How much is too much of yourself?

[Anareth]

Since I had a while to just ponder last week (a computer implosion--forget the 'net, I couldn't even boot it up) I realized--I give my characters a LOT of my likes and dislikes. Others have backgrounds formed because I had a particular interest at the time I created them (it helps some are vampires and as such can be as old or young as I need them to be) or have had backgrounds rewritten to reflect something I thought was kind of neat. Latest one is thinking of giving skating as a hobby to a character (who admittedly desperately needs a hobby or SOMETHING besides her job and her relationship with the co-protagonist.) Now, until I publish some of them (only one character has any background that's in print and therefore to me more or less set in stone) I can get away with this--but where do you stop? How much of your own likes and dislikes is too much? Or insterests? When do you stop? Do you have characters who like or do things you can't stand? I have a hard time, for example, writing characters who like to do things like, say, watch professional team sports, a passtime I consider pointless. So I usually don't. They have some likes I don't (Elaine obsesses, mildly, over Navy football, Alan was a competitive swimmer and not to mention is a Democrat, Jozef is a detail-freak and speaks several languages I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole) but overall, most of them have hobbies or interests that are directly mine (Elaine's Asian art collection, Nadia sings and dances, Juliet is the one who may get skating as a hobby). So how far do you go to avoid that? Or how close do you stick? None of them read the same books I do and I'm trying to avoid that (in Jozef and Juliet's case that's easy--the books don't exist, but in the others it would be easy.) But where do you draw the line? When you're writing, how much of yourself do you put in to taste and interests?

[Ryuu]

Several authors have always stated "you should write what you know"--so in a way, what else would be more natural than writing yourself into a story?

:erm: although the vampire is a little creepy :disguise: *from now on, Ryuu keeps an eye on Anareth & is ready to flame* we don't really need vampiric Pernese natives, do we?? :eek:

OTOH, if you mix & match hobbies/interests & such with features that "are not you" then you're just creating characters as an author is supposed to. The only issue then becomes: how do they interact? That becomes the story (along with the situation you created for your world :good: )

Here's an idea to consider, Anareth: can you think of a situation where you've got two (or more) characters just like you in the story--but they don't necessarily get along? (sort of what I did with "Longest Flight" :fiend: )

[Anareth]

:erm: although the vampire is a little creepy :disguise: *from now on, Ryuu keeps an eye on Anareth & is ready to flame* we don't really need vampiric Pernese natives, do we?? :eek:



Lol, none of these are Pern. I only write Pern stuff for my fan Weyr, and that would be just a bit too weird!

[Madrigal]

I won't give characters serious hobbies I seriously dislike. Why? Because then I'm stuck researching them. If the character's going to be around for a very long time--if s/he's going to think about this a lot--then I'm not getting stuck with it. (No football players, though a major one-shot character, Sergei doesn't mind watching the games.)

Hobbies and jobs I'm indifferent to and don't understand that well, not if the character revolves around it; otherwise yes. Same reason. If I don't understand it, I'm going to slip up describing it. Let's see... Sandra and Sara are instrumental musicians, which probably falls here--they're minor, recurring characters.

Hobbies/jobs I'm indifferent to and understand, absolutely, but unless there's something more interesting about the character or unless it's relevant to the plot, I'm going to get bored. Most characters fall here. Eleanor's an ecologist (interesting because she's borderline nuts), Bismark's a historian (interesting because he doesn't quite get that she's nuts, thereby winding up in all sorts of scrapes), Sergei's a medical examiner (because the plot needs a medical examiner, and I decided it would be a better idea not to just make up an otherwise-useless character.)

Hobbies/jobs I love... not so much anymore, but once. Kira's a writer (though I've since grown to dislike writers as main characters), Kell's an explorer, etc. There, it's mostly a cookie to keep me writing when I feel like I'm slowing down.

Other traits? I'll pick and choose. If I need one specific trait that I understand very, very well (Eleanor being rather indifferent to people in general, Arria being a power-hungry snot, Skarr being overly ethical/moral/proud), I'll borrow it from myself or someone I know fairly well and can observe. Otherwise, I'll make it up out of whole cloth and then shake it and other traits that fit into a character around until it's reasonably coherent.

