| When you pick up an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter book you'll see that the heroine is short, petite with dark curly hair. Upon meeting its author, Laurell K. Hamilton, you will not she is short, petite with dark curly hair. It's no huge leap to guess where she got some of the ideas for Anita at this point. The first person narrator so prevalent in noirish urban fantasy and the like is no stranger to having accusations of the author presenting idealized versions of themselves. I think what an author writes is littered with personality traits of their own, coming out all over the place, but I don't see myself in my main characters. I don't think Simon Canderous has many of my traits, other than his bowling ball sharp wit in the face of a crisis. But he does have one very specific problem of mine: Simon experiences low blood sugar. It's the price he pays for any use of his psychometric powers. No, I don't have psychometry, but I am a diabetic and at times I do experience low blood sugar, which added a very specific weakness to Simon. I would love to know from the other writers out there what you see of yourself in your characters. Dig deep, peeps. Are you idealizing yourself? And if you think you aren't, are you really digging deep enough? Let me know how you leak into your fake people! |
Blog Archives
Latest Entries
Coming Soon
Most of the time, I start with some negative aspect of mine, blow it out of proportion, then use that as the primary character flaw. From there, everything else usually fits. So, I'm going to say I don't go for idealized but almost demonized.
On the other hand, I'm usually pretty good at working out those issues by the time I'm done writing 100k words on the topic. :)
Physical traits? No. Habits? Yes, cussing and self-sabotage. Emotional baggage? Maybe.
Parts of me are absolutely in my characters.
In TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (EX) BOYFRIEND and LOVE (AND OTHER USES FOR DUCT TAPE) Belle has seizures for the exact same reason I do. She is a lot shorter than I am. She is a lot more talented than I am. She is also more self-absorbed.
In GIRL, HERO, Lili is also short. Hhm... She's got some dad issues. I've got some dad issues. She's a lot tougher than I am. She's a lot angrier than I am.
In NEED, Zara looks nothing like me. She's a great runner.
All four books have main characters who are teens who are in varying ways socially conscious, which was an absolute deliberate decision.
Hm... I need to go dig more.
Let it out, Carrie, let it out!
Most of my characters are not idealized versions of me and those stories that do have that... are long gone to the dustbin. These days, my characters are physically based on whomever pops up in my mind's eye. However, some of them have traits of mine. IE: Love cats. Also, some of them do things I wish I could do but a lot of my characters are made much more interesting by having flaws.
Most of the characters that speak to me aren't idealized of me, but idealized of important men in my life. Yes, the female characters too.
I've been too busy being a behind-the-scenes type or a works-moderately-well-with-others type to picture myself center-stage.
Confidence problem? Me? You could say that. A lot.
*turns spotlight on the kitteh of brown*
Hmmm. If my main character is a girl, she invariably has dark hair and eyes. I grew up an only child, and anytime I wished I had a sister I'd picture a girl with dark hair and eyes. Stupid subconscious.
Some of my traits end up in there all the time, but I think some of that is because those issues can then ring true in the writing. But I never write an idealized me, eww...I'm more likely to write my friends and family, suitably exaggerated, into my work.
~J
I can't speak about my own writing since I'm not really a writer, but my brother wrote a lot of his stories based on who he wished he was.
Great post, Anton!
My characters drink Coke, because that's what I drink. They also drink gin and bourbon and beer, because I do. (Although I don't like scotch, but most of my heroes drink it, because for some reason I think it's manly for them to do so.)
Megan looks a bit like me. She has a few childhood memories, which we'll see in book 2, that are something like mine. She is allergic to peppers, like me, and cooks a lot of the same things I cook.
Chess likes the same music I do. She dresses a lot like me. She likes the same books (actually, all of my characters do; in fact, in PD Megan reads one of my December books in bed, heh).
I know there's more. But yeah, they share quite a few traits with me.
Yer so transparent, Stacia. That's what I love about you!
Certainly not physically. I'm built like a bald gorilla and Ravirn is basically an elf. Not so much personality wise either, though I do hark back to my adrenaline junkie late teens and early twenties for some of his stupider choices. If there's a character in the WebMage books I most strongly resemble it's probably Melchior, though he's both more cynical and much shorter than I am.
Most of my characters have little bits and shreds of me in them, but I haven't written an actual avatar-character since I was thirteen.
I think it's more a matter of using my own insights and issues and problems and points of view than anything else, and sometimes they contradict one another. I like to figure out where all my characters are coming from, and why they're "right" in their own minds, including the villain-types. I can skew my point of view around to encompass just about any world view, but it is all my POV and is all ultimately being filtered through that one lens. I'm sure some lit-crit type could go through all my stories and say a few things about what's going on in my psyche, if they found themselves with that much time on their hands and nothing better to do. But that's different from actually creating a character who is me. I think that'd get boring pretty quickly. :)
Angie
All of my previous stories except the one I'm currently writing have characters that have no resemblance to me whatsoever. Sometimes redheads feel overdone. Yet the new character popped up with red hair, but thankfully without the plague of freckles that I have. The other women, though, I would say are idealized versions of what I'd like to be, but aren't based on me.
Habits and emotional baggage are things I snag out of my life to bestow upon my characters. Usually pimped and blown up to bigger levels. I can think of something every main character that I've written has from me.
Awesome thought provoker, Anton.
I getz the brainz thinkinz!
I put more of myself in my supporting cast. There is invariably someone who is "the listener." The emotionally supportive friend who will let you vent about your problems, who commiserates when you're down, and who is generally a decent kinda gal (or guy). Which is kinda me, only with more doormat tendencies. :)
My heroines are usually the person I wish I was--outgoing, tenacious, more prone to fight than flight. They come up with the zingers on the spot, whereas it takes me fifteen minutes to create a good comeback.
Small details, though, creep into everyone. Favorite alcoholic beverages, favorite colors, foods, and such...yeah, those things are always there.