1. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    Have you ever fallen in love with one of your own characters?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Partridge, May 31, 2017.

    Hello everybody.

    I'm curious here...

    Has anyone ever "fallen in love" with a character of their own creation? There's a major character in the novel I'm working who's called Hannah, and I've recently started to fancy the socks off of her.

    She's the love interest of my main character.

    She has developed a personality all on her own, going from the kind, easy going, funny girl I wanted her to be, into an impulsive, slightly insane femme fatale.
    But she fits in even better with my main charterer and the plot now I've let her run away with herself and be her own person, so I'm letting her do her own thing.

    But I really fancy this girl who lives inside my head. Maybe my subconscious has formed my ideal partner and she's manifested herself in paper form? ;)

    Has anyone else had something similar happen in their work?
     
  2. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    Whoops, that title should read "of" not "if"! I blame my keyboard.
     
  3. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I think my technical answer is no, but... One of my characters, Brenn, is a character that I often engage as though he were my actual, real-life hubby. It makes it easier for me to engage him as the love interest of the story, though lately I'm thoroughly confused as to whether he is the love interest or the other MC, Tevin, is the love interest, and maybe it really doesn't matter since they both get fair screen-time.
     
  4. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Fixed. ;)
     
  5. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    I'm glad I'm not the only one who's mad enough to converse with their own characters.
    Thank you for fixing my title, by the way.
     
  6. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I get book crushes on other people's characters.

    When I think of my own characters as people they feel like my children, or at least my... wards? Like, I 'gave birth' to them and have total power over them. That doesn't gel with romantic feelings, even though they're all great romantic partners IMO (because I write romance, so of course I write MCs that I think are good partners despite their flaws).

    My first hero is pretty much my ideal partner, both in looks and personality. I've no doubt if I met him in real life I would be head over heels.
     
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  7. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    That's an interesting angle, Tenderiser. For me it feels like they "live" in my head. More often than not it feels to me that I've found them, rather than created them. I wish I had total power over them like you do...Half the time it feels like mine are running around, unchecked "setting each others' hair on fire" to quote David Cameron.
     
  8. Infel

    Infel Contributor Contributor

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    I think it makes sense--after all, when you're creating a love interest for your main character, it seems pretty natural to give them the traits you fancy! I can certainly see a bit of heart-flutter for something that, for all intents and purposes, may very well be the author's 'ideal' partner!
     
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  9. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I've heard that a lot from writers and don't get it at all. In fact I left a Facebook writers' group because they kept posting things like, "My character kept me up all night! We spoke for five hours and he told me his backstory!" and I was just like

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    Different strokes for different folks as they say. Whenever I try and create a character they turn out pretty wooden and 2D. And when I do, they just turn into their own thing anyway.

    In my opinion all Facebook groups are to be avoided.
     
  11. NoGoodNobu

    NoGoodNobu Contributor Contributor

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    I've never fallen in love with my own characters, but I definitely loved a good few of them.

    Predominantly they're all girls, although one or two are male.

    My last project's protagonist I adored–she was cold, callous, and quite frankly a bitch. She grew over the course of the story, but I actually loved her from the moment she was conceived and was a heartless, fairly malicious woman. I think it was cathartic to write her or something.

    The other character I know I love is from several years ago, and she was just a firecracker with no filter, no social inhibitions, and no forethought. She was thoughtlessly selfish, but not malicious. She was an instigator & her antics made me laugh. She also grew up over the course of the story—no longer selfish although still a bit careless & prone to trouble. She was definitely cathartic.

    The two guys I liked were probably just sort of author inserts—they were prone to the same bold flirty banter with any pretty girl they came across, same as me. They didn't have my personality itself, but they definitely flirted with girls the way I like to flirt with girls.

    And I just realized that the above examples might make it seem like I'm sexually attracted to women—I'm not. I just happened to love those female characters, and I flirt with other girls because they're generally safe to flirt with.
     
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  12. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I've defo had str8 boys flirt with me. It's a thing. ;) By extrapolation it gives rise to the related concept of bromance. Is there a word for when females engage in this kind of relationship, or is it not needed because of differing social constructs, male friendships vs. female friendships?
     
