Today, for their Road Trip Wednesday question for bloggers, YA Highway asked: What yearbook “most” category (also known as superlatives) would your character win?
Urgh, this was a fun question but a difficult one because I’ve never had a secondary/high school yearbook. (And to top it all off, I forgot to click ‘publish’ and get this post out on an actual Wednesday.)
From Rebel Against Heaven…
- Hot-headed protagonist Tyler would get “best dressed“, if he’d stuck around in school long enough to get in the Yearbook. He was the guy he always wore a suit to class, and (after a regretful 2nd year rebellion spent avoiding showers and attempting Captain Jack Sparrow dreadlocks, which he tries to forget) he would always use shampoo and conditioner to keep his hair not gross. Plus as he got older he started having more house parties, which would have boosted his popularity a fair bit in his senior school years.
From my current work in progress, a story about giant military robots and the girls who fix them…
- Protag Anna would get “most likely to shock everyone at the reunion”, because despite being the quiet, geeky girl she threw everyone for a loop by cutting off most of her hair and applying for the army mech corp. And then she kicked arse at all the fitness and technical tests. So while she’s preparing to leave school, everyone’s a bit wary and in awe of her — she could go to Uni, but instead she’s skipping out early for a career that could kill her. She carries her “most likely to shock everyone” title with her from then on, as a goal.
- And her best friend Nat got “most computer savvy” aka the biggest geek award, for multiple achievements including having a wheelchair that could do more than most people’s home PCs. If she didn’t get the title, the Yearbook files would probably be mysteriously edited to give her it anyway…
Your current WiP sounds awesome! I am ready to purchase it in hardback form ;)
*hugs* That really makes me smile. :)
ok, both of your books sound amazing. :)
You’re lovely!
I wonder if Anna would even show at the reunion. Is she the kind of person to flaunt her dramatic change, or does she see the cut hair and army life as something she just had to do–not something to show off to her old school mates? Would she consider her former long-haired geeky self to be a former identity, part of her history that she doesn’t want to revisit? It’s good how questions like this make us think about our characters. :)
Colin, yet again you leave the best comments. :) You definitely made me think. I reckon Anna would second-guess going to the reunion, but not out of an urge to hide her own identity… more to avoid attachments.
From what I know of her so far, she thinks a lot about her own low survival chances. In some ways this makes her bolder and more reckless, but in other ways it makes her hold back from the people she’s afraid to hurt.
Go Anna! I’d love to know more about her. What’s drive her to this career – is something she has always wanted and just never let people know? She sounds like she has a lot of courage. I like to see that in a character. :)
Thanks, Robin! She always wanted a challenge, and there was definitely a point in her life when she realised Uni wouldn’t give her that challenge… but the army might. And a chance to geek out over giant robots never hurt anything. :)