Okay, this is not mocking you! I just began to write this sort of stories, and felt the need for a Battle Royale as well.

And, putting in your own characters is great (I have done it too), just please, avoid these...

1. The predictable way

FOCUS! OMG!

Johnny Smith had curly red hair and deep blue eyes, was 6 feet and 2 inches tall, no, maybe a little less, was slim and sporty, loved basketball, though his favourite sport was baseball, he loved Madonna's music and had a crush on Emma Cole of the same class who happens to have long, straight blonde hair and sooo pretty emerald green eyes while she loves classical music, plays the piano and…

…all this while no one else gets a tiny piece of description, apart from maybe the name or the fact that they were sitting next to John or Emma…

WTF WE'RE IN THE PROGRAM, DAMMIT!

"Oh, I don't want to kill, John!"

"Oh, Emma (how the hell did he find her?!), me neither!"

OMG! A CLIFFY! Who will survive? I could never guess…

2. The stereotype way

Good guy, Emo guy, and Pretty Love Interest Girl manage to team up! Can Emo Guy be trusted? Oh oooh. Emo Guy be trusted? Of course, for he shows his soft side and helps them all along, without constantly trying to slit his own wrists or cry and angst (showing he was an emo just to follow the current trends, but you're not supposed to care about that), and… OMG! A CLIFFY! Will they escape?

Borders predictable way.

3. The photocopy way

Steven Nanlin grew up in an orphanage with his best friend Yonah Kipling, who had a crush on Nora Nandor. In the Program, after Yonah is killed, the two team up with Shane Kaway, who is incidentally a survivor of a previous program…

Fantasy…?

4. The first person way

Oh dear, when I saw how evil teacher Taylor shot Brian, it was as if my heart was ripped out of my chest…

Fine, but if the narrator dies, who will continue the story?

4.2. The switching point of view way

You pick a class of at least 50 people and want to avoid being predictable, so you let everyone participate generously…

…too bad the reader will lose the thread after 10 people.

5. The enormous number way

30? Too few? 42? Ah, that was the original. Let's take a class (?!) of 60 people (a bit overcrowded, dontcha think?), with 30 boys and 30 girls, who get chosen for the Program. You don't focus too much (you couldn't even choose your main character), but after finishing the first day, you noticed you've forgotten to tell us or even to think about what 15 people you forgot you invented as well were doing.

… if you forget, you can't expect us the readers to remember.