# Teenage Character Types?



## MzSnowleopard (Mar 12, 2016)

I'm looking for a list of teenage character types / personalities. Most of what I've found details character types for adult characters... I'm looking for teenagers- 15 -17 yr old. I need to polish the kids in my YA series.

I have "the girl next door" and her best friend.

The boy's best friend is "the class clown:" although I admit that I could use more detail on this persona. 

And the bully, this one was easy. Being that this is a series, I need a lot more character types to fill the pages. So far, I know I've got 16 names among the group of _"friends". _What I don have are personalities for a number of them.

If you know of a list somewhere I'd appreciate it. 

Thanks MzSnow


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## Reichelina (Mar 12, 2016)

1.There's always the "nerd" girl. An asthmatic straight A student, only child, always braids her hair, wears long skirts. Either a member of the art club (theater mostly!) Vegan and always talks about climate change and stuff like that. 

2. The jock. Dated every single cheerleader. ALL freshmen girls have a crush on him. 
Dad is the Basketball coach. Has light blonde hair, blue eyes, 6'3 and works out every other day. Hates commitment but can be very insecure. He just uses his good looks to get what he wants but he knows he's not really happy.

3. The goth girl. This girl is a rebel. She hates people (or just likes to be alone.) she was abused by her stepfather which made her who she is now. Her mother is a drug addict and she has a little half brother she takes care of. 

4. The socialite/ social climber. This one is different from the popular girls. She is ambitious and she will do anything to get what she wants. Fortune, fame, in this case, HIGH grades. But she doesnt like to study. She dated a teacher before. 
She will take any oppurtunity to be a star. Did I mention she is hot? 

5. The "I-want-to-be-the-president-of-the-school-council" guy. 
If you've read Harry Potter, he's like Percy.  

Just my two cents in.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 12, 2016)

I have a # 4, sort of.

I also have a pair of Beta types, they follow the Bully everywhere- and alibi him in everything. They know the things he's done and don't turn him in because in their opinion- the person harmed had it coming.

I'm trying to steer away from the "breakfast club", "sweet valley high", or stereo-type characters. It's just not where I see my series going. Although 3 characters are literately "the Captain's daughters" they don't act as one would assume the military brat would behave.

# 1 is the adventurer- type A, an over achiever, her goal is to become an archaeologist. She'll sacrifice even time with family for her goal.

# 2 is the something to prove type, a cadet in the military academy their Dad went to- yeah, his legacy makes it difficult for her. She's my female protagonist. She enrolled in the academy after her best friend called her "a spoiled princess" and decided she was going to prove her friend wrong.

#3 is a #4 type from your list- sort of. A natural socialite, she's the girl who arranges school / social / charity events, who draws a crowd by the things she does. She also wants to have an identity / reputation apart from her sisters / family. And she resents being a triplet- probably because she doesn't look like the other two and that people always referred to them as "the girls" instead of by their names. And she hates her sister (#2) (the favored one - in her perspective), Her twisted thinking is that everything comes easy to her sister- which is far from the truth. 

They live in a neighborhood filled with families- with kids around their age 15-17. And there's a lot of them. Plus fellow cadets from #2's academy.

- side note- I've been asked "how does one have triplets with two identical and one not?" The answer is IVF- 2 eggs implanted, both take and then one splits.

To paraphrase what I said in the OP- I need to flesh out the other teens in this social group.


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## Reichelina (Mar 12, 2016)

I'm sorry I wasn't much of a help.  
I wish you all the best!


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## Sam (Mar 13, 2016)

A teenager can have any personality you want him or her to have. 

Two of my favourite characters to write, in my military thrillers, are a pair of 16-year-old non-identical twins. Their father is a captain in a military unit, and from a young age he has trained them to be self-sufficient and -reliant. They are, as a result, disciplined and strong-willed -- but they also are 16-year-old boys. They can revert back to being immature and silly, from time to time, but their upbringing and the fact that they're twins means that they have a strong brotherly bond. The older brother (so-called because he was born ten minutes before his twin) feels a strong responsibility for the younger one. This leads to him being protective, but never dismissive of his brother's abilities. It also leads to him being brash, belligerent, and fearless. 

The younger brother is more reserved, but also fiercely loyal to his older brother. He's the reasonable one, if at times he seems entirely unreasonable, and his personality (whip-like smarts, hyper-awareness, and level-headedness) complements his older brother's unique combination of belligerent fearlessness. Despite their military upbringing, they have a distinct lack of respect for boastful authority figures. They have little time for the principal of their school, a draconian old fart, and almost zero respect for law enforcement (following their treatment after being arrested as suspects in their mother's murder; she was killed by an enemy of their father). As a result, they are unique in terms of teenage boys: highly trained, hyper-aware, and have a bond similar to that of brothers in arms. 

They don't fit a stereotype (that said, stereotypes aren't always bad). They aren't jocks, they aren't goths, and they aren't rebels. They're something else entirely. The point, in all of this, is that you can have your teenager possess any personality you can think of. The only thing to make sure of is that you tell/show the reader why and how they are this way.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 13, 2016)

I agree Sam, to a point, there are certain personalities that a teenager wouldn't be. There are some that wouldn't happen simply because at that age they wouldn't have the experience. The Apprentice or Initiate yes, but not a type that takes years to build the skills for such as a Harbormaster, old soldier, a Seneschal, you get the idea...

J.S. Morin created a list of 50 types of minor characters- I've been looking at these to see how they could be adapted for teenagers. Some need no change such as the Bully but others wouldn't work simply because this age group just wouldn't have the experience.

In a Dystopian world, it may be possible- but this isn't what I'm writing.


