Bonding with Characters

[Boxlicker101]

I don't know if this has happened to others, but it does to me. First, whenever I have had sex with a woman, even being sucked off in the front seat of my car by a hooker, I have felt a certain affection for her. I think of this as bonding, which may not be the right word, but it seems right to me.

Okay, that might not be so strange but, whenever I write a story about a real woman, I have a similar feeling toward her. If the character is strictly made up, I have no feelings but, if it is a first person celeb story or a story that I am writing about a female reader, I get a warm feeling toward her. I had never even heard of Kelly Monaco until just before I wrote about her, but now I feel quite affectionate and protrective. I had no particular feelings toward Anna Nicole Smith until I wrote about her, but I still feel sorry about her suddenly dying like that. Other female celebs (I have never written about a male celeb) evoke similar feelings.

This does not happen with fanfic stories. I have no particular affection for Kelly Bundy or the characters from "Friends" or "Gilligan's Island" even though I know the roles are played by real people.

Anyhow, I was just wondering if other authors had these same feelings, or am I just weird?

 

[PoppingTom]

This does not happen with fanfic stories. I have no particular affection for Kelly Bundy or the characters from "Friends" or "Gilligan's Island" even though I know the roles are played by real people.

I think there have to be a face that tells you something, so you can feel with that. Maybe you see Kelly Bundy or Courteney Cox from "Friends" only as the funny persons they have to play.

just look at picture 1 of Cheryl Cole, and now on pic 2 or, most preferred, pic 3, and now tell me, which pic motivates you most to write a story about her or feel with her?

To me, I don't see Courteney Cox as a fanfic celeb. Jennifer Moaniston is more of that.

 

[Lisa Summers]

I always "bond" with at least one character in my stories. I write because I want to tell someone's story - difficult to do without sympathizing in some way with the 'person'.

 

[LaRocha]

I always write about females I already have sort of bond with, that's why I couldn't really write about a celebrity or someone I just saw walking on the street, too impersonal of a fantasy. Watching a pornstar have sex or watching some cute actress walk across screen in a bikini is the same impersonal experience to me, I might be able to get off on it, but I couldn't write a story with that person.

But my characters are often amalgamations of women I've known, so in a weird way they're entirely new ideas of people and I do form bonds with that fantasy character which translate to me caring more about the real life females. Some girl I had a thing for in high school I'll still talk to on facebook and part of our relationship is the sex stories I've involved them in. Of course they don't know about the sex stories they just think I'm their facebook buddy, former real life friend or acquaintance. Facebook photos are good triggers for stories for me, bad girls shouldn't be posting so many risque photos, gives me a series of reportable sex fantasies.

 

[LaRocha]

Cloudy wouldn't be a character I'd bond with in my stories, she's too virulent, a vitriolic female no man would desire in fiction or real life.

 

[Handley_Page]

I feel slightly proprietorial towards my Dragon (and no- I am not into that kind of thing). I just wish there was a section on this board for such nonsense and /or I could finish several of the stories I have of the original.

 

[PoppingTom]

Cloudy wouldn't be a character I'd bond with in my stories, she's too virulent, a vitriolic female no man would desire in fiction or real life.

Whothefuck is Cloudy?

Sounds interesting....

 

[oggbashan]

Cloudy wouldn't be a character I'd bond with in my stories, she's too virulent, a vitriolic female no man would desire in fiction or real life.

Speak for yourself.

Og

 

[LaRocha]

I just saw some of that old movie Airplane. I bond well with that female main character, she's well known, I don't know her name because I wasn't born when she was famous. Anyway, I always remember how she fellates/inflates that inflatable co-pilot. She bends over and gives him a bj. That always turns me on, I'm attracted to her for performing that weird act in a movie.

 

[PoppingTom]

And who the fuck is Cloudy?

 

[Stella_Omega]

And who the fuck is Cloudy?

A brilliant and beautiful woman who is waaay out of la rocha's league.

And yeah-- I bond with my characters too. There are some that "hang out" with me, and I find myself thinking; "so-and-so would love that dress!" or more likely, "So-and-so would look so good in that kind of rope bondage..."

