When we write we put our heart and souls into our characters. They become a part of who we are. But are those characters verbatim of who we are? Of course not. We “tilt” the character just so, so that he or she has something similar to who we are. There might only be a smidge of something about us but it’s there.
Tilting the characters makes them in their own right, individual and unique. But if we don’t put ourselves into our work it won’t sound right. Something will feel off.
No, I won’t be a thing like the antagonist. But I get easily frustrated and so does my antagonist. So I tilt a part of myself and put that into my character. It will make him or her all the richer for it.
We all have a narrative we live by. Our morales. Our ethics. Our beliefs. Our likes and dislikes. Plus many others. All the things make us who we are. And through writing, we can find ourselves through the words we write. I know I do in my characters. They come…
When I think of a writing community I think of ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers). This little community of writers is so much more than writing. There is Novel Track. It's a place of accountability and support. You let the group know what your goal is at the beginning of…
Amen! A short and to the point post. Loaded with jewels. This is the very thing I’m working extra hard at right now with my upper middle grade novel. Thanks, Kristena.
Jean, thank you for your kind words. They always make my day. 🙂
I feel we all try hard to do this because then it makes our novels that much more real, which in turns makes people like them more.