Madelina’s story, though the most YA, doesn’t fit, as she has two male(non-human, and probably non-ethnic) friends who interact with her a bunch and the closet thing she has to a love interest is an obessive stalker of the same sex. Also she is too broad, tall, and stocky to be called petite.
I decided to attempt the questionaire (first link) for my YA characters…
Krista Gallant (14)
Female: Yep.
Not Like Other Girls: Krista is fluent in several languages, a millionaire, a Germanic Baroness (born in Israel), self-taught violinist, modest martial arts skills and surgical with a .22 pistol (raised among mercenaries), and over-educated (only attends school as a formality). P.S. ‘Normal’ people are an endangered species in Israel.
Strong Spirited: Krista bosses around veteran mercenaries who could crush her by accident, enjoys tormenting / teasing a former Australian Commando (Dov), and she will verbally flay anyone who rebukes the IDF. Krista also has little fear of death because she’s surrounded by it, and death might reunite Krista with her brother.
Unloving Parents: The extreme opposite.
Independent: Yep. Krista is an adult in miniature, and treated as such by her adult peers. Israel’s culture doesn’t leave much room for childhoods anyway…kids are forced to grow up fast…
No Man Required: Um, wrong.
Fear Me!: Well, men fear Krista’s scathing wit and unnerving sexualised humour more than her token strength. Dov’s probably had steak dinners that weight more than Krista.
Smarter Than Thou: More intelligent, perhaps. Wiser, no.
The Guys are Hot: Continuous Special Forces level PT, and combat, kept the male (mercenary) characters in shape. As for Dov, he’s naturally strong and robust, a great fit for the Commandos, and the female characters often complement his looks…Allowing a guy like Dov to leave was a greave mistake by the ADF…
He’s Icky: This is Krista’s default opinion of the boys at her school (they’re dumb, immature, and boring compared to her housemates). Krista acts like she doesn’t like Dov, but that’s a part of her outward / false persona.
Respect Muh Authority: Respect is earned, not given.
Token Minorities: Um, Krista’s housemates are international mercenaries, also Krista’s mother is Russian and her father is German. None of them bother to be Politically Correct, especially the native Israelis.
Teenage Angst: Krista grew out of that two years ago and moved onto adult problems (associated with living among career mercenaries in a nation under perpetual siege).
No Support: Krista doesn’t ask for help because she’s desperate to be seen as an adult. However, her parents brought Freyja and Dov into Krista’s life to help her heal from past traumas.
Bring Out Your Dead: There’s a reason why Krista’s terrified of hospitals. Not even hardened mercenaries can return from there. Most of Krista’s issues / abrasive personality are symptoms of her lingering grief over her brother’s death.
The Stranger at the Door: Not really, I doubt Dov counts.
The Agony of Choice: More like deciding between pursuing vengeance for her brother, or starting a new life with Dov and Freyja.
Being Useful: Dov nurtures and mentors Freyja, and guards Krista’s secrets (even from her parents).
Love Over Sense: Eh?
Riding into the Sunset: Krista is a fan of Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles). Ahem. Dov and Freyja decided to stay and officially become Krista’s bodyguards…unofficially they become Krista’s closest friends / inner circle…
(-23) Boom: This is Israel, although my story is not set during the Second Intifada.
(-26) It Was You!: Traitors don’t last long in Krista’s household. The desert is a big place, easy for someone to ‘vanish’ there.
Tis But a Scratch: Krista loses a large patch of skin from her shoulder if that counts.
404 Sanity Not Found: That’s Krista.
Deadly Sins Bingo: Lie, yep. Betray, never. Kill, only those who hurt her friends. Cheat, not in secret. Good person, on her off days.
Are We the [Good] Guys?: Yes but no.
Purge Evil: Krista wants to, in a Punisher / Ra’s al Ghul manner.
Follow Your Dreams: Krista’s parents are hoping she doesn’t.
You Are the Messiah!: We are stuffed if she is.
Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall: Well, Krista learnt to weaponize her model aesthetics for her war against the outside world.
Freyja Mendel (14, by appearance)
Female: Duh.
Not Like Other Girls: Let’s see. A prototype hybrid clone (accelerated growth) with synthetic and cybernetic enhancements, high emotional intelligence, vast multi-lingual vocabulary, can learn by observation / immersion, and possesses an almost flawless* muscular figure. Not many girls like Freyja around. *Freyja’s creator, Dr. Lander, claims the clone’s ‘abundant bosom’ is a side effect of her quick growth, but others know he’s too smart to make mistakes. Dr Lander is both a genius level medical scientist and a chutzpah infused salesman.
