Thread: Writing Myself In...Kinda?

Would it be bad form to write a MC as I'd imagine my Daughter as a teen? It feels a bit odd, but I'd like for the MC to maybe have characteristics like a knowledge of dog psychology (I have been a professional trainer in the past) and the ability to knit (which I hope to one day teach her in reality), which I'm leaning toward explaining as things she learned from her Mother. Not sure at this point whether or not the Mother character will still be living.

Why not? Most of my characters are hybrids of people I know or have met with a little of myself thrown in. Never look an inspiration horse in the mouth, that's my thinking.

Yes that sounds like a valid way of writing about someone. I can't think of any reason why not. But just beware of unintentionally making it biographical. And also be wary about telling your daughter this. She may wonder if you are being presumptious towards her.

Thanks, guys. Good to know that something like that isn't considered hokey or frowned upon

The only time people have issues with insert characters is when the author engages in wish fulfillment. Stay away from using a story as an excuse to do mean things to people you don't like, or having hot guys sleeping with the fantasized version of yourself and no one should object.

So... go for it!

Write what you know.

Originally Posted by Vertigo

The only time people have issues with insert characters is when the author engages in wish fulfillment. Stay away from using a story as an excuse to do mean things to people you don't like, or having hot guys sleeping with the fantasized version of yourself and no one should object.

So... go for it!

Well, "my" character will more than likely be dead, and mostly just make appearances in flashes of the other characters' memories. I do worry about writing the Mother character as too much of an idealized version of the person I'd like to be, so I would really need to keep a tight rein on that and try to write more realistically.

It is a good idea to try and keep your characters real, allowing them to make mistakes and show their flaws a bit. However, it would be really important to know just how the 'daughter' character thinks of her mother because that will be what colors the memories most strongly.

For instance, you may think that your habit of guiding your daughter with every mistakes she makes is helpful, she may remember it as being hypercritical. Or you may think that you were hypercritical and she may, with time and your death, only remember the good things about it. So the really important thing to do is to make sure you know the daughter character very well and write the story how SHE thinks and chooses to remember.

That is a great idea. Go for it.

Go for it. Though it wasn't intentional, almost all of the characters in my story have aspects of myself in them (mainly psychological ones). The main character, I've found, is me 7 years ago if I grew up in a different environment.

Turns out that me is kind of a jerk.

Originally Posted by Vertigo

The only time people have issues with insert characters is when the author engages in wish fulfillment.

This is an excellent way of putting it.

Originally Posted by Foxee

It is a good idea to try and keep your characters real, allowing them to make mistakes and show their flaws a bit. However, it would be really important to know just how the 'daughter' character thinks of her mother because that will be what colors the memories most strongly.

For instance, you may think that your habit of guiding your daughter with every mistakes she makes is helpful, she may remember it as being hypercritical. Or you may think that you were hypercritical and she may, with time and your death, only remember the good things about it. So the really important thing to do is to make sure you know the daughter character very well and write the story how SHE thinks and chooses to remember.

Good points, thinking about things from the MC's POV will help me out a lot, I believe

I agree. I say do it. I think there is always a little bit of ourselves or the people we know or have encountered in our lives, that influence what and how we write.

Whether it's physical attributes, peronality, the way someone loves, or the way someone hates... it could be anything that you pick up from yourself or others that make it into your characters somehow. Have fun writing it! :0)