I had a character who was my protagonist's love interest named Rayna. She was small and sensitive, but more powerful than anything else in that world. She was, however, tormented by an evil god that latched onto her soul as she was being born and had been feeding off of her for her entire life. It spoke to her, made her kill, and even made her slaughter the entire city of Chicago in the name of power. This is the first and only character that I will say I've ever "fallen in love" with. I knew I was going to have her die at the end of the novel, but, when it came time to write that scene, I found it was extremely difficult. Practically impossible, in fact. That's also the first and only time I've ever cried while writing. I don't give a damn if y'all think I'm unmanly for it, I shed honest tears for that imaginary girl!
Nothing in particular, I just liked the name. While some authors get hung up on finding the perfect name for a character, I usually just do a quick Google search, find a name I like, and that's that.
I write mostly about ordinary life. I sometimes base female characters on either real women, or fictitious women that I could fallen in love with, if they had been real. I am just now writing about a thirteen year old boy that is in love with a girl that is also thirteen. And I am sure I would have been in love with her when I was her age. I stay very clear from writing anything about women in the ages around myself and my wife! If I could have been in love with with one of my characters, so could my readers (I believe that to some extent we write for ourselves).
I wouldn't say love, but I do rather like one of my current WIP's MCs, Jade (I know, shocking, I personally like the character I've posted about the most). I've spent enough time getting inside her head that I am very attached to her.
@Zerotonin That's fascinating. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that. Although I have seen it played out on The Twilight Zone and The Last of the Belles. So then, do you write yourself into the story to interact with the character?
I love all my MCs. They’re not... like... people, though. If they were people, I’d probably fancy them (the same you might fancy a particular actor or celebrity). I have no desire to actually be with them romantically, no. We would not make good partners. Edit: (I would have sex with Dane. )
Of course! It happens, I imagine, when you create a character that's similar to you in all the ways that you admire about yourself, but different in that they've struggled, and succeeded, and overcome, in all the places you've failed. ...you know, and have unwavering devotion to you or whatever.
You can easily create a character you would actually love in real life. I think a lot of writers do this. I know I did.
This is a little of track from the initial thread. If, and it happens, I would be in love with my character, then I would also show my love and that love would not be fiction. It would be me, and I don't think I dare that. I was unclear and it is not important. But the few times I have written with a male MC, in my age and location in life, I would have felt uncomfortable with any romantic interest in real or fictitious women (and so would my wife). Of course, maybe I should try writing about her? I don't know if I ever will comfortable with putting so much of myself into something that is so emotional as love.
Nah, though the MC was very similar to myself, as this was a bit earlier in my writing "career" and I didn't feel to comfortable stepping out of the "The MC is me!" bubble.
I've written several characters that, if they were real, I definitely would have been attracted to emotionally. Some of my characters are based on people I had crushes on, or maybe had a small romance with in the distant past. When I am writing about them, I most certainly feel all the thoughts and emotions I had for them. It helps me write their scenes more accurately to be able to experience those emotions again.
I have become emotionally connected with many of my major characters, and I typically have a cast of thousands... well usually more than ten. Even the bad guys are not totally bad, I have an element of sympathy for them. Marcia, my FMC, is very much like a daughter to me, as is Hina, her mentor. And the MMCs I have strong bonds with, especially Antonius and Ibrahim. Oddly, Gaius, who was loosely modeled on me, I never really connected with. I had to spice him up on the revisions, to give him more conflicts, because, basically, he was me. I did feel some sympathy for him in the first draft, as he lost his family at Pompeii ... he survived because he was visiting his uncle in Rome when it blew, at age ten. He became kind of a rebellious youth until enrolled with Commodus, a military tutor who brooked no rebellion, which straightened him out. Many other spoiled aristocratic pups left, and Commodus gladly refunded their parents the fee. Gaius went on to become a tribune in the Army at 17, with a gift of an old Gallic helmet from Commodus, who saw a future in him. Commodus later died in Domitian's blood purge in the 80s, something that affected Gaius deeply.
Personally, I would say that I do love a lot of, maybe even most of, my characters, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt romantic love for any of them. Or, if I have, the feeling wasn’t strong enough to notice. Though, I have more than a few characters who I definitely wouldn’t mind being in a relationship with, and when I was younger, I once (partially) based a character on someone I had a crush on, so those might be a weird-gray-area sort of thing. I will admit that I have had romantic feelings for fictional characters before, but never my own characters. If I had to guess why, it may be because I see too much of myself in them.
Not really. I love my characters, but I could never develop romantic feelings for them. This is probably because there's a small grain of me, or what I would like to be, in each of them and that's narcissistic. Now, other people's characters? Yes.
Yeah, I think that's the essence of how I feel about this issue. Being 'in love' with one of your characters can really focus attention on the way the feeling is generated and manifests itself—producing a few surprising conclusions, if you're honest, and your feelings are truly deep. It moves the whole issue of 'love' beyond clichés, and allows you to see that character as they really are. Warts and all. Because loving somebody means accepting warts as part of the person you love. Without the warts, they would be a different person. So you don't ignore the warts, as you would do if you were writing a generically 'perfect' person for a Disney script. Instead, your character is a person who isn't perfect, but would be perfect for you. Your good points may well balance their 'awkward' ones. And that's a different mindset. What would this character see in you, if you were a character too? If they loved you, what would make them do that? Fun to explore. Again, you can get some surprises, if you dig deep enough.
Lestat, Armand, and Marius. Lestat is still a character I'm obsessed with and I have no shame in it, lol.
Never fallen for a character but I've felt strongly for characters due to their personalities or fates. And to be honest I've never really understand how you fall in love with a fictional person. Relate to or empathize with, yes, but not love.
No, though do I get emotional sometimes and care deeply for my characters. I see them more as my children. Plus I have a cast of hundreds of characters across many books
No, no, that's a bad idea. If you write a character close to her age that's too different from her, she'll assume that she's not good enough and you want the woman you wrote about. Probably based on a real person you know. Who is she? If you make it too similar, then you'll just get "Is that really how you see me?' You can't win. So staying away from it as you've done is the wisest path.
All my characters are assholes, idiots or losers. Never had that problem, to be honest. Had this conversation with @LostThePlot today where I read something based on me and had to ask if he really thought I was this annoying pun-spewing machine when I talk. He said no - but I think he might be lying... *shuts up forever*
Most of my characters are more or less loosely based on people I've known, so I've been in love with their prototypes, as it were, but never the characters themselves.
