How Do You Feel About the Characters You Create?

[queenoftheskies]

I was pondering characters this morning, mostly marveling at the attachment I have to my characters. If I didn't care about them--if there wasn't something I loved or hated about them--they wouldn't be real.

I have my favorites, of course, and they appear in more of my stories. Their lives, their backstories, drive much of the universe I've created.

I live with them, laugh with them, cry with them. I either love them or I love to despise them.

I was wondering if anyone would care to share their favorite character that they've created. Who or what is this character? How you feel about them? Why are they special to you?

Did they come from the story you were telling? Or did the story evolve from the character? How did they affect what you wrote about them?

Comments

[arkiewriter.livejournal.com]

My favorite has to be Talon. He's my anti-tolkienesque Elf. He first appeared in a short story (my only publication credit), but the story was told from his concubine's viewpoint, not his. ;-) He kept "speaking" to me after the story was finished, and I've got about 7 chapters done on a novel for him that I need to seriously buckle down and work on. The novel's outlined and everything... I've just not had much of a muse for the past year.

Something about Talon always tugs at my mind. He's a fallen angel type, someone who reformed through the intervention of his gods and a loving sacrifice on his behalf. I enjoy this sort of character in others' work, but I hate it when they venture into martyrdom instead of character development. Talon's not perfect and keeps making mistakes, but he doesn't wallow in self-pity.

And one of these days, I'll get his novel finished. ;-)

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Aw, I love my characters. I get really upset for them sometimes, no matter how much of a VBA I am. I want them to be happy! I like it when they do things that make me smile, I'm sad when they're sad, I want them to do the right thing even when I know they're not going to, and it makes my little VBA heart burst with joy when they do the right thing even when it costs them everything they've ever wanted.

I love my characters! *sniff*

[allichaton.livejournal.com]

My favorite character so far has got to be Fate. She's quirky, opinionated, outspoken, sarcastic, and she always cracks me up. She was just supposed to be a minor character, but she turned into a scene stealer, and will most likely be getting her own book at some point.

Then there's Longan, whom I have a love-hate relationship with. :P I think this convo I had last night sums it up pretty well:

allichaton: *grumbles*
allichaton: When Mom and D and I drove down here a few weeks ago, D did something that annoyed Mom, then did something else that amused her, and Mom said, "Oh, you make me laugh. I've always said that's the only reason you've lived this long; you do make me laugh."
allichaton: The only reason Longan's survived as long as he has is 'cause he makes me sappy. :P

[mistri.livejournal.com]

I care about my characters, but I can't say I've found a favourite yet - don't know what that says about my writing. I know that some of the ones I think are particularly interesting haven't even got a story yet!

Normally I get an idea about plot/setting before character - except in one case, where I wanted to tell a story about a brother to the heir (sounds really cliched explained like that), and the world etc was built around him.

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

My favorite character is a guy named Ran. I decided to do, well, not a prequel and not a backstory, but a story set in the distant past from my original novel. Ran in the original story is a historical character upon which many of the later customs and religious practices of the culture were built. He wrote a set of analects and was revered as a holy man in later ages.

He turned out to be this arrogant, irreligious (by his culture's standards) guy with a lot of ambition, great leadership potential and almost no interpersonal skills. He wants the best for his people, and he thinks he is the best. He's very much "ends justify the means" and it takes his whole story for him to learn how to be a better person. He's such an ass, but at least he learns. :)

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Ooo, good question. My stories come from my characters, so they have to be real to me, though they also develop in the writing. I like all of them, love most of them, and I'm even fond of many of the antagonists. I've had evil antagonists that I ended up liking enough to not want to kill them, but alas, sometimes, they had to die.

My favorite character is Pavel, who I created in fan fic as Illya Kuryakin's stepson, and when I switched to original fic, I kept the character and created a universe around him. He was 12 when he first got written, and 15 when I started writing him regularly. He's now approaching his 30th birthday and I've been writing him for 20 years, so I feel as if I've raised him. I used to have River Phoenix in mind for his physical appearance, but after River died, I switched to Roy Dupuis, pictured in my icon, which is another reason I love the character. He looks like a hunk. :)

oh boy

[dragonmyst.livejournal.com]

You had to ask... *evil laughter*

Who or what is this character?
This character is named Mikial Usef, better known amung his peers as The Shaderunner. He is a human who has been granted extra long life and ?eternal? youth by the spirit/gods of the planet. He is the leader of the Immortal servents of the gods, and so far has surviived over ten thousand years.

How you feel about them?
I think I adore this character, I know his history better than any other character.

Why are they special to you?
He has lived thousands of years, he is a historian when not running errends for the gods. He has seen empires rise and fall, and is a collector of books. I think I fed all my longing to 'see' history into a character who has seen the history of his world.

Did they come from the story you were telling? Or did the story evolve from the character?
I think that origianally the he evolved from the story, you know the wise leader that all early fantasy needed. Then he grew to have his own story that just a minor character in someonelses story.

How did they affect what you wrote about them?
Mikial has a presence, it seems whenever I write a scene with him in it he tries to take control of the scene. He has charisma that seems to leak out onto the screen. :)

As you probably know.......

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

I've been writing fanfic for a long time but an 'original' character just developed within my fanfic universe. It's been interesting further developing my 'original' character.

PS

[dracschick.livejournal.com]

I write Dracula fanfic and presently have Dracula and Mina living in NYC. They have adopted a daughter they named Lucy (after guess who?LOL). I've been writing more and more with this original character. It's been fun:) (See my LJ for my latest drabble with her.