I am thinking about having some of my main characters like some things that I DISLIKE or don't care about. I can't let my MCs be carbon copies of myself. What is your opinion of this? An example would be making my male lead like the band California Sunshine even though I couldn't care less about them.
You are right, you can't. To me it's basic, if you will create clones of yourself with every novel you will end up with a bunch of MC that are all the same person and that is never a good thing for a reader who reads more than one novel from the same writer. Create indipendent characters who are their own person and like and dislike things because it's in their nature rather than because you must write about someone who share your same ideas in every question. Of course you can let your traits and experiences and characteristics shine through in the characters, its normal, but divide them evenly between your story people and don't make everyone the same.
I think the problem is that you are making your MCs anything really - how about finding out their opinion on things.
no basically let them decide their own interests when the story needs it. If you exert too much control over internal, basic likes, dislikes before the story is being written then your character won't develop themselves they will be too much you whether they like or dislike the same thing.
Also, yes. If their interests have some influence on the story reveal them. Choose the ones that best give a picture of who they are, otherwise there's no need. You can never flesh out every side of a character anyway because real humans are too complex and if you would do that the book would probably end up 1000 pages long, if you would include every interest and every aspect of their personality.
Thanks for the suggestions both of you. Anyway, part of my story deals with my female lead as a teenager. Chances are, between the ages of 10-15 she'll like some of the WORST things that exist in entertainment. I can't find many teenage girls (or boys for that matter) who don't like anything that I abhor in entertainment.
Between 10-15 - Lets see I liked lots of different things Jane Eyre was my favourite story, quickly followed by Little Women - I read one or two books a day, had a passion for archaeology and wanted to be a forensic anthropologist so Mummies were my main passion. My favourite TV show was Quincy and when it started Time Team. Music listened to everything from Olivia Newton John to Five Star - Michael Ball was a big deal in my life. I loved news could name nearly every country leader in the world. Loved reading the dictionary and thesaurus. I practised Judo, and Swimming - loved to walk had a small Jack Russelll called Sally that was my baby. Chemistry and English were my favourite school subjects. My best friends and I seem to remember spent time exploring and making up conspiracy theories and doing weird bizarre art projects. Not everyone is the same.
I'm reading this sort of as if you'd asked, "I have brown hair, but I'm thinking of making some of my characters have blond or red hair. And I might not make them the same height as me. And their eye color might be different. Is this a bad idea?" In other words, of course your characters should like and dislike different things from you; there's no reason whatsoever why they should like and dislike the same things as you. But I think that it's important, as part of this, for you to realize that your likes and dislikes are not somehow "right", and those that differ from yours are not "wrong". So you shouldn't make your teenagers like the "wrong" things just because they're teenagers. They're going to have a reason for liking what they like, just as you have a reason for liking what you like. I assume that you have friends whose likes differ from yours, and that you're able to respect those friends anyway. In the same way, try to have respect for your characters, even when they disagree with you. ChickenFreak
