We give our readers action, romance or suspense by creating obstacles that our comic / novel characters need to overcome, but would we be able to be as determined as them?
(In my case I don't think I could be as resolved as Nereida,2 but I would take the leap anyway. Living as a student of an important sport academy must be great)
Sep '19
Sep '19
No, not really.
Zeta has PTSD.
X has problems with insecurity.
Alice is distrusting and manipulative.
JESS, is a can of worms that'd take years to explain.
Having element based superpowers and naturally blue hair? Heck yeah!
Having your bad mental state literally weaken your soul? Heck no.
(Also there's all the other drama.)
No. Not really. With what's going to happen to them in the future, I'd just rather avoid the whole situation.
Though, their lives outside the story are pretty average.
Nope. Even if it wasn't exactly in any of Splitting Image's mains' shoes, Aeolia sounds like a horrible place to live compared to modern comforts. Not only your and your loved ones' lives can be snuffed out at any moment by a sudden magical disaster or a rampaging giant animal, even if you live in the safe towns, you're at constant risk of nearly starving every winter and food/water/medicine shortages happen as soon as one major town gets a crisis in any island. A pretty place yes, but not one I'd like to see with my own eyes, at least in that time period.
sadly yes since atleast i wouldnt be a very dislikable person who honestly cant help it since i made my characters seem likable... at least to eachother.... plus magic 
I like to think I'd like to. My character has major flaws but they're based on the ones I already have. Physical disabilities and a serious self-esteem issue.
Knowing the emotional trauma I'm going to put her through? Not really sure. I've paired her with some pretty awesome guys, but I haven't given her any easy decisions.
No, Gil is haunted by an eldritch entity, that for no apparent reason turns horror stories around him into reality, and even by itself is a horrific thing to encounter.
Knowing where the story is going... no, no I wouldn't want Felicity's life. That's more responsibility than any one person should have. I'm perfectly content with my ordinary life, thank you very much. 
Leaning to no. Having a Minecraft build outside of time is great and all, but with great power comes great responsibility. The job entails making tough political calls, catching magical criminals, and avoiding assassinations (with the occasional death and subsequent rewinds). Quite stressful unless you have a certain grit.
My whole story is all about "Why being a powerful half-immortal-time-traveller may suck."
HELL NO!
*cough cough * Excuse me...
To explain, all of my characters are going through some deep shit that would honestly be too much for me. I mean, some of their experiences are based off of things that have either happened to me or to someone I know. However, for the sake of drama, many of those experiences are revved up.
As an example, one character (whose name I won't reveal because it would be too spoilery) is a prince who was born (for the lack of a better description) visually deformed. His mother's fidelity was questioned because of how different he looked from everyone else in that region, and some religious extremists thought he was cursed or maybe even a demon. Many assassination attempts have been plotted (also because his father, the King, is not very popular). Anyway, he also worries about whether or not his father loves him at all. This prince character also has PTSD from fighting in a bloody war that's still ongoing, along with his older brother, who almost DIED. He also has to watch his brother grow gradually more depressed as he's married off to a woman whom he doesn't love and also doesn't love him. She eventually ends up cheating on his older brother. Anyway, after his nephew, his brother's toddler, dies in an assassination attempt meant for him, his brother tries to kill him.
Their family is very complicated.
Another character is the daughter of a poor farmer. She has to deal with essentially medieval life problems: disease, lack of good medical care, heavy taxation, extreme misogyny, an underdeveloped and unfair legal system, no air conditioning etc. Also, her mother died in childbirth (#BadMedievalHealthcare) when she was thirteen, and since then, she's had to raise her younger sister and basically run the house. Every day, she has to worry if her father is going to die from overworking in the fields, or wonder whether the harvest will be fruitful enough for the winter and to pay their taxes.
I have way more examples, but they just get more depressing from here, so I'll stop. (All of these characters are from my comic, Whispers of the Past, btw, in case you were interested in reading it.)
Given my character is pretty miserable maybe not but I would have the ability to potentially destroy the entire world...which would give me excuse to tell the fans I can't do a sequel.
brb retconning my comic as japhin so I don't have to bother with more work.
Sure!
My main character is more than 20 years younger than I am, that's already an incentive 
Plus, he's pretty much like the extroverted version of myself when I was younger, so that would be an interesting experience (I'm extremely introverted).
Nothing too bad happens to him.. he meets interesting people and has the opportunity to travel.. yep, I would like it.
Having a monster boyfriend would be great!
Unfortunately I like modern medicine, technology, and indoor plumbing too much.