 

[Boxlicker101]

I think there have to be a face that tells you something, so you can feel with that. Maybe you see Kelly Bundy or Courteney Cox from "Friends" only as the funny persons they have to play.

just look at picture 1 of Cheryl Cole, and now on pic 2 or, most preferred, pic 3, and now tell me, which pic motivates you most to write a story about her or feel with her?

To me, I don't see Courteney Cox as a fanfic celeb. Jennifer Moaniston is more of that.

Cheryl Crowe is certainly a good-looking woman, but none of the pics would induce me to write a celeb story about her. Usually it would require a nude photo, unless I happen to already be a fan of the actress. Other things that would induce me to write about a celeb would be something like the pic I saw of Jessica Simpson, one of the sexiest women in the world, with a caption describing her as overweight. That gave me a plot bunny.

Most of the stories I write are in the first person, and I emphasize with my character. Usually, in third person stories, I can emphasize with a male character, although I don't have any kind of bonding. His actions are the same as I would have done under the same c ircumstances.

Cloudy is a woman who is a regular on this forum. It's almost a certainty that I will never include her as a character in a story I write, because she would object to it, and I would respect her wishes. I have included a few other forum members in stories, sometimes as central characters and sometimes as part of a group.

Kelly Bundy is not an actress; she was a character in "Married with Children" and some other TV shows.

 

[PoppingTom]

Cheryl Crowe is certainly a good-looking woman, but none of the pics would induce me to write a celeb story about her. Usually it would require a nude photo, unless I happen to already be a fan of the actress. Other things that would induce me to write about a celeb would be something like the pic I saw of Jessica Simpson, one of the sexiest women in the world, with a caption describing her as overweight. That gave me a plot bunny.

OK, you are into round faces, I'm more into hard edged.

And forgive me my smart aleckness, but it's Cheryl Cole aka Tweedy, not Sheryl Crow

(....but I like both )

Cloudy is a woman who is a regular on this forum. It's almost a certainty that I will never include her as a character in a story I write, because she would object to it, and I would respect her wishes.

Sounds more interesting

I like women that's not so easy.

Kelly Bundy is not an actress; she was a character in "Married with Children" and some other TV shows.

I know, you mean "Dumpfbacke" Christina Applegate (Yeah, we know the show in Germany , it's called "a terrible nice family")

 

[where]

all the characters in my few stories are based on people I know and am sexually and emotionally attracted to, so I'm already bonded with them

 

[DeeZire]

When I wrote a satire on Scouries, I bonded with his failings, since we all have failings, but I made fun of his ego, since it's such an easy, and humorous target. I don't think it would be fun reading a story in which the author hadn't bonded with any of the characters.

When I'm creating characters out of thin air, they take over my whole life, at least until the story's finished (or filed in the 'later' folder,) although which one I'll bond with depends on the situation. In The Bleaker House Ghost, I started out empathizing with the woman, but by the time the story was about half done, the villain's backstory won me over, even though he was a vile and evil character.

I would love to have Cloudy in one of my stories. I think the world needs more strong women who won't take crap from anybody - especially ignorant men stuck in their male-dominated 1950's mindset.

 

[Brute_Force]

Do I bond with a character I write? How would I do that exactly? They aren't flesh-and-blood. They are people in my head. If you're asking me if I bond with myself when I write a character, then maybe. But, apart from that, you're getting into layers of abstraction that don't go far in the end.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yes, as they are based on persons known to me in one way or another.

 

[oggbashan]

Yes, as they are based on persons known to me in one way or another.

Only one of my characters, Fag-Ash Lil, is based on a person I know or knew. Sadly, Fag-Ash Lil is no more, and yes, that was the name she was known by.

All my other characters are constructs. There might be some characteristics of several real people in any one character but no fictional character is based on a single individual.

If that wasn't the case, I could be sued.

Og

 

[where]

Only one of my characters, Fag-Ash Lil, is based on a person I know or knew. Sadly, Fag-Ash Lil is no more, and yes, that was the name she was known by.

