Writing

I can’t listen to Dr Husband describe heart splints or neurosurgery for very long before I get dizzy and fight the urge to dry heave. I’m a wimp like that. But one part of his medical education fascinates me — psychiatry. Since this happens to be Dr F’s least favorite medical subject, I’ve claimed his textbooks for my own and taken to reading through and highlighting things on Sunday afternoons. You know, for fun. Totes normal.

Anyway.

Recently I was reading Erik Erikson, a man who bravely overcame his unfortunate double-naming (really, Erikson parents? Really?) to become a highly respected psychiatrist who spent his entire life studying the mental and emotional development of children in the 20th century.

Erikson outlines the stages of development throughout a person’s life, but of course I’m most interested in his discussion of the adolescent, defined as between 13 and 21 years old. Erikson wrote that at this stage people are completely preoccupied with the question of identity. That sounds spot-on to me, and I can honestly say that every YA book I’ve read ould be boiled down to the protagonist’s search for identity. In YA there may be dystopian oligarchies or sparkling vampires, but ultimately all of those things serve to help, or challenge, the main character (MC) through their search for identity.

Erikson outlined a few concepts of identity that made me think about how I could use them to increase tension in my MS, deepen the emotional complexity of my characters, and better show how my characters evolve throughout the book. In other words, these concepts can help make my (and your) MS better.

Identity in Relationships

Concept: Erikson stresses that young people form identities through relationships.

Falling in love [is] a process by which the adolescent may clarify a sense of identity by projecting a diffused self-image onto the partner and seeing it gradually assume a more distinctive shape.

Example: In The Hunger Games, Katniss projects innocence and good onto Peeta, idealizing him as a representation of everything she doesn’t think she deserves. Meanwhile, Gale represents who she could be if she chose to be the Mockingjay. But Katniss has to decide whether she’s comfortable with that identity. As Carrie Ryan pointed out, the love triangle is effective in The Hunger Games because it isn’t about Katniss choosing a boy — it’s about Katniss determining who she is. At the core of everything, Katniss is desperately seeking an identity.

Application to your MS/MC: That struck me as a great way to think about the main relationship(s) the YA protagonist is in, or seeks. What idea of self is the protagonist projecting on their love interest(s)? What could they become by being in a relationship with that person? What identity is the other person projecting on the protagonist? What do they hope to become through the relationship?

Identity Through Social Perception

Concept: Erikson wrote that young adults are “primarily concerned with what they appear to be in the eyes of others, as compared to what they feel they are.” Young adults are hugely motivated by how others will perceive their actions, and in pursuit of being perceived as something (popular, or smart, or brave) they’ll do fairly extreme things.

Example: In Mean Girls, Cady likes Aaron. Regina decides she wants Aaron back after she knows Cady is interested. Regina only wants Aaron back so she can assert her authority in their group, and her superiority over Cady. Regina’s primary driver is how others perceive her.

Application to your MS/MC: Is your MC aware of how others perceive him/her? How does this self-awareness factor into MC’s feelings for the love interest? Do they want to be with someone because it will make them seem more attractive, popular, or desirable in others’ eyes? How genuine are their feelings? Do they realize how much they value this social perception? Do they go out of their way to do things that will make others uncomfortable?

Separate Identities in Relationships

Concept: Erikson says that, once a young adult gains a more sharply focused sense of identity, they develop ‘fidelity’. Erikson’s definition:

Fidelity is the ability to sustain loyalties freely pledged in spite of the inevitable contradictions of value systems. It is the cornerstone of identity and receives inspiration from confirming ideologies and affirming companionships.

So, according to Erikson, falling in love is a way for young adults to form identities. But an identity becomes fully-formed when the young adults in that relationship can accept each other even when they disagree or begin to hold differing ideologies or beliefs. (At least that’s how I interpreted that.)

Example: Ron and Hermione. When Hermione builds herself into an ideological fury over the poor treatment of House Elves in The Goblet of Fire, Ron thinks it’s, well, rubbish. For the reader, this difference in ideologies is telling about the individual characters, and the fact that they remain friends (even after Ron refuses to wear SPEW badges) says much about the maturity of their friendship and, eventually, relationship.

Application to your MS/MC: For young adult writers, this isn’t anything new, but it does serve as a different way to approach the relationships we write, and infuse them with more tension. Within friendships and relationships, when does the MC disagree with the other person? Do they believe in the same fundamental things? Where are their personal ideologies different? How do they discover their disagreements? Is their relationship strong enough to survive this divergence?

If nothing else, I hope some of these questions spark a different way of thinking of the characters you’re writing. What about you? Can you think of other examples of these concepts? Other important forms of identity that come up in YA?

Tagged as: I spent longer than I care to admit finding that Ron and Hermione picture, Identity, Mean Girls, Nerdery, Psychoanalysis, The Hunger Games, Themes, Things I would've loved to major in, Writing

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