TEENS: Do these characters in my novel seem realistic?

I'm asking here because they are our age, and I need some of your opinions. :)

Cranbert Nelson



Cranbert Nelson is a 15 year old boy, freshman in high school. He likes to read comics, practice math, and teach his Bearded Dragon lizard, Aprilshakira, how to do tricks – in his free time. Cranbert made up his own language – called Ziglo – because he has always had a constant problem with 'thinking out loud' and constantly got punished for it. So, since he realized that he couldn't bite the bad habit, he should talk in an unknown language, which he had to make up so he could keep thinking out loud. He writes iCarly fan fictions in his spare time. He has a huge obsession with Abigail Breslin, he watched all of her movies at least three times and has a posters of her all over his room. He sometimes like to call himself Mr. Abigail Breslin.. when nobody is watching, of course. He is intelligent, awkward and clumsy. If he doesn't get at least an A- on a test his parents freak out, because his oldest brother Conner got bad grades his whole life, dropped out of community college and is now living with his stripper girlfriend in a trailer somewhere in Nevada. He is friends with all of his teachers and has political jokes with his history teacher Ms. Bringehimer about President Hoover. Cranbert isn't afraid to stick up to bullies. In 7th grade he had a public break down where he spilled milk over his head out of frustration because he was sick of everyone judging him.



Reese Nelson

Reese is extremely stupid and gets terrible grades in school. He is lazy and doesn't even bother trying because he finds no point. He once video taped 2 Japanese Fighting Fish in a tank together (he placed them there) to watch them kill each other, but the video got removed from YouTube and Reese was fined for animal abuse. He likes to play baseball (even though he's bad at it,) video games and drums. He is in a band called Crimson Cascade, which he plays the drums in and sings. He barely gets any attention at home because the focus is always on Cranbert. He is jealous of his brothers' intelligence and the attention he gets from his parents. He also has something out for him because he's the youngest. He is greedy and money hungry. He hopes one day to win the lottery or put a patten on an automatic bicycle and make millions of dollars. In the meantime he plans on getting a job at a fast food chain and work his way up to manager. He doesn't want to go to college because he saw his older brothers Conner go and drop out because of stress. He is the one to go to when you need a forged signature or a fake report card. He calls himself “The Candy Man” because if you want something illegal done (IE a forged signature) you have to pay him with candy, brand name only. He works out of the janitors closet – room 214 and is extremely sneaky. He would have people pay him money, but he thinks that's easier to trace. He has a tendency of hooking up with a lot of girls and then dumping them. His longest relationship has lasted two days, and that's only because they got to home base.



Megan Hershey

Megan hates chocolate and her last name. She is very health conscious and neat and organized. She has extreme OCD. To relax she listens to calming music and meditates. She is friendly, outgoing and sociable. Her family is wealthy and have high expectations for her, although she would like to branch out and not be the perfect angel her family expects her to be. She must take a shower every day or else she feels gross. She is very computer savvy. She loves animals and is very caring and a humanitarian. Her favorite subject in school is History. She is ambitious and knows where she wants to go in life, as she wants to become a dance teacher at a prestigious dance school. She is good at almost all subjects in school, except for art because she always gets messy in that class. She has been playing the saxophone for three years, and dancing ballet for five years. She is very chatty and generous. She is optimistic, confident and vengeful when it hits her. She cares about what people think of her and strives from popularity. She is responsible, honest yet sensitive. Megan is fun-loving but a bit bossy as well. However she is thoughtful and mischievous. She is a great liar but chooses not too. She is a very religious, dedicated Christian – even though sometimes she doesn't want to be. She has auburn hair, has a few freckles scattered along the bridge of her nose, pale skin and gray eyes. She thrives off attention and is very brave. She is very strong and isn't afraid to stick up for herself or ones she loves. However she cares immensely about her reputation and doesn't like to be seen with people who are unpopular. She learned the hard way from when she stuck up for Cranbert Nelson in the fifth grade and got made fun of for it. She is also very prim and proper. She is fortunate, innocent and gets jTEENS: Do these characters in my novel seem realistic?
Ugh, I'm sorry, but Megan disgusts me to no end. It's like you watched too many bad teen movies, created by people older than you who thought they knew how we worked. Why does every female character have to love animals? It's annoying. Everything about her just sings Mary-Sue. She's too perfect, and her flaws are the same as every other female character's flaws. Make her FUN !! She's is a boring, posh character who just needs to be entirely rewritten, my friend. If you continue with her this way, you won't sell any novels, you won't even be published, nor will you be giving teens even a half-decent example of good characters.



