Attachment to characters.

[Spectacular Sameth]

Do you guys get attached to characters so much that you have a hard time hurting them or killing them? I was writing a novella based on the comic in my signature and in the novella, this character named Erin breathes fire. Even though she's a dragon, her people haven't breathed fire in millions of years. The fire rendered her mute and burned out her mouth and throat and after I wrote that part, I'm having a hard time going back to the much lighter comic version of her. I feel like I've wronged her.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

[skaoi]

i do.  i've done...horrible, horrible things to a beloved character.  i've even decided his history is wretched as well.  i don't think of it in terms that 'i have done this to my character.'  i think more like 'this happened to them and i am simply reporting it.

the sentient spirit is a resilient thing and my character is moving forward and finally finding happiness.  he's able to laugh at some things and enjoy his new friends.  he's even found someone to love, who loves him in return.

and in spite of what my 12yr old calls him, he is NOT my torture dummy.   

[Spectacular Sameth]

Well, I just remember making the conscious decision to do this to her. It wasn't something I came upon lightly, but it didn't feel like it just happened. Most of the does feel like it just happened, but I can feel the distinction and I feel retched for it.

[Qualapec]

Yes. My original plan called for the death of a character. Then I felt like crap because not only did I just write out a character I liked, but also he was a dear friend of my main character. So I deleted the enitre section and rewrote it.

*sigh* I didn't have the heart.

~She-Wolf

[Spectacular Sameth]

I found a way to fix mine. It may be cheap, but I allowed my dragons to have a regenerative ability. Took 6 months, but I still thought it was cheap. I'd feel much worse if it was permanent.

[Cyclone Jack]

I've always felt that if you aren't getting attatched to your characters then you're doing something wrong. It should be a painful thing when they are hurt. It should be a scary thing when they are endangered. This proves -- at least to the writer -- that he/she is doing the job. This is a good indication that the reader may feel the same way.

The problem comes when the attatchment precludes the writer from ever messing with the character in any significant way. Even children's picture books need conflict.

[Spectacular Sameth]

I agree completely with that statement. Also, if you're not upset about what's happening to your character, you might want to consider the conflict.

[blgarver]

Yeah I've pretty much felt bad for every character I've ever written.  They go through hell and back..well, sometimes not back. 

One I have been working on story for a while, I get to the point where it's out of my hands.  I don't consider myself to be creating anything, but rather watching and reporting.  I think someone said that earlier, too.  So I feel bad for the characters, but I can't do anything to stop what's happening to them.  It's up to them to get themselves out. 

And most of the time they do.  I've lost a few gems, though.  It's sad, but that's the way it goes.

[skaoi]

i've tried directing what happens and it just doesn't work for me.  i'll sketch up some notes or i'll talk about it...then what actually happens is something completely different.  i even had a bad dream that my beloved character stopped talking to me.  i realized that i was trying too hard to control the story, so i backed off.  after a couple of days, i couldn't get him to be quiet.

growth does not happen without overcoming one crappy thing or another.  this holds true for everyone - real or imagined.  if you never present your 'people' with obstacles, they won't grow and develop.  they'll be stagnant...and we don't want that for anyone.

bottom line is that it's ay-okay to (1) stick a figurative sword in your character's gut and (2) feel awful about it even as you continue to twist that sword and gaze with morbid fascination as the blood falls to the ground.

*chuckle*  you know...i almost ranted in mcnally's about this very topic and realized something.  i won't kill one of my people.  i'll get them close (just did, actually), but i refuse to drop the curtain on them.  they are a part of me.  it would be like cutting off my arm or something.

[Spectacular Sameth]

In a related note, this is why it's generally a BAD idea to base characters off of people you know. Do half of the stuff in your writing that is expected and you can't look them in the eye next time you see them or you can't do these things to them.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind is a cruller being, but better dressed and looking how I want to look that isn't satisfied with creating messed up dreams, so he (I'm hoping it's a he...) is creating characters within my mind to use with stories he's also creating. My subconscious is a bastard.

[Spectacular Sameth]

I just realized part of my disgust with myself. Part of what made it hard for me to hurt my character was that I wrote about her hatching in the first chapter. In a sense I feel like I gave birth to her. I watched through the eyes of her parents as she hatched, squeaking innocently inside her egg. I also watched her grow up, oblivious to the fact that she was going to do great harm to her throat to save a loved one.


Maaan...I feel like even more of a bastard since I remembered the hatching scene.

[skaoi]

are you a parent in the real world, sameth? 

be at peace. 

part of the process...the joy...and the pain...is letting go and allowing them to choose their path.  she made the decision that lead to the damage to her throat.  that she made the decision based on the idea it would benefit someone else shows that you have been a good parent and raised her to know compassion.

ultimately, everything will work out.  perhaps not as you expect...but it will work out just the same.

[Spectacular Sameth]

Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, it DID work out right in the end, so I shouldn't feel too bad. (Though her comic version...who has broken the fourth wall by now...isn't too happy with me about what happens to her book counterpart.)

But no, I'm not a parent in real life. My characters are my only creations.

[Dom]

...I love putting my characters through hell.  Although I do like to give them appropriate triumphs to balance it, that's my consolidation for the hell they go through.  But as was mentioned earlier, characters won't grow and become interesting unless you put them through the wringer sometimes, and you wouldn't have a story.

For example, take my character Dominick.  He starts out as an insecure, although mouthy, teenaged geek.  He ends up as a highly dangerous demon lord.  The path wasn't all sunshine and roses--there were a lot of severe bumps and setbacks along the way.  If I did any less, he would simply be unbelievable (or a psychopath).  The harm that was done to him was necessary to make the correct changes in his personality for the story to work.

I guess it helps that I'm a surviver-type myself; I'm patient enough to know that "all things must pass" with time.  So my characters stick it out with me, knowing I plan some pretty awesome things for them in the future.

[Hope]

Readers HATE it when a good character is killed. Read a mystery series by a Brit & was about a male detective and the author killed him off & had his wife take over.  Since then I read the end of a book.