How similar are you to your MC?

xputtie 2024-08-09 03:40:16 UTC #1

When I first started writing 5 years ago I had no idea how much of an impact my own personal likes, interests, trauma, dislikes and relationships had on my story; and looking back on what I wrote, it's almost like a diary!

My MC, Oliver Night, is all the things I wished I could be after facing similar struggles throughout life! He loves his books (especially BL lmao), has a major caffeine addiction, is a unique mixture of dependant and independent and will only tolerate so much! I love him sm guys 🤧️

BoomerZ 2024-08-09 04:02:29 UTC #2

None of my character are anything like me. I do that on purpose as I'm not writing a story about me. I like writing stories about other people and how they react to situations.

xputtie 2024-08-09 04:05:43 UTC #3

Thats a good point! I hope that is therapeutic for you too!

djourner 2024-08-09 04:37:31 UTC #4

I made each of my characters have at least one thing I relate too on a personal level, that way its easier to get into their headspace.
Funny thing is, I do this to the vilains as well, often I inject flaws or quirks of mine into the bad guys, and some of their speech I wrote from my own heart.
In my opnion this is the best way to keep the audience guessing.

NickRowler 2024-08-09 04:51:15 UTC #5

There might be aspect of my personality which some characters may have. For example, an anxious character is inspired by my own anxiety but usually over exaggerated.

However, there is no character of mine which is just me. Even when it comes to main characters, they aren't really like me at all.

I don't really like writing directly about myself because I don't think I am an interesting person.

jones97 2024-08-09 05:06:25 UTC #6

It's the same for me as well. I try to write characters that do stuff I don't think I'll ever do. Or even act in a way I'll think twice before doing so. But not in a bad, end-up-in-jail way .

AmysGames 2024-08-09 05:14:33 UTC #7

When designing characters, the thought of how similar or dissimilar they are to myself is something that never even crosses my mind, lol. To me, they are completely separate people, and tend to be wildly different from both each other and me.

That said, there are characters who are coincidentally similar to me, and/or that I find relatable. If I had to pick which of my characters I'm most similar to, it's probably Jikyuu.

ArtGremlin 2024-08-09 05:38:37 UTC #8

My mc is almost as far away from me as you can get. He’s a full-grown man, looks nothing like me, he’s grumpy 24/7, not to mention all his situational differences. I’m definitely not royalty living on a magical island prison.

There are a few small things that are similar. Like how his social isolation stems from feeling like no one actually would want to talk to him so why bother trying to talk to them… somedays it feels like that for me.

But mainly, Xivian is a character I created because I will never be him, making it interesting to act him out. A person I will never be, yet I carve his path, and make his choices.

xputtie 2024-08-09 07:30:24 UTC #9

Using personal experience is a powerful tool since its usually very unique, maybe the experience itself isn't unique, but your reactions and thoughts would be! That's a very good way to deepen your writing 🖤

xputtie 2024-08-09 07:31:23 UTC #10

I think you are a very interesting person! I've never met a boring author/writer!!

xputtie 2024-08-09 07:31:55 UTC #11

Please don't end up in jail lmao!

xputtie 2024-08-09 07:33:20 UTC #12

For me, I kind of stumbled on the similarities by accident. Most of my characters are veryyyyyy different to me. But Oliver is strangely similar!

xputtie 2024-08-09 07:34:16 UTC #13

It's amazing to see people living through their characters even when they aren't similar 🖤

drbwp4 2024-08-09 17:54:12 UTC #14

"As a writer, your job is to identify the emotion your character is feeling, understand its origin, and imbibe the feeling yourself." -James Scott Bell

I think it is important to add your own feelings and emotions into your characters, and likewise you should add interactions with characters who are similar to your friends and family.

My main character Gruff is me before I found people who truly understand me. His siblings represent my siblings who love him, but don't understand him. And Master, represents my mother, who wanted to understand me and put effort to do so, but never fully got there.

On the flip side my second lead, Mel is me after I met my people. She is outgoing and excited about new experiences. She has people she loves and would do anything to protect them. I feel that same way when I am with my friends.

