Greetings, writers—
I’ve talked before about how autobiographical characters, even when fictionalized, can be hard to truly see. In the book I’m intermittently writing for myself (as opposed to the one I’m working on daily with James Patterson), there are two main characters, each of whom shares particular aspects of me, and in some ways I feel like the sooner I strip away these remnants of Emily, the better. I need these people to behave in ways I never would.
Obviously, this isn’t to say that it’s magically easy to see and know your characters when you’re making them up. Is our heroine a lark or an owl? (Well, okay, who cares, unless her chronotype matters for the story.) An ESTJ or an INFP? Is she honest? Self-delusional? Jealous? Self-conscious? Ambitious? Querulous? Funny? etc.?
You’ll probably find out the answers to most questions through the writing. You can’t know someone, real or made-up, until you’ve seen them in action. But what if you feel like your hero or heroine is still just a bit too indistinct in your mind, and you want to see, hear, and feel them more clearly?
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