by character
- friendship was rocky for the first few days, as both shared a mutual dislike for one another
- after getting extremely hungover and being forced to spend an entire day together (as Character 2 has a high intolerance for laziness/drowsiness), bond is strengthened
- despite being able to remain friends, the two still have difficulties communicating at times

Relationship with Character 2
- ashamed of the fact that x is technically using character to get a rush or a shot of adrenaline, with life being so bland, and x not being able to keep a proper relationship going for more than a while
- able to survive a day without character, but nonetheless prefers not to
- knows character as much as one could know a person but still faces issues finding a way notto use character as though the character were an object
- still generally likes character 2’s company


Sorry about the fact that it's a lot to read.

What I'm concerned about is the level of "cliche" surrounding the characters and the plot.
The general plot is that these characters will explore the aspect of human relationships, whilst dealing with their internal issues. Possible subplot would be Character 2 dragging the other two characters into a bunch of chaotic pranks against the school (which pretty much refers to vandalism).

Overall, I don't think you've passed the cliche test with your character traits. One must remember, though, that the most important thing is that it isn't written in a cliche manner. Make old ideas new.

One trait that I see as problematic is this one:

- always genuine, never “fake”

Everyone must be fake at some point, or their true feelings about everyone and everything would be exposed and they would get nowhere. If I am trying to get a professor to give me extra credit, but he repulses me, I can't show that I dislike him because he has something I want. This particular example might not work with your character, but let me tell you that everyone is "fake" in some ways, and it should not be seen as a negative trait, as it's what makes the world go around.

Thank you for the response.

In regards to that specific character trait, I did intend for the character to live primarily in isolation. Thus, interaction with others would be fairly limited.
However, as Character 1 gets "dragged along" by Character 2, I think character development would be appropriate and I can see how to work on that trait.

Not to bother you further, but is there anything else like the example you gave that could be tweaked?

Okie dokie! *cracks knuckles*

So, I agree that you haven't seemed to pass the cliche test, but I also agree that it'll depend (a lot) on the way you execute your story and write your characters. I'm mostly concerned with character one. For a few reasons:

- they always carry a weapon. Okay, so this can be fine, because a lot of people do. Just make sure that it's culturally/time appropriate. Like, if it's a modern day story and this person carries around a broadsword or something? Please just no. If it's modern-day and they carry around a handgun (preferably one with no special qualities), then you're good.

- excessive amount of scars on body. This is one that people like to toss in, and it's totally fine if the scars have a reasonable backstory.

- dead family; estranged extended family. This is my least favourite. I mean, yeah, sometimes it happens, but if you're adding it just for the sake of a depressing backstory, please please please just don't. I've seen so much forced dead-family angst in my lifetime, and it bothers me. A lot. Like, eyerolls and "oh my gosh why" bothersome. Most readers won't buy it, either.

On the other hand, if your character's family died in a reasonable way (if you say they died in a house fire and that your MC was the only survivor, I'm going to sit here and frown at you until you change it), and the family's death is essential to the plot (and not just the broodingness of the character), go for it!

- the never "fake" thing. Yeah no, everyone has to be fake. If your character's blunt and brutally honest, that's totally cool. But they're going to have different personas, even if it's subconscious and they don't realize it.

Thank you!

- Well, by weapon, I meant pocketknife, so I'm pretty sure that's reasonable?

- What I meant by this was that the character used to cut and also got into a considerable amount of fights at a younger age.

- Thanks. I'll work on it.

- Pocket knife it totally acceptable. I was just momentarily worried that you were going for something outlandish like... a battle-axe or something. You never know!

- Then it's reasonable. Don't romanticize the self-harm issue and you're golden.

Everything is a trope. Differentiating yourself is mainly a matter of execution.

Character 1 is extremely cliché. Character 2 and 3 seem fine though. Using x's is annoying. Especially since you told us 2 is She and 3 is He but you still use x's.

Hm, the relationship between the charcters are pretty cliche and stereotypical. Maybe I've just read too many YA books or just books in general, but in regardining to the cliche test. I would say you are still in the cliche Zone. However, you have to consider this. A character no matter how cliche they may be really depends on how you go about showing this. If you look deep into Ya books or books in general. There is always this cliche theme or character in there.

So, asking a character is cliche or not is perhaps not the best way to go about this. A better question would be, is the way I'm writing this particular character and its involvement in the novel cliche.

-S.s

Kay. I'm going to ask you one question, and one question only, because the pesky thing about traits is it's pretty much impossible to tell if a character is going to end up being cliche based on traits.

Why are your characters like that?

Once you answer the question "why", your traits start fitting together. You wave in backstory, and a world, and a social class, and all these other things that are not isolated from the character and in fact shape who they are. Characters don't exist in a vacuum, and you have to stick them in a setting to figure out who they are completely.

These characters grew up with people, they have access to a certain amount of money, they visit/have lived in certain places, have certain hobbies, believe certain things, and had certain experiences. These all shaped them into who they are today, and they all impact how they view the world around them.

It's why I refuse to judge traits lists like this, because they lack the key ingredient to all characters: motivation. Until you answer the "why", all characters are potentially terrible or fantastic. The why and their total lives are what make them into people.