No because almost all my characters are crazy and/or trying to deal with tragedy. And most of their flaws are flaws I see in myself but turned up way too high.
a bit on the fence about this; being a magical, biologically immortal demon is pretty sweet though only if you stay the hell away from most every other demon and isolate yourself from their extremely hierarchical society that operates on wanton violence and murder. which is pretty much what the main characters are doing at the start of the story anyway.
as for the only human character, Jamie...a bit of a spoiler but while he does get a happy ending, it's not before getting put through the wringer quite a bit, especially before the start of the story and towards the end of it. kinda ironic since I originally meant for him to be an escapism character before I discovered my love for making my character suffer mentally and emotionally 
it...depends on which ones 
some of them are rejects living in a wasteland on the edge of a literal metropolis
others are outcasts living in the center of a dangerous wood along with a broody bounty hunter with a pretty crappy past
I think the only characters who I'd consider swapping places with is on of the monsters living among their kind in a thriving small town or the misfits making what they can of their city only at the expense of the occasional conflict with their self named rivals
The honest answer may be a no but I think if i felt tempted enough and was able I just might say yes
NOPE, none of them. What Saveli and Lyosha does is pretty bad. cant say because its a spoiler. Braylin on the other hand he just works for a lab but i guess thats okay but even so, i dont want his life. NOPE MAAM.
God no. The world is satirical and the main character is meant to be pretty messed up in her own way. The life of my MC is meant to be far from nice and comfortable. Horrible living conditions and so many problems in both society and within her own group. No thanks.
Errm, considering that Mercy was a slave for more than 20 years, no. I mean, her life gets better right at the beginning of where my story picks up, as she gets rescued, but it's not worth the senseless beatings she had to deal with before then. Not that everything is sunshine and daisies after now that she's free, either.
Yes! I'd love to practice guitar all day, perform every night on tour, and say "screw it" to the responsibilities of my real life. I don't care if I'd be living out of a tiny touring van with the occasional, 1-night upgrade to Motel 6. Life is short and clean underwear is overrated.
Yes, I'd like to be Sheas from my comics
The fact is that my comics started right where my own life could've ended. I was in abusive relationship, got a nervous breakdown, but instead of giving up made this a dramatic backstory for my character Sheas.
So at the beginning we already were the same, but then went separate ways. Sheas met Luka - the man of his life and they have a life full of love and struggles.
And actually the author of Luka is my new adorable girlfriend, so we still keep sharing same features, but our stories are different. And I don't consider Sheas'es story as my autobiography, we became different persons. But I find it interesting to imagine myself as Sheas sometimes. Guess I'd like to have his life
For the main ones? Being The Ray would be kind of comfy provided I'm The Ray after sorting out the whole "I'm a blob of light with memories of a dead guy" thing. He lives a pretty chill life shepherding aerofauna in the thermosphere and playing chess with scientists.
The other two...not so much. I got my choice between a neurotic wizard whose keeping his soul together just with his willpower and an alien from a simpler cosmos horrified by the complexities of our own.
Uh, no. No way. Consider the situation my future MC character is going to live in, It's a harsh land even for a child to be raised up in with all the problems the factions are facing.
You can take a look and read and you'll understand what I mean:
Sure, I want to live in post apocalyptic cyber scrapyard with f*cked ecology, fighting with monsters and scum for life, without normal toilet and central heating.
From the other side, I would seriously want to have slowly-aging enhanced endure and quickly regenerating half-flesh-half-cyber body. 
Oh WOW!! It would be difficult to be RUDE PANDA https://tapas.io/episode/1525468 but I would love to be able to do all the things I make my Panda and turtle do!!
Marcus's got a lot of shit thrown at him in the story but I guess, yea? It really feels like I get to do more with my life if I was living his.
Hmmm that's a toughie. On one hand, being a Treasure Hunter with magical powers would be a rad change of pace from my typical day-to-day life... but on the other hand, I'm not sure it would be worth the inherent risk involved in the job and world, what with monsters and malicious people and what not.
So overall probably not
Well, Mallory is a little girl and I'm a man, so that'd be a little awkward. That aside, I don't know, really. She's got a pretty good life, but her digging about her late parents has definitely introduced some evil into her world--and she's about to experience some really strange stuff as she ventures to find the Dreaming Tree. I don't know that I'd want to experience some of it.
Though there's something to be said for having some real adventure to keep you engaged with life. Most people don't get that sort of meaningful experience.
There are four major chapters in my comic.
If it were the 1st series, I'd love to have my MC's life. If it were the 2nd I'd feel a little apprehensive but I might still take it. If it were the 3rd or 4th........................ then heck no
Well...I mean...it really depends. Her life is great NOW but the shit she had to go through to get there I would not want. Not only that, but she has lost a lot of sanity and morales in order to get to where she is now. So...I dunno. I don't think I have it in me.
Personally, I won't want to have my character's life. Sure, she's the Empress Dowager and holds the most power. But she gambled with more than her life to achieve that status. And with no one she can trust, she always has to look behind her back. That's a very lonely, stressful, and dangerous life! 
I would rather be a lowly peasant girl (and perhaps later on in the series, so will the Empress!)
I have mixed feelings. Money, the freedom to not follow the law and a very exciting life are really attractive. On the other hand ... Will I be ready to kill people or torture them ? not certain to have the guts for that.
Finally I think I prefer to make her life her adventures while remaining a spectator
