Creating Relatable Teen Characters: Writing With Honesty and Heart

Ask any reader what draws them into a young adult novel, and chances are they’ll point to the characters. Not just what they do, but who they are. How they feel. How they speak. How they mess up. When it comes to creating relatable teen characters, it isn’t about ticking boxes it’s about writing people.

Teens are some of the most dynamic, emotionally complex protagonists you can write. They’re navigating identity, power, friendship, grief, joy, uncertainty, and everything in between sometimes all in one day. What makes them relatable isn’t just that they’re young. It’s that they’re becoming. They’re changing, questioning, trying, failing, and learning. And that process when written with care and insight is what keeps readers turning pages.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to write teen characters that feel emotionally authentic. Not stereotypes. Not caricatures. But full of people with voices that echo long after the book is closed. And if you want an example of this done right, Brandon Gardner’s fiction is a masterclass in crafting characters who feel not just believable but unforgettable.

The Truth About Teen Characters

Too often, writers fall into the trap of writing “teenage” like it’s a costume. They focus on slang, trends, or attitude, trying to capture a surface-level version of youth that ends up feeling hollow. But teens are not a monolith. And readers especially teen readers can tell when a character has been flattened into a trope.

What makes a teen character relatable isn’t their age. It’s how honest they are. It’s how deeply they feel. It’s how clearly they see the world and how painfully they don’t. They’re people at the edge of everything just old enough to see how complicated life is, not yet old enough to know what to do with it.

When Brandon Gardner writes about teen protagonists, he never talks down to them. He writes them as equals. As whole people. His stories capture the emotional intensity of adolescence without melodrama, and the confusion of growing up without simplifying it. That’s the secret: don’t write “teens.” Write to people who happen to be teens.

Give Them Depth Before You Give Them Drama

Every story needs conflict, but readers won’t care what’s happening unless they care who it’s happening to. That’s why the first step in creating relatable teen characters is depth. Before the plot kicks in, we need to understand who this character is when no one’s watching.

What do they want? What are they afraid to admit? What parts of themselves are they trying to hide? What pressures are they carrying that no one else sees?

When these inner truths shape a character’s choices, they feel real. They stop being plot devices and become people. And when the story begins to unravel when the ghost shows up, or the betrayal hits, or the secret comes out we’re right there with them.

Brandon Gardner does this seamlessly in his horror fiction. Even when his characters are caught in supernatural chaos, they feel grounded in emotional truth. You believe their reactions. You ache with them. That’s what makes the suspense land it’s built on empathy.

Voice Is Everything But Voice Isn’t Just Slang

One of the biggest challenges in writing teen characters is voice. You want them to sound authentic without sounding forced. But voice isn’t about copying how teens talk on TikTok. It’s about rhythm. Honesty. Emotion. A character’s voice comes from how they see the world, not just the words they use.

Some teen characters are sharp and sarcastic because it’s how they protect themselves. Others are quiet, thoughtful, and hesitant to speak but their silence says just as much. The way a teen processes the world should shape how they speak. Not the other way around.

Gardner’s teen protagonists feel distinct because their voices are rooted in emotion. You understand their hurt, their curiosity, and their fears, even when they can’t name them. And because of that, you believe them. You listen. You trust where they’re taking you.

That’s the kind of voice that connects with readers of any age.

Let Them Make Mistakes and Let Them Grow

Relatable teen characters are not perfect. They don’t have to be noble, likeable, or wise beyond their years. What they do have to be is human. And humans mess up.

They lie. They say the wrong thing. They push people away. They get scared and act out. But what makes them powerful is not that they’re perfect it’s that they learn. Or at least try to.

Let your characters be impulsive. Let them wrestle with choices. Let them hurt others, then try to make it right. That is that painful, uneven path to growth is where real connection happens.

In Brandon Gardner’s fiction, characters often begin at a point of confusion or denial. But as the horror unfolds, they’re forced to confront not just the external threat but their behavior, and their own blind spots. That inner shift is what makes his endings resonate. It’s not just about who survives. It’s about who changes.

Don’t Ignore the Emotional Weight of Being a Teen

Teenhood is intense. Everything feels bigger because, for many, it’s happening for the first time. First heartbreak. First betrayal. First time facing real fear, real loss. These are not small things. And if you want your characters to feel relatable, you can’t treat their feelings as overreactions.

You have to take them seriously even when the character can’t. You have to let the emotions hit hard, linger, and complicate everything. The goal isn’t to write about a mature teen it’s to write about a teen whose feelings are valid and deeply felt, even when messy.

Gardner’s supernatural stories tap into this emotional intensity. He doesn’t shy away from it. He uses the horror elements to reflect what his characters are already feeling. The ghost becomes a metaphor. The haunting is an echo of what they haven’t dealt with. That’s what makes the story stay with readers it’s not just scary. It’s true.

Characters Who See Themselves and Let the Reader Feel Seen

The most powerful YA characters are the ones who make readers feel less alone. When a teen picks up a book and sees themselves as the protagonist flawed, scared, brave, questioning, and real something important happens. They feel recognized. They feel understood.

That’s the gift of good fiction. It doesn’t just entertain. It connects. And when your characters are built with care with attention to their inner world, their voice, and their growth they become more than fictional. They become mirrors.

Brandon Gardner’s readers often talk about how they feel about his characters. Even in the darkest stories, there’s always a sense that someone understands what it’s like to be on the edge of things. To feel haunted, even when there are no ghosts. That emotional resonance is what makes characters unforgettable.

Conclusion

So if you’re wondering how to start creating relatable teen characters, begin here: write people. Not archetypes. Not ideas. Not “teenagers” with a capital T. Write someone with fear, fire, confusion, or love. Someone who laughs when they’re hurt. Who lies to protect themselves. Who wants to be seen, but doesn’t know how to ask.

Make them messy. Make them real. And then let them grow.

Because in the end, readers don’t connect with characters who say the right things. They connect with the ones who feel like they could be sitting next to them in class, riding home on the bus, staring at the ceiling wondering who they are.

That’s what Brandon Gardner does in every book. And that’s the bar to reach: characters who stay with the reader not because they are perfect, but because they are honest.