Write a character just like me, Mary Sue with my flaws, into a story? I've only deliberately tried it once or twice (Eleanor and Ceryn). Both times the character took on a life of her own and ran away. Another character, Verenna, just kind of crept in awhile ago and then started to resemble me... but she does nasty things to the fourth wall (I threw in something in case I ever get bored with the usual sort of story that I haven't used yet), and I'm not good enough to write that well. I stay away.

[TamTam]

I don't see anything wrong with adding your own traits into your characters, as long as it's consistent with the character. She skates because her parents pushed her to be an olympian? That's good. He's Bubba from Tennessee, who likes monster trucks, professional wrestling, and figure skating? You might want to re-think that one.

[Tabra]

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, as long as the interests are reasonably diverse. Oddly, I discovered that none of my characters eat anything I don't like. Oh I knew all my fadnom chars don't like fish, but in my novels, not one had anything interesting to eat (apart from some of being really spicy and some drink coffee, but that's not overly unique). My taste in food is painfully conservative.

[AnnMarie]

I'm with Ryuu and those authors: You write what you know. Which is why I tend NOT to write in other people's worlds too much. For a fantasy, I'll create my own!

Sometimes, my characters have traits/hobbies/abilities I WISH I had. I do notice that my main female characters tend to be redheads, or black haired. A few blonds. Only one ever plain brown hair. The guys... I think I only ever wrote one blonde!

It's just easier for me to figure out how they'll react in a situation, what talents they'll use, if they are part of me.

[GoldriderAria]

Ooooh. Good question!

Most of my characters have elements of me. But I try and take only a select few elements per character. The one thing that seems consistent (after looking through many interviews with published authors/letters written by them/chatting with just friends who write as well :) ), is that if you can't connect on some level with your character, than that character won't be written well because you have to be able to get into their head. I certainly agree with that. And I also think there's absolutely nothing wrong with having a character that reminds you of yourself, as long as the other people who might read the story don't get bored, or it's not too obvious. :)

That said, I don't think it's necessary to be fully in tune with a character either to write them well. I used to have *the* hardest time writing characters that weren't pre-existing (hence piles of fan-fiction) because by reading/watching them I would get the insight needed into how they thought and acted in certain situations. It was much harder generating a character from scratch and making them work. Especially, for me, villains, or characters that had experiences I didn't, like fighter-types, or medics, or even magic-users. It all comes down to understanding their motivations and history for me. At least as the starting point. Even if I hate the character, if I at least can *understand* him and his motivation, I have better luck writing him (or her).

And... I'm going to yank myself into digression because I think I'm about to ramble off topic again. (these questions are a hazard in my profession. I'll give you a 10 page essay in less than an hour if you're not careful!)

The short answer: I see absolutely no problem with having characters who have your character traits. Even if your readers find out, you can keep them guessing as to which things are your likes or your characters'. ;)

~Aria
(I write, read, and grade essays for a living! forgive me!)

[Mitch]

Yeah ... write what you know.

One of my characters is ... heavily into swords, because I love them.

But what my characters, in roleplays and in my non-roleplay writing, have in common with me isn't necessarily habits or hobbies or even physical appearance.

It's the attitude.

The VAST majority of the characters I write are world-weary and cynical. They've been around the block too many times.

I have an extremely hard time writing "young", that is, naive, innocent, lighthearted. I was never that myself, and can't quite get into the head of someone who is, though I do have a few characters like that that I manage to work with relatively well.

[Ian]

I doubt it's really possible to write a story of any decent length and not have at least one character with a lot of you in him/her, simply because you're doing the writing. It's not so much writing what you know as writing what you are! Writing what you know is good though, because it cuts down on the research you have to do ;)

Most of my characters tend to be female, but even so there tends to be varying degrees of me in a lot of them; likes & dislikes, turns of phrase, etc. You can almost guarantee that one will share my birthday. The main male character is most likely to be very me, but since I have few male characters there'll only be one "me" in any given story ;)