Understanding yourself, leads to characters who are leaps and bounds more interesting.

Not trying to call you out BoomerZ, just saying that you should be more open to exploring this option. I am still exploring it, and it's not always easy, but it's tons of fun.

The quote I used at the beginning of this post is from a book called Writing Unforgettable Characters by James Scott Bell__

sophialyn 2024-08-09 18:02:51 UTC #15

Oh geez… I gotta call myself out.
Each of my characters are like me in very different ways. If Inside Out was filmed in my head type beat.
Casey: Anxiety/sad mixed girl
Sadie: Paranoid (FOR VALID REASONS WE’RE BOTH WOMEN OF COLOR IN THIS WORLD) proving my own point…
Andy: Optimistic externally
Lee: Great listener, but overshares
Jay: isn’t wrong when wrong
Paris: Identity crisis

AmysGames 2024-08-09 19:03:40 UTC #16

See, I would argue the opposite, in that being able to write characters who are vastly different from yourself allows you to have a more holistic view of the world. Not that understanding yourself isn't important, I just think being able to understand other people's POV is equally important.

Also, I've personally always treated my writing as more of an escape. Not every story needs to be the author's personal therapy session, haha.

kyupol 2024-08-09 19:14:30 UTC #17

Not at all. Claudita is not my female version.

Closest one is Eman Cruz from MAG-ISA who is around 90% me.

But moving forward, no more self insert protagonists. If ever, I'll self insert as an antagonist in AngHell Dela Blackpill. And even then, 50% match at best

ThunderChicken 2024-08-09 19:31:38 UTC #18

Carmen in Wild Nights, Hot and Crazy Days is exactly like me because he is me (WNHCD is a true story).

Daecon in Defining Daecon is everything that I WISH I could be:

UrMom 2024-08-10 22:44:10 UTC #19

Yes and no. I'm working on a vent story so there are similarities, but I wanted to explore my personal stuff through different lives and experiences. In a way it's me having a conversation with myself, in public, in a way that's hopefully somewhat palatable. I also add in some wish fulfillment stuff here and there, because what's a personal vent story without exploring stuff you wish you had? Lol

Of my two MCs:

Julian shares some of my mental issues, they're also my main vent character for traumatic experiences adults voluntarily told me about while I was growing up. They also share my catharsis with metal music. Although they have some wish fulfillment traits like being book smart and able to do math well.
Apollo shares my dumbness, my awkwardness, as well as part of my love for music. (While I like almost all music, he shares my like for old country and 80's stuff.) Fulfillment-wise he later on goes back to school for a degree after discovering his work related passion, and manages to easily deal with student loans. Something I will never do because my greatest fear is getting into more horrific debt for something that won't pay off.

SwordSong 2024-08-11 10:02:36 UTC #20

AmysGames:

drbwp4:

"As a writer, your job is to identify the emotion your character is feeling, understand its origin, and imbibe the feeling yourself." -James Scott Bell

I think it is important to add your own feelings and emotions into your characters, and likewise you should add interactions with characters who are similar to your friends and family.

...
Understanding yourself, leads to characters who are leaps and bounds more interesting.

See, I would argue the opposite, in that being able to write characters who are vastly different from yourself allows you to have a more holistic view of the world. Not that understanding yourself isn't important, I just think being able to understand other people's POV is equally important.

Also, I've personally always treated my writing as more of an escape. Not every story needs to be the author's personal therapy session, haha.

I agree with this to a certain extent, especially when we're dealing with an ensemble cast where it's necessary for the different characters to have different motives and personalities that conflict with one another and move the plot along.

But if we're strictly talking about main characters whom other people can root for, I personally find that it's more important to establish why the character holds a particular POV (i.e. their culture, experiences, basic temperament, etc.) than what the actual POV is.

And, if we as the author can't at least relate on some aspect of the character's POV (even if we don't agree with their conclusions and resulting actions), it would be impossible to write a character that's believable.