Might I suggest you play on some forum-based High-School rpgs ? It will help you get a feel for what teen characters should really be like, how they should be written. It will also greatly improve your writing skills. Try searching here : http://support.proboards.com/index.cgi?b…



Honestly, all of the characters are generic. Make the male's fun ! They don't need to be so boring too.



Kill the band part on Reese's behalf.



Might I add that, given your descriptions, you seem to favor the femme characters. Try being equal with genders, dearie. It's just not appealing to have such favoritism in a novel.



It really seems like you are trying to fit in everything you are and wanted to be into Megan. Your characters, once again, disgust me and should seriously be thought over. I could do better in my sleep. Put in some EFFORT into your characters. Spend DAYS on a single character. THINK like them, maybe even act like them. Try to see the world through their eyes.



And, just my opinion, knock off the Christian traits on the girl. The literary world does NOT need another female Christian character. Well, unless the novel is in fact a Christian novel...But either way, most teens go through a period of doubt in their faiths, and you want your characters to reflect actual-factual teens, am I right? She'll be a boring character if kept to the faith, so let her explore. Broaden your horizons on philosophies and religions and actually LEARN so you can make excellent characters with different, perhaps opposing, viewpoints.
Megan and Cranbert seem fine, Reese seems to be rather single sided stereotypical bad boy, he has to have some redeeming quality.TEENS: Do these characters in my novel seem realistic?
lovveeittt[;
I know I sound like a total a*shole, but the world *does not need* any more suckish YA fiction.



Cranbert Nelson - That name needs to die a slow, painful death. And NO ONE is that much of a stereotypical nerd.



Reese Nelson - Stereotypical rebel without a cause. Nothing I haven't seen before.



Megan Hershey - Stereotypical (third use of that word) annoying wishful-thinking Mary Sue type character. Rich, talented, and pretty, with a bunch of petty problems. Not someone I can relate to in any way whatsoever.TEENS: Do these characters in my novel seem realistic?
If that is for a novel - that is too much. You get to know your characters better when you write your story. This was too much of a clutter.



"He has a huge obsession with Abigail Breslin, he watched all of her movies at least three times and has a posters of her all over his room. He sometimes like to call himself Mr. Abigail Breslin.. when nobody is watching, of course. He is intelligent, awkward and clumsy." Seriously?



And the name Cranbert... Haha. Wow.



Megan Hershey = Mary Sue alert!





I can see that you're not good at accepting criticism.
I'm in love with your characters :)



Cranbert Nelson sounds interesting. Love to read about him.



Reese sounds hilarious and evil %26gt;:D



Megan Hershey reminds me of me! Haha :P
Hmmm. I think it would be more realistic if he was an 8th grader. 9th grade is just stretching it a bit. But its still workable.



I think Megan is very very realistic. Though I think her favorite class should be Math because its organized or Science because she loves animals. I think she would also be more realistic as a middle schooler...



I think Cranbert sounds like a unrealistic and made up name. It might be better if he had a name like that but went by a different name for short that sounds a little more normal. Like... Chipolaux, with Chip for short. Or maybe just a weird name but not as nerdy, like Jalaber, or Esryn. Just some ideas. I think he needs to do something normal to make him a little more believable, like maybe he plays guitar or some sport. But he doesn't have to. A lot of nerds play lego's, pokemon, and runescape in my school. I like how he sticks up to bullies, because it gives him character and makes him not so generic. I think he should call himself Mr. Breslin, not Abigail, thats not believable. I love the spilling milk on his head, I think thats hilarious. The icarly fan-fiction is completely unrealistic. Maybe just watching it would be more believable.



I think the name Reese is very fitting. It is realistic that he is jealous of his brothers attention. I love the Candy Man thing. I don't like that he's in a band, its a lot like The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, how his brother is in a band and is like a nerdy badass. I like how he is lazy. I don't like how he wants to work with fast-food. Making video games or owning a video game shop might seem more realistic for someone who is lazy but wants to be a millionaire. I think the Japanese fighting fish thing is HILARIOUS! haha!



It's pretty good. Good Luck!!
Cranbert- For one thing, you can't teach a bearded dragon to do tricks. I've owned 2. I don't know of any 15 year old boy who would even watch icarly let alone write fanfictions for the show...even if they are nerdy. The rest seems believable.



Reese- You say he's the youngest..so younger than Cranbert who is a freshman in highschool..yet he hooks up with a lot of girls? Hard to believe.



Megan- Believable.
EHHHH!!! Your asking me to ANSWER it now? But I read it...Okay FINE! :)



Cranbert--woah lotsa detail, I can tell you've thought this through

That one guy-- Not very memorable...but I know a few guys like him lol

Megan-- Very very saccharine :P So much so that it might piss me off lol,



Good story I can tell you've really put effort and thought into it :)