I've actually never done this before, but I figured, why not? Time to meet the characters of Traces of Myself!

Firstly, we have Dan.

Full name: Daniel "Dan" Jacob Evans

Gender: Dan identifies as a cisgender male throughout this book.

Age: Dan is sixteen years old and in his sophomore year of high school at the start of this book.

Family: Dan lives with his mother, Meredith Clarissa Evans (maiden name Jones) and older brother Nicholas "Nick" James Evans. His father has long since been out of the picture. He has one set of grandparents, on his mom's side, that he sees once a year. He isn't very close to them. He also has a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins that he sees on occasion and hates with a passion because of their blatant bigotry and closed-mindedness. 

Pets: Dan has a black cat named Cinder. Cinder can often be found sleeping in Dan's desk chair or curled up underneath the comforter on his bed.

Religion: Dan considers himself an atheist throughout this book.

Political opinions: Dan identifies strongly with the left wing, but doesn't belong to any particular political party.

Appearance: Dan has straight black hair that flops over his forehead in a side part. He has multiple piercings in his ears, though most of the time he chooses to wear inconspicuous earrings that most people wouldn't notice. He also has forest-green eyes that are stated to be "dull" in the first chapter and "grey" in following chapters. This perspective is due to change throughout the course of the book, however.

Dress: Dan wears a lot of muted colours, including gray, black, and dark reds, greens, and blues. He has a thick, black leather jacket that he almost always wears in the colder months and he wears Converse almost religiously. His outfit of choice every day is usually a sweatshirt or basic long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants. He doesn't care much for shirts and/or pants with sayings or phrases on them, unless they're of his favourite bands, which are usually 90's rock bands.

Personality: Dan is quiet but he isn't really shy, he just doesn't care to talk. He is, blatantly put, a sarcastic little fuck. He loves correcting people's grammar and making intelligent jokes at their expense. He keeps to himself and thought he liked to be alone, before he met Jaden. He is extremely loyal to the ones he cares about and if you hurt someone he loves, he'll fucking end you. He's closed off and emotionally distant most of the time, but that wall can be broken through with time and perseverance. He is smart but doesn't try enough to make that evident.

Likes/dislikes: Dan loves poetry and writing, specifically haikus and prose. He loves to read just as much as he loves to write, and his favourite books are usually contemporary young adult fiction. He also enjoys romance, horror, and the occasional sci-fi. On the other hand, he hates math. He enjoys cooking and baking, although he's much better at baking than cooking, and playing with his pet cat, Cinder. He also enjoys playing the piano and spending time online for hours on end. And, of course, music is his saviour. He loves playing video games, as well. Lately, most of the things that he likes to do, with the exception of writing, reading, and listening to music, haven't interested him as much as they used to. Dan's favourite food is Chinese and his least favourite is Thai. He doesn't have any artistic talent and tends to have a slight hatred towards art because of it. He usually doesn't like to be outdoors, but he loves watching sunrises and the full moon. 

Cast: I can't find a celebrity for the life of me that looks how I envision Dan looking. I tried to find someone, but I just couldn't. If you have any suggestions on a celebrity who you think might fit Dan, please leave me a comment or private message me to let me know! I'll credit you for the idea if I end up using that person.

Picture: I thought you might like a picture of what I imagine the characters look like, to kind of help you visualize them in your own mind.

This is what I think Dan's hairstyle looks like, except more straight and less tousled. According to Google, this picture is of an actor named Gideon Stein in We Heart It. 

Lastly, we have Jaden.

Full name: Jaden Michael Knight

Gender: Jaden identifies as a cisgender male throughout this book.

Age: Jaden is sixteen years old and going to a new school for his sophomore year in high school at the start of this book.

Family: Jaden lives with his stay-at-home mom, Nancy Arabella Knight (maiden name Havens) and workaholic dad, John David Knight. He is an only child. His mom is the poster child for anxiety and always checks on him when she's not running around the house doing one thing or another and his dad can't be bothered to look up from his newspaper or TV show after he gets home from work. Jaden has two sets of grandparents, one from each side of his family, but he is not particularly close with either of them. His other extended family is small and he rarely sees them.

Pets: Jaden has no pets, as he was notoriously unreliable about looking after the few that he had in his younger years.

Religion: Jaden considers himself Agnostic throughout this book.

Political opinions: Jaden identifies as a Democrat and is extremely left wing.

Appearance: Jaden has dark brown hair, described as being the colour of rich chocolate, that is extremely curly. It's classified subconsciously by Dan in the first chapter as "Hobbit hair". He also has extremely blue eyes. His ears are pierced but, unlike Dan, he doesn't wear any earrings.

Dress: Jaden wears a range of different colours, none of them overly bright. He loves maroon and dark green and is usually seen wearing sweaters in these colours. His shoes of choice are Vans or Converse and in addition to maroon and dark green, he wears a lot of red, gray, muted peach or coral, and dark blue. His usual outfit would include a long-sleeved shirt of some colour, usually with a YouTuber or book reference on it, and plain pants of a muted colour. During the colder months, he wears a thermal My Chemical Romance jacket. 

Personality: Jaden is quiet, shy, and socially awkward. He's a self-proclaimed nerd and a gamer geek. He likes to be alone but hates being lonely. He is extremely smart, a mere step away from being in the gifted program and taking AP and honours classes. He avoids confrontation but will speak up if the situation warrants it. He's loyal to his friends and family, always, and he isn't afraid to get into fights to defend their honour. He occasionally needs a confidence boost and some persuasion in order to try new things.

Likes/dislikes: Jaden loves math. It's his favourite subject. He also, contrary to the popular belief that you can only like one or the other, loves English. He loves to read but doesn't particularly enjoy writing. He loves listening to music and playing video games. He also likes to draw occasionally, mostly landscapes or portraits. Like Dan, he spends most of his time online. Jaden's favourite food is Italian and his least favourite is seafood. He doesn't like bugs but loves almost every other animal, especially cats and dogs. He enjoys being outdoors and occasionally likes to lay outside on his trampoline and look at the stars.

Cast: I have decided that Dan Howell is the perfect choice to represent Jaden. At least, natural-haired Dan Howell. Their hairstyles are really similar and since Dan is a video game geek, as well, I think it's a good fit. Not to mention, Dan coined the term "Hobbit hair", so I thought it was appropriate.

Picture:

This is a much younger Dan Howell, but the hairstyle he has there is literally exactly what I envision Jaden's is. 

By the way, I love this human being -- Dan Howell is the epitome of realness and wonderfulness.

So, there you have it! An official Meet the Characters, the first one I've ever done in a book! I hope I covered everything! There will be more characters than just Dan and Jaden, but I decided to only cover them here because they are the main characters. Later in the book, once more characters have made their appearances, if you want me to add them to this, I will. For now, this is it. I hope you enjoyed this and if there's anything else you'd like to know about Dan and Jaden, don't hesitate to leave a comment below or send me a private message and I'll answer to the best of my ability!

I hope you're as excited about this new book as I am!

All my love, 

Em