Mikael Hart wrote:@Zia: I think it's sad to view your character as a tool instead of having some relationship or understanding of them. If you think of them as a "thing" to better your story and not as a person, then you'd miss out on all their great insights and opinions that make them, and ultimately the story, who they are and what it is. I think that without investing in your OC, you lose that sense of emotion and realism.
I really do like it best when I can laugh and cry with them, even if it's "just a story." I mean, it's similar as the feeling you get when you tear up at a touching scene in a movie, except it's all the more personal because this is a story you've written yourself. I love that feeling of connection and accomplishment.
Admittedly, I love making things difficult for my OC and then laughing at the way they fret about it. Because they've gone through all sorts of things, it makes them who they are. I have one OC, Rion, who started out a bit introverted but was trying to overcome that part of himself and in the end he was involved in a lot of crazy and unexpected experiences that has made him a more interesting and well-rounded character than when he started off. <3
I agree. And if you don't really know your characters personally, how do you know how your character will act? There have been times when I was writing and realized "no! He wouldn't act that way!" It's frustrating because then sometimes you need to trash the whole plot that you've thought out, but at least your writing wouldn't be stiff and unnatural and full of plot-holes, which, in my opinion, is a bigger writing sin than putting Mary Sues here and there.Oh, I am a real bitch when it comes to my characters. There's this one character whose baby gets taken hostage so she'd need to help these bunch of people destroy her own country and then after she helps them, the guy holding the baby drops him by an accident. Without her child and a home to return to, she goes insane. I came up with that bit and I was like, "whoa, I'm so evil." So I came up with a villain based on me for another story.
M o i's Knuffel! I was waiting for him.
Whoa, I didn't even realize that! Nice catch, Xaevan!