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## Jack of all trades (Mar 13, 2016)

Think about when you were a teen or teens you know now.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 13, 2016)

I try not to think about those years of my life- it was the onset of my depression, plus bullied at school and at home. I think this is why I write the characters the way I do- trying to answer to question of "why didn't anyone help me?"

The teens I know now are few and far between, they're obnoxious, self-absorbed, and careless. If I had talked the way they do to adults, I'd have had my mouth washed out with Lava soap.


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## K.S. Crooks (Mar 18, 2016)

The friend who helps everyone, the selfish one, not smart or athletic but tries hard, brilliant and quiet, brilliant and obnoxious, stupid and doesn't know it, average at everything, excellent at everything- academics and athletics, gothic lover, punk rocker, dope head, whiny/complainer, suck up, popular one, bully - in person or cyber, family problems, adopted, overly anxious, cheater, criminal, sarcastic. Mix and match to get combinations that work for you.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 19, 2016)

Adopted ? I wouldn't consider this as a personality trait. It's true that kids can be cruel to those who were adopted, but then, that falls under bullying. I was adopted by my grandparents so I know this one personally.


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## Sleepwriter (Mar 20, 2016)

watch the movie The Breakfast club.

that pretty much sums it up.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 20, 2016)

That's what I'm trying to avoid. As good as that movie is- those personalities have become cliche if not over used.
I'm thinking my teens are more like the ones from the original Iron Eagle.


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## Sleepwriter (Mar 20, 2016)

I see what you're saying.  I guess it really comes down to what decade you want your teeners to be from.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 20, 2016)

My own story isn't set in the 80's but friendship and teamwork are timeless. So is being the class clown.

There are some classic personalities I'm using in my works like the class clown, the quiet leader, and the bully along with what I mentioned in a previous post. The trick for me is asking for help and ideas without giving away the story or primary mechanics of the story.

That said, I was inspired by the movie Iron Eagle and the group of teens. They were a group of Air Force kids who worked together for projects in air shows, they called themselves The Eagles. I put my own spin on this with a different name, more teens, non-military, and they volunteer either in school or the community. Kids like this can be found in any generation. They may look like they've got their acts together but, like every kid, they have their problems.

The nail I added is that the bully is also a member of the group. One of the plot twists is people in the community asking "how did this guy get to be a member?"

Basically, he's the rotten apple in this barrel. Without even realizing it I had fashioned him after the boy who bullied my sister and I in grade school. I busted out laughing the day I realized this. That was a good laugh.

Like I mentioned in a previous post- I've got some character types down but not all of them. There are 16 kids all together in this group.


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## Blue (Mar 22, 2016)

Writing teens, I'd say you can make the loveliest, kindest, sweetest person among her friends and then make her rude, ignorant and uncaring towards the adults because, she could think that they 'Won't understand'
Generally, they aren't all rude and obnoxious. They just act like that to impress friends or get their parents off their backs. Oh, and they are very sly, and many are quite mature. 

There is always that shy girl who is friends with the cool popular people, but can never get a word in edge ways. It'd be fun to have her go wild at parties or have some other uncharacteristic vice or trait that cropped up as a result of wanting to be 'cool'

Ah, the player. The player is always fun to write. You know those arrogant, but gorgeous _dickheads_ that every girl had a crush on? Yeah, those are always interesting when fleshed out. For example, he could have been ignored as a child and plays girls for attention?

LGBT teens are another option. Especially someone questioning, I feel like that would be an interesting and contrasting character to sort of show stigma and discrimination hidden in many people still.

Not sure where I'm going with this, but since I'm _technically_ still a teen (19, whatever) I have met pretty much all of them. Although, here in Europe, those labels like 'jocks' or 'geeks' aren't really used. But that doesn't mean they don't exist..


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## Bishop (Mar 22, 2016)

MzSnowleopard said:


> That's what I'm trying to avoid. As good as that movie is- those personalities have become cliche if not over used.
> I'm thinking my teens are more like the ones from the original Iron Eagle.



Two things to bear in mind:

1) The teens from Iron Eagle were incredibly smart, educated, military-minded, and written in the 80s. Also, it's a FILM, and you're writing a BOOK.

2) If there's any one group you should be putting into "lists" or "types", it's teenagers. Not only are teenagers, like any group of humans, incredibly diverse and unique, but they're also the group most resentful of being put into labels. It's ironic, then, that you're writing characters from these forms. Don't do that. Make them organic, complex, and unique. Don't fit them into roles like "girl next door" or "bully". Make them people, not caricatures of people. None of the people I went to high school with were anything like the crap they put on American TV and movies.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 24, 2016)

I beg to differ, in middle school I knew several kids who were bullies. The definition of the word / label fit them perfectly. 

I still don't see what the time period has to do with this. Are you guys saying that kids like this don't or can't exist at any other time besides the 80s?

And I don't see the point of limiting ones inspiration to books only, TV shows and movies can be equally inspiring.


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## Sleepwriter (Mar 24, 2016)

No,  I think the two movie references along with my question about what decade has clouded the issue.

I think what Bishop is saying is let the kids become who they are, dont pigeon hole them out of the gate.


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## MzSnowleopard (Mar 24, 2016)

Iron Eagle was just an inspiration for me, it's not like I've studied the movie for a screenplay.


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## K.S. Crooks (Mar 25, 2016)

MzSnowleopard said:


> Adopted ? I wouldn't consider this as a personality trait. It's true that kids can be cruel to those who were adopted, but then, that falls under bullying. I was adopted by my grandparents so I know this one personally.



When I mentioned "adopted" I was thinking in terms of a person finding out while in their teens and how this might change their perceptions or behaviours, for good or bad. The same can be said for teen with parents getting a divorce or a parent dying, which I lumped together in "family problems".


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