Character Addiction

[LissyW]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes. Sequels!

 

[MrPixel]

Related: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/who-else-falls-in-love-with-their-characters.1557038/

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yes!
Adrian and Laura were introduced in my 14-chapter series Smoking Hot, mostly about cynical widower whisky-lover Adrian opening up to a new relationship.

Laura wanted her own backstory told but wouldn't spit it out, so that resulted in the five chapters of Educating Laura - and then two more. That featured a younger Ali from Wheelchair Bound? to introduce Laura to kinky lesbian sex.

Adrian's had 3 more stories and a 750-word fragment. Plus another prequel getting together with Richie from Educating Laura, back when they were dysfunctional students.

My characters Rachel and Richie ended up getting repeating roles in the I Say Ass, You Say Arse series. Then I wondered what would happen if Rachel and Laura met - another prequel.

I tend to write about people I like, so I enjoy spending time with them. Sarah, Jake and Cat have had two stories now and I'm working on a third.

 

[Voboy]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

Yep. Every time.

It's why all my stories are connected, however loosely. I love being able to go back and revisit anyone I miss writing about.

 

[MrPixel]

I linked above to the thread I started in 2021 about "falling in love" with my characters, which I think is relevant to this discussion.

Where I stand right now is pertinent here because I am in the throes of writing the final installment, ending the series in such a way that all but invites continuing development, but with content that would absolutely not see the light of day on LitE. (No, not that, but the presence of a precocious and spiritually-aware child growing up in a polyamorous family.)

There is one spinoff in the works, maybe two, that fit roughly in the middle of the five-year span of the larger series that will continue my relationship with the characters, but beyond that my mind is with continuing the overall plot. In the end, I may be writing for an audience of one.

 

[ronde]

I always have strong feelings for all my main characters. If I didn't I couldn't make them seem to be real people. Sometimes I love them, sometimes I hate them, and sometimes I just wish they'd go away, but I never write a character I don't feel something about unless they just drift into a scene and then drift away with nothing other than maybe a name.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

I actually wrote about spending more time with my ubiquitous FMC at the very beginning of my most recent story (sort of) .

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

It's an interesting idea, but no, I have not experienced this.

 

[Euphony]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

If I am not at least somewhere down that path, I grow genuinely concerned I haven't written characters but the narrative equivalent of paper dolls.

When they creep into my cortex as I am trying to fall asleep and I can't help violate my "no screens before bed" policy, I know we are understanding each other and something truly interesting can come out of our communication and doing the work.

If writing had a "runner's high," that will always be mine.

 

[NotWise]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

That calls for a sequel, but maybe you shouldn't write a sequel without a story.

I fall in love with my female characters, but it goes away when I start thinking about the next story. If that feeling is too strong, then maybe you didn't end the story well. The readers seem always willing to tell us when they think the story isn't complete. Maybe this "character addiction" is your writer's sense telling you that the story isn't complete.

You might need more story, or maybe you needed to work more on how the story ended.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That calls for a sequel, but maybe you shouldn't write a sequel without a story.

I fall in love with my female characters, but it goes away when I start thinking about the next story. If that feeling is too strong, then maybe you didn't end the story well. The readers seem always willing to tell us when they think the story isn't complete. Maybe this "character addiction" is your writer's sense telling you that the story isn't complete.

You might need more story, or maybe you needed to work more on how the story ended.

If a character seems interesting, it's natural that one will want to write more about them. I find the female characters more intriguing, but until recently, I wrote about them from the POV of less vivid male characters. Probably it wasn't meant to be taken literally, but using terms like "addiction" or "falling in love' - one has to remember that they are fictional and are not meant to replace real world relationships. At my age, I don't have real world romantic relationships any longer; just helps me to keep that in mind.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

It started not with mine but with Spector_Dugan’s characters from LIKE THE DEVIL WITH A DEAL and they resonated with me so much that, after discuss with the author, I undertook writing ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE.

Never felt that way about fictional characters like that but something about these crazy nerds just pulled me in.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Oh yes. Pygmalion had it coming to him.

 

[tenyari]

Yes but I also try to have specific arcs for my characters. This is the part of their lives that is lived in view of the readers. And that is hopefully it.