  13. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    NoGoodNoBu, I like the sound of your firecracker with no filter - and what a brilliant description. I know what you mean about a nasty character being somehow cathartic to write about. One of my MCs from years ago was racist, homophobic and a bully. The total opposite of me - there's no way I'd choose him as a friend, but I did enjoy writing with him.

    Wreybies, my ears have pricked up. An MC in my current projects is due to start a bromance in the chapter I'm currently working on...
     
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  14. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Ah, bromances... What can I say? It's like a drug to gay boys. There's something so beautiful and delicate about it. Like a dance of cranes along the river's edge. Its choreography must be perfect, else it falls into awkward flapping of wings and muddying of the water.
     
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  15. Safety Turtle

    Safety Turtle Senior Member

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    Not really fallen in love with, but as I keep writing about my MCs feelings for his wife and daughter I'm starting to feel the same.

    Which just makes me feel bad when I know what's gonna happen...
     
  16. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    The bromance I'm brewing up is more of car crash than a dance - there will certainly be no romance implied. The two of try and cook up half baked plans to net "cute girls", but neither have the balls to put a plan into action.

    Safety Turtle....I'm guessing you're not sending them on a nice holiday to the South of France, with an upgraded hire car package in a self catering villa?
     
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  17. Simpson17866

    Simpson17866 Contributor Contributor

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    I've never even fallen in love with anybody in the real world.
     
  18. NoGoodNobu

    NoGoodNobu Contributor Contributor

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    I don't know. Overall I think female friendships are allowed a lot more physical & verbal leeway to express affection with nonsexual/nonromantic implications—but my flirting with girls is definitely romantic/sexual in nature. I don't flirt with girls who are gay—only once with a friend of mine who wasn't out and I to this day feel awful for screwing with her like that. She had a boyfriend for a while and talked about boys and I loved making her blush or making her feel special. I feel like an asshole now that I know.

    I had a gay guy friend who I flirted with who flirted aggressively back at me. That was fun & safe—until it somehow turnt into a game of chicken which I lost & consequently now I don't flirt with guys even if they are incapable of sexual attraction towards me.

    It's just that flirting itself is enjoyable, but not so much anything that follows. I don't like giving expectations and I like knowing I can safely physically remove myself from a situation if it goes too far. That's why I like flirting with straight girls. No strings, no expectations, nothing I can't back out of.
     
  19. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I have a sismance (which doesn't sound friendly) with one friend. We call each other our wives and have "lesbian weekends" once a month, in which we watch bad horror movies and engage in zero sexual behaviour.
     
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  20. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Ah, so more like krumping. :-D All the same, bromances have form to be followed, rules of engagement, most especially if one side of the bromance is gay.
     
  21. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    "Aw, that sounds lovely," Wrey said in his Cat Deeley accent. :-D
     
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  22. Hwaigon

    Hwaigon Senior Member

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    Never, though I guess it's not impossible; you've probably projected into her ideals you look for in women? Little by little, I mean. It actually makes a lot of sense.
     
  23. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    This is so mystifying to me. I guess I'm kind of weird in that I write almost exclusively characters that I don't really care much for. But I could never imagine actual romantic feelings for one.

    I can think of one time I did write someone intentionally to resemble, let's say "the kind of person I'd be romantically interested in". But even then, she turned out to be a more sympathetic character, but not even close to one I could care that much for.

    I dunno. Maybe I'm just not good at writing good characters. For instance, physical attributes--these are usually the last thing I think of. It's more like all my characters come from some abstract concept and only come to resemble actual people in the very last stages.
     
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  24. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    I had to google Krumping to find out what it was. 100% yes.

    On the subject of flirting, to some people it seems to come naturally. There is a girl at my place of work turns every conversation into some flirty, will-they-won't they interaction James Bond has with Moneypenny. You could say: "I'm going to Staples* to buy paperclips because we've run out, shall I get some some blank CDs while I'm there? Colin wants some for his health and saftey class CDs to give to the trainees"** and she will somehow make it flirty. I will admit we do have good chemistry, and our interactions, and they way we bounce off of each other has influenced how my MC and Hannah interact a lot.

    *God rest its soul.
    **Actual conversation I had with her.
     
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  25. Partridge

    Partridge Senior Member

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    I probably have. She has some weird little quirks and mannerisms that I love it when women have...But they just crept in. I didn't have to think about them.
     

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