How to Write Young Adult Fantasy: Part 3 — Memorable Characters

“Swear to God, Perce, if I remembered, I’d tell you.” I take another swallow of sherry straight out of the decanter and set it down on the sideboard, nearly missing. It lands a little harder than I meant. “It’s a burden, you know.”

“What is?”

“Being this good-looking. Not a soul can keep their hands off me.”

He laughs, closemouthed. “Poor Monty, such a cross.”

“Cross? What cross?”

“Everyone falls in immediate, passionate love with you.”

“They can hardly be blamed. I’d fall in love with me, if I met me.” And then I flash him a smile that is equal parts rapscallion and boyish dimples so deep you could pour tea into them.

Henry “Monty” Montague from Mackenzie Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue embodies everything I adore in a character: he’s highly flawed, funny, and flirtatious, yet earnest in his love for his best friend Percy. Characters are the backbone of every good story, and it’s especially important to make sure your protagonist is someone worth following.