This is insanely fun for me, and the easiest way I know of to build a believable character. I catch myself thinking of people that i know (or have known in the past) and inserting them into my stories. In a way it’s sort of like role-playing. I get myself a “free” character where I have to use only a little imagination and in turn I get to be the puppet-master of those who I have known–past or present.
My biggest flaw, however, is designing a main character who is pretty much me incarnate. The details get slightly changed, but I keep discovering throughout ALL of my work that the characters and how they think, talk, and act are all just extensions of myself in some way. Some of these characters get a little bit more of “me” than others, but there is almost always something of myself in these characters.
Another small problem that I have is writing female characters. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to, studying, and thinking about women, but for some reason I cannot what I believe I understand about women and translate it to a believable female character. I noticed this about two chapters into a book I am reading from a fellow writer at a website I frequent. Her characters are so girly and the story itself is pure estrogen (lol). Then I look over my female characters and they really are just dickless men.
Why can’t I tap into more feminine characters? Hell, I’ve always surrounded myself with girls. I relate better to girls. Most of my friends and the people I allow myself to get closest to are girls. You’d think I’d have more trouble writing a male character.
So, I’m going to try to use this when making a female character. I’m going to model a few female characters (in the future) after real women that I’ve known and talked to in my life. Perhaps this will help put the edge back into the femininity of the characters I try to present through my stories.
In other news, last months challenge has really opened pandora’s box of ideas. I have a million different stories that I want to tell (among about five other partially finished stories that I’ve already started through the years), but I keep pushing myself to finish the story I started last month. It’s driving me completely batty. I want to be done this story so bad, not because I’m getting tired of writing it, but because I want to explore other, new ideas that have been slamming me ever since I started my current one.
I realize that this is why I have never really finished anything (except an 80 page handwritten novel as a kid and a non-fiction, essay-style book last year) and so I am forcing myself to remain focused on what I started. This is the farthest I’ve ever taken a fiction novel. It’s the most of one book I’ve written EVER. Page count is up to 260 in Microsoft Word (with Courier New font) and it’s growing (slower this month than last) everyday.
On top of that, I have a few things to critique for my writer’s crit group and I have about 3 different books I am reading all at once right now. lol
If the reading and writing world were a giant pool, I’d be completely immersed and in over my head right now.
I’ve never been more happy.
