To Be or Not to Be...
That’s funny, well at least to me. Don’t worry; I’m not going around looking for loved ones and friends to murder for my novels. To be honest, I don’t think any one of my characters fully embodies a person I know in real life. Sure, there are many similarities, but every character I’ve made so far has a unique life of their own.
I govern my imaginary friends’ choices more by their individual personalities than anything else. I don’t know how many scenarios that I had to scrap, starting all over because I just couldn’t see my person doing what I wrote. Like my little joke I placed on top of my blog, it would seem like a writer’s dream to serve a dish of literary revenge to an unlikable person they know in real life. If it was that simple I could see the appeal. However, like most things, it’s not that simple.
After I write a scene/chapter there’s always a sense of satisfaction, but when I’m in the midst of writing it my enjoyment of the moment varies. If I’m in the head of a character I like, my mood is usually light and jovial, unless I had to do something upsetting to them. It’s the same in reverse for characters that I don’t like. Just imagine being in the head of a narcissistic serial killer; scary right? It’s also mentally taxing for me. It’s exhausting to have to reach so far outside of my realm of being. So, at least for me, the thought of having a real person I know and dislike in my head for a whole novel is just too much to bear.
If you’re someone I know and a character of mine resembles you, rest assured that I must like you quite a bit. However, if you’re someone I don’t like and your character is cast off the island in some wonderfully-horrible way within the first quarter of the novel… Just playing; or am I? Happy Thursday everyone!
