Are you more likely to write protagonists who have something in common with you?

[YDB95]

Most of my male protagonists are either like me or like I wish I had been at the stage of my life when the story takes place. The women, it's a lot more subtle, but there's still probably some of me there.

 

[Codoc24]

I'm male but my writing tends to be more FMC POV and they tend to have my own fetishes. I think it is because I wish my past girlfriends and 1st wife would have had some of the kinks that I like and write about. Usually, if I am writing about it, then it is something that I am into, usually, but not always.

 

[RetroFan]

I write a huge variety of different protagonists in many different locations, different times and different occupations and personalities.

With my first person characters alone, the oldest I have written is a tomboy born in 1925 in a story set in 1943; the youngest a female university student born in 2000 with the story set in 2019.

 

[Stimtheone]

While the protagonists are never modeled after me, I have a recurring character which is a straight author avatar. It is indeed tempting, but after a while things can slip away, so I'd rather have a guy to be very different.

 

[yowser]

There are obviously a lot of different motivations for writing, and a lot of variety in what and how one writes, but for me one of the endless attractions is the opportunity to write characters very different from myself.

The risks are not negligible, the most obvious being creating stories and characters that fall on their faces (and I have plenty of those) but in almost everything I have done there has been some exploration done, large or small, that has been rewarding and informs further work.

Some fabulous mainstream writers only play with one or two archetypes and get phenomenal mileage out of their endeavors. Others (Barbara Kingsolver comes to mind) write a huge variety of people. I started a thread awhile ago about the difficulties of writing an MC oriented 180 degrees opposite your personal self (I think there are some limits as to how far one can go), but I still like to think I fall into the second category. It is just such a big world and it is a kick to explore the huge variety of the human experience.

 

[Northstar4695]

I've yet to write a main male character that doesn't reflect much of my personality and/or values. They are not really autobiographical, but they more or less speak with my voice.

I actually think my main female characters are more interesting because I don't self-identify with them. They reflect the wide variety of interesting women I have met and who inform my character creation rather than reflecting my own personality.

This is something I want to experiment with. In an upcoming (not soon) story I am working on, I am writing from a female perspective for the first time. This feels presumptuous as a male writer, but I hope I can do it credit. I've often been disappointed with many male authors' female characters (not all obviously!).

 

[tenyari]

My characters will often reflect some part of my worldview or ethics or something. But they've never otherwise been anything like me. Unlike my current story; I'm not at all a naked green space alien with fangs and purple hair. I could only wish I had fangs...

No matter how hard we try our characters will reflect some part of us if only because they're shaped by our thoughts which come from our view of the world. Even and especially if you write a character trying to make them the opposite of yourself. But there's still a lot of room within that to make them qite different from us or each other.

 

[Duleigh]

But when creating an MMC / FMC, are you more likely to imbue them with some of your own personality and / or some of your own preoccupations

Is not the first commandment of writing Thou shalt write what thou knowest? It's easiest to write about what you know, it makes troll comments even that more hilarious.

 

[sweetdreamssss]

Yes, the narrator I wrote in first person was based on me and some of the stories I did write was partially based out of the real life experience I had but I added too many details and changed massively.

Eg, we fooled around in a dark bus with a bf but I changed it to a random stranger etc...

The "NRI Bride" story is based on a person I knew. SHe was taken to USA by her husband who showed he was seemingly rich but was dirt poor and abusive. He kept telling her that she cannot complain to police as they will arrest her for visa violation etc...She finally took the courage to report and now happily divorced...
I wanted her to take revenge on her husband and wrting a story on that

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I’m the worst person to answer this. If you look up author injection, you get my avatar .

But when creating an MMC / FMC, are you more likely to imbue them with some of your own personality and / or some of your own preoccupations, or the opposite. Or do you try to reflect aspects of other people in your circle?

Em

Depends really. I get into no scrapes like the individuals in my stories so can’t really say I do.

In my latest story the main characters best friend really is his magic 8-ball. I don’t have a magic 8-ball. Nor do I believe in anything like that.

I guess we all have some bits of ourselves that we put in there, even in the villains of the stories. It’s the name of the game.

 

[Seadog777]

I think it's impossible to write a MC without putting at least something in it that is similar to yourself.
It might be something big like the MC's career or something as small as a mole on the MC's face.

 

[TadOverdon]

My protagonists tend to be a touch acerbic.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I’m the worst person to answer this. If you look up author injection, you get my avatar .

But when creating an MMC / FMC, are you more likely to imbue them with some of your own personality and / or some of your own preoccupations, or the opposite. Or do you try to reflect aspects of other people in your circle?

Em

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee, but I don't get your reference to author injection. Also, if you had an emoji there, it just appears as an empty square.

To make it simple: many of my protagonists live within five miles of where I am now. Some can be as far as about twenty-five to thirty miles out. For the Geek Pride Event, I'm going all the way to Virginia, with some references to Maryland and North Carolina.

 

[LovesDancing]

In my only story series so far the male character is a very good dancer, and before this covid crap changed the world I did a lot of dancing. Also, it's true, being a good dancer attracts women and is great foreplay.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee, but I don't get your reference to author injection. Also, if you had an emoji there, it just appears as an empty square.

Can you please make it simpler for me, I am ?

Em

 

[gunhilltrain]

Can you please make it simpler for me, I am ?

Em

Well, I'm male and I was completely baffled, or I wouldn't have asked the question. (I knew there would be an emoji somewhere that would be appropriate. They've got everything else here. Oops, that didn't show up. I should complain to Manu.)

 

[jaykaythree]

I'm all about basing my male leads (so far) on that Walter Mitty-esque first person. In fact, as I've said on similar threads, I based my first (and favorite) male lead on myself, and my first and favorite female lead on my wife.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Maybe I should respond to the thread question already. I didn't originally plan it that way, but many of my protagonists live within five miles of where I do, thirty at the most. Although for Geek Pride, I'm going all the way to Virginia.

 

[SimonDoom]

I should add: it can be fun to write a character that you consider completely UNLIKE you. I did that in my story BTB, Incorporated, which is a Mickey Spillane spoof told from the point of view of a hard-boiled private detective who's like Mike Hammer on crack. His values and perspectives are completely different from mine. But there's something liberating about writing a story like that.

 

[Imstillfun]

My protagonists always have something in common with me. From my first shared experience to my more sexually adventurous.