Would teens go for an optimistic, joyful lead?

With my first completed novel now being sold, and after some initial work done on the sequel so if this novel sells the sequel won't take long to produce, I have a pre-Nano project that is very different, including a very . . . strange heroine by YA standards.

She's happy, optimistic, gentle, and, most damningly, is a morning person. XD

Part of this stems because she has an ability to heal most illnesses and injuries, even crippling or terminal ones. She saves people's lives and loves doing it, she takes joy in a wheelchair-bound boy regaining the use of his legs early in the novel, for example. But it does come at a cost, doing so weakens her and makes her more suspectible to diseases and injuries herself, and she cannot heal herself, so if she gets hurt, she stays hurt until she recovers naturally. But she takes it all in stride, and regularly dotes on her little sister and as her parents are often absent she basically raises the girl by herself.

She would be victimized at high school big time, though, if she didn't have friends who basically have full-time jobs keeping her from ugly fates on a daily basis (this is played for laughs at first, and then becomes all too serious halfway through). Not surprisingly, she is naive and very trusting.

Probably not surprisingly too, she is completely broken mentally halfway through and suffers from severe depression for the rest of the novel. Basically (but not 100% accurately), it switches from a sunshine-y 35,000 word journal to a 35,000-word suicide note.

Can a YA audience follow and identify with such a character, especially from a first person perspective, or is it impossible?

Well, I'm trying to use her saintly behavior as a flaw. She has no idea what to do when she gets in trouble. She trusts people far too much, and she gets burned as a result. I'm still debating how optimistic to make her initially and how depressed she becomes later.

The other conflict, that I'm iffy on writing down (and didn't write down initially) because it spoils quite a bit, is that she was adopted from a Russian orphanage (and, incidentally, has a Russian first name). The reason why she has her powers is because of illegal experimentation upon her, memories of which she has repressed. So as she remembers more, the more depressed and fearful she becomes. This is magnified when the Russian Spetnaz start coming after her, and the family and friends that she's relied on for so long are helpless to protect her.

Another thing to note is that I don't outline. I always wind up ignoring the outline, which means fixing the outline, and then I ignore the new outline, and so I have to write another outline. It's a vicious cycle. That's why I write in loose storyboards, they are far more flexible, and a lot quicker to modify when I have new ideas. So what I'm revealing here may or may not be in the first draft, much less the final product.

Paul said:

for an MC

Optimistic yes

Naive no

Capable yes

Helpless no

teens want inspirational characters who resolve issues in their lives, (whether they're pess. opti, angry, sad, ect) - you know, fantasy.

Click to expand...

What's wrong with a character being naive at first? Just curious. I know teens don't want to read about a helpless heroine (and my MC isn't helpless, no human science experiments are when they grow up in fiction), but I don't understand the "naive" part, especially as it's a starting point for character development (the MC gradually will lose the naivete part of her personality).

@Roly: Thank you for your opinion. I'm tired of the joyless heroine as well (though I wound up writing a heroine pretty close to that XD).

One thing I will say: after reading everyone's input, I think I will change the format of the novel from the journal-like entries that I was planning to more of a memoir, where an older version of the MC looks back on her story, and her more naive, joyful side. I think that will make the innocent, optimistic version of the MC more tolerable if it is told through the lenses of an older teenager who's realized the reality of her situation and the world.

And, just FTR, the MC can destroy a person just like healing them. That's how she can defend herself. She can make brain tumors as well as heal them, she can make a heart stop just like she can make one restart, and she can make you allergic to peanut butter even if you're not. She can kill or injure using her abilities.

EDIT: Wow, virtue, that is great insight there. That pretty much solidifies that I'm going to have to go to the memoir approach. I was thinking of making this a more experimental work, but considering that I'm trying to sell myself I think that in order for the naivete to seem less idiotic, it has to be seen through older, wiser eyes.