Strong Spirited: Hah, no. Freyja is painfully shy, timid, and nervous despite her comical strength (see below).
Unloving Parents: Freyja was made, not born.
Independent: Not yet.
No Man Required: “There is no Freyja without Dov” ~ Freyja.
Fear Me!: Freyja’s strength, robustness, and endurance are equal to Dov’s, and she doesn’t know how to control her strength. Krista claims washing Freyja is like bathing with a skittish Killer Whale. Oh, another part of Dov’s task is to teach Freyja how to fight (and shoot) like an Australian Commando (sniper). Once trained, even veteran mercenaries would fear Freyja’s anger.
Smarter Than Thou: Freyja is hyper-intelligent (cybernetic brain), but she has the wisdom of a newborn.
The Guys are Hot: See above.
He’s Icky: Freyja displays a close instinctive bond with and unquestioning loyalty to Dov. Freyja’s opinion of any guy her ‘age’ is similar to Krista’s perspective.
Respect Muh Authority: See above.
Token Minorities: Freyja is the only one of her kind. She is the minority. And Freyja copies Dov’s opinion on Political Correctness…Nuts to that…
Teenage Angst: Try starting your life as a teenager with no memories, no knowledge of the world, of how your body works, or of who you are. Freyja doesn’t have the luxury of ‘teenage’ issues.
No Support: Apart from Dov, and their new housemates, Freyja is quite alone.
Bring Out Your Dead: Everyone hopes nothing bad happens to Dov…One reason why he’s forbidden from joining the mercenaries…
The Stranger at the Door: The first guy Freyja meets is Dov.
The Agony of Choice: When in doubt, choose both.
Being Useful: Dov nurtures and mentors Freyja and, with Krista’s help, teachers her about the outside world and how to act as a ‘typical’ Israeli teenager…Although Freyja will become more like a typical Australian (i.e. Dov)…
Love Over Sense: Freyja becomes very close to both Krista and Dov.
Riding into the Sunset: See above.
(-23) Boom: See above.
(-26) It Was You!: Betraying Freyja is rewarded with her friends’ wrath. Betraying her friends is rewarded with Freyja’s wrath. There are less painful ways to depart this world.
Tis But a Scratch: Freyja has accelerated healing, so her wounds are rarely a concern.
404 Sanity Not Found: Freyja’s existence is quite stressful / anxiety inducing, but the presence of Dov or Krista is the best cure for that.
Deadly Sins Bingo: Lie, to protect her friends. Betray, never. Kill, only those who hurt her friends. Cheat, nope. Good person, her factory setting.
Are We the [Good] Guys?: We don’t do that here.
Purge Evil: Only on Dov’s request.
Follow Your Dreams: She’s happy to follow her friends.
You Are the Messiah!: Freyja would laugh at that kind of attention.
Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall: Freyja is a genetic hybrid with ‘Designer’ DNA. Even the adult females are jealous of Freyja’s looks, but they always commend her.
I went with my character, Erin, for this one, then regretted it when I saw that most the questions pertained to having a male love-interest and she’s a lesbian LMAO. The story is also lighter, very soft fantasy, whimsical. No “I MUST OBTAIN ULTIMATE POWER” or “SAVE THE WORLD”. Though, Erin is a prickly, angsty little shit (her last name is ‘Salt’ for a reason lol)–she gets over that pretty quickly when she’s surrounded by a bunch of dead folk.
i figured out the statistics for this for my characters for fun even though literally none of them are teenagers, and with my very crude and makes absolutely no sense scoring system in accordance to the qualifications, out of the twelve characters i did, the highest score was 25%ish, and in comparison the two tied second highest was only 14%ish, but what makes this hysterical to me is that the character that placed the highest is technically dead lmAO
Mini Moo is about Junior/,Senior in Highschool and maybe half that applies to the couple.
There were cows, feet were at risk. A teacher threatened to run away. But I directly played it as if the characters were the support couple in a typical drama, giving The B couple something far more sane than what is normally written about.
But I’m not interested in writing a Hunger Games knockoff.
I think it would be funny to parody that list with each chapter being named a point the writer makes.
But this isn’t my genre. If I have a character that fits this, it won’t be intentional.
Stuff like Lightlark and The Night and Her Moon carries on this most inglourious tradition of bastardized Katinisses. I’d take a full-on Albedo type of main character at this point, however creepy she may be.
honestly i think YA books usually have really neat premises, but since it’s YA… it’s usually gonna conform to those qualifications, and it just ruins a plot that could have been really good >:(