Nothing worse than having your character turn into a shallow copy of themselves

I have formed some characters with the express purpose of them having open-ended arcs - and those ones have sequel potential limited only by my hope that I will be able to spot when it's time to stop before they lose 'character' in their character...

 

[stickygirl]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

It's a credit to you as a writer that you have grown another person and personality beyond yourself. They'll never leave you and will always be a part of you. It doesn't mean you become their slave, but you may become more discerning about choosing a story in which they will flourish. Congrats - you've given birth!

 

[stickygirl]

It's an interesting idea, but no, I have not experienced this.

Oh Simon! That's such a sad thing to say or admit to. I wish I was there to give you the hug you deserve... assuming hugs would be okay?

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

If you are imaginative/lucky, you may eventually be able to add other stories about her that stand-alone but are prequels, sequels, or "insets" into the existing series. It does happen, but it's hard to predict when the inspiration will strike. I have someone I may take ten years beyond the end of the series.

 

[gunhilltrain]

It's a credit to you as a writer that you have grown another person and personality beyond yourself. They'll never leave you and will always be a part of you. It doesn't mean you become their slave, but you may become more discerning about choosing a story in which they will flourish. Congrats - you've given birth!

That's a pretty good analogy, although I can distinguish between my real children (who are adults now) and the fictional characters. I guess there is some similarity in that the fictional ones do go off in their own direction too. My favorite character so far would have been born around 1955, so she would be the same age I am now. She is described mostly in 1973 to '77, and maybe (if I ever get to it) later in 1987.

My main Geek Pride character (also female) would have been born around 1997.

 

[SimonDoom]

Oh Simon! That's such a sad thing to say or admit to. I wish I was there to give you the hug you deserve... assuming hugs would be okay?

I can see how it would seem that way to someone who sees it differently, but it's never been an issue for me. I take great pleasure in creating characters. But I can easily leave them behind to create the characters for the next story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I can see how it would seem that way to someone who sees it differently, but it's never been an issue for me. I take great pleasure in creating characters. But I can easily leave them behind to create the characters for the next story.

You never fall in love with your characters?

If I don't fall in love with characters in my stories (especially my longer pieces) I can't really expect my readers to. I think you can tell, in my stories, which character puts their hooks in most - it ups the believability factor considerably, I reckon.

 

[KeithD]

I've just finished and published Savour Me, an 8 part series. The main character, Olivia Ortega, is a figment of my imagination, but while writing the stories she had life. Now the series is concluded it feels strange. I want to spend more time with her.

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Lissy

Yeah, I've had characters appear in stories--and not only as the protagonist--and then go on to be the protagonist in a series of novellas or novels.

 

[SimonDoom]

You never fall in love with your characters?

If I don't fall in love with characters in my stories (especially my longer pieces) I can't really expect my readers to. I think you can tell, in my stories, which character puts their hooks in most - it ups the believability factor considerably, I reckon.

It's interesting to me that this seems unusual. My characters are fictional characters. I don't fall in love with people that don't exist. I enjoy them and have fun creating them and narrating their adventures, but I definitely do not love them or get addicted to them. The creative process is different for all of us.

 

[TheRedChamber]

It's interesting to me that this seems unusual. My characters are fictional characters. I don't fall in love with people that don't exist. I enjoy them and have fun creating them and narrating their adventures, but I definitely do not love them or get addicted to them. The creative process is different for all of us.

I'm like you. I enjoy writing about characters but I tend to view them as ordinary people of whom I'm narrating the most interesting thing ever to happen to them. From other forum discussions, I get the impression that our creative process are relatively similar - it could be related to this.

One thing related to this is that because I plan substantially in advance, stories sometimes grow before I write them. I have ideas for characters who extend over many works - whether these are episodes or chapters or just individual stories - the only thing is that I'm aware how advanced these are and so am cautious about writing them as I'd be committing to writing a particular set of stories for a considerable length of time. I'm working on a couple of these at the moment, but have a file with reoccuring characters who may never actually occur (which is a little sad, but its the nature of opportunity cost).

 

[Duleigh]

Has anyone else experienced a kind of character addiction like this?

Yes, I'm finishing up We're a Wonderful Wife, a story I've been working on for almost 2 years. I love every one of my characters and instead of editing the final chapter so I can click on "Publish" I'm dawdling here in the forum so I don't have to say goodbye.