My brother recently called me on the phone to inform me he’d read my book. Now my brother doesn’t read romance. He reads science fiction and military books, but not “chick books” as he calls them. And yet, he read my books. Which says a lot about my brother, I think.
He gave me his list of likes and dislikes, and while honest, was also very complimentary. And then he said, “But I see a lot of you in your characters.”
My first reaction was, “Well duh!” But then I realized my brother is not a writer. Not a fiction writer, anyway. We have a special brand of crazy, with narratives running through our heads all the time. And yes, all those characters running around in my brain and on the pages of my novels all have a little bit of me in them.
To me, the only way to write honest characters is to bare your own flaws and inner demons. To truly understand their fears and frustrations, the writer has to take on a little bit of it, too. Which explains why a lot of writers drink a good bit.
For me, it’s almost like a kind of therapy. My characters have to work out their issues, so I have to, too. Now that’s not to say I’ve ever burned down a restaurant or am haunted by a dead husband. My characters have to deal with their own fictionalized disasters, but some of their insecurities – yeah, they’re mine, too. Not that I have an exclusive claim on them. I like to think my characters speak to all of us, that some small part of their neurosis matches the person who reads it. I know they match mine.
So if you read my books and get some insight into Maggie or Brin, you’re getting a little insight into me, too. Welcome to my brand of crazy.
That’s funny! What’s scary is that for me; I pull out the things I hate about myself and pour them into my villians. All the things I think (and then repent of) all the unkind thoughts that I have to squish. All the selfish desires I have to turn from. All the ways I’d never dream of acting in real life get poured into my villians. It’s like my outlet for evil.
Conversly, my heroines are the girl that I wish I was. All the right things I wish I’d done or said. All the high roads that I all too often don’t take. As well as the naughty, dare devil risk taker that I’m too chicken to be.
So, my charactors are all that I’m not, both the good and the bad…
That’s interesting! Exploring your dark side in a villain – I need to try that.
I think I make my sidekicks someone I wish I were – more confident, cooler, completely together. LOL I think I’m like a “method” writer working it out on the page.