All my other characters are constructs. There might be some characteristics of several real people in any one character but no fictional character is based on a single individual.

If that wasn't the case, I could be sued.

Og

fag-ash Lil is a bit of an archetype, no?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Do I bond with a character I write? How would I do that exactly? They aren't flesh-and-blood. They are people in my head. If you're asking me if I bond with myself when I write a character, then maybe. But, apart from that, you're getting into layers of abstraction that don't go far in the end.

I can't speak or write for other people but, when I have sex with a woman, I feel a certain affection toward her, which I refer to as bonding. It is similar to what I feel for my wife, but nowhere near as strong. Interestingly, I have never felt that bonding with a man with whom I have had sex.

When I write a story and the characters are strictly made up, I have no feelings toward them. However, when I write about a real woman, either a celebrity or a reader or other woman who has asked me to write a story about her, I feel the same kind of bonding. For one thing, I usually have pictures of that woman to work from, either from a magazine or a videotape clip or a sexy photo she has sent me. They are real people and, even though I never see them, I develop a sense of affectiion toward them when I write about the fun sex we are having together, the same as I do toward real sex partners.

This is not a complaint, because I actually enjoy the feeling, but I have been wondering if other authors here experience the same feelings.

 

[oggbashan]

fag-ash Lil is a bit of an archetype, no?

Fag-Ash Lil was a feature of our local town. She was tolerated as a harmless irritant.

We lost a male equivalent recently but we still have several people around that would have been considered "the village idiot" or "the local drunk" in previous times. They are a danger to themselves, but not to anyone else.

Even the local louts treat them kindly, giving them ciggies or cans of booze.

Og

 

[Brute_Force]

I can't speak or write for other people but, when I have sex with a woman, I feel a certain affection toward her, which I refer to as bonding. It is similar to what I feel for my wife, but nowhere near as strong. Interestingly, I have never felt that bonding with a man with whom I have had sex.

When I write a story and the characters are strictly made up, I have no feelings toward them. However, when I write about a real woman, either a celebrity or a reader or other woman who has asked me to write a story about her, I feel the same kind of bonding. For one thing, I usually have pictures of that woman to work from, either from a magazine or a videotape clip or a sexy photo she has sent me. They are real people and, even though I never see them, I develop a sense of affectiion toward them when I write about the fun sex we are having together, the same as I do toward real sex partners.

This is not a complaint, because I actually enjoy the feeling, but I have been wondering if other authors here experience the same feelings.

I see what you're saying, and I guess it's just a matter of what we each write about. I write purely fictional characters not based in any way on real people that I know or have known in the past, so bonding is not the word for what happens. I simply open myself up and create. I take the character seriously, sure, and I even spend a lot of waking time thinking about them. But I don't bond with a fiction.

 

[oggbashan]

I see what you're saying, and I guess it's just a matter of what we each write about. I write purely fictional characters not based in any way on real people that I know or have known in the past, so bonding is not the word for what happens. I simply open myself up and create. I take the character seriously, sure, and I even spend a lot of waking time thinking about them. But I don't bond with a fiction.

Becoming emotionally involved with a character can impact adversely on your writing.

Dorothy L Sayers was accused of bonding too much with Lord Peter Wimsey and writing wish-fulfilment in some of her stories, with herself as Harriet Vane.

Conan Doyle came to hate Sherlock Holmes because the character was more famous than the creator, but Holmes' public following, and Conan Doyle's financial needs, resurrected Holmes after his apparently fatal encounter with Moriarty.

When your characters take on a life of their own, the story might be improved, but also might be wrecked by loss of direction.

Og

 

[Brute_Force]

Becoming emotionally involved with a character can impact adversely on your writing.

Dorothy L Sayers was accused of bonding too much with Lord Peter Wimsey and writing wish-fulfilment in some of her stories, with herself as Harriet Vane.

Conan Doyle came to hate Sherlock Holmes because the character was more famous than the creator, but Holmes' public following, and Conan Doyle's financial needs, resurrected Holmes after his apparently fatal encounter with Moriarty.

When your characters take on a life of their own, the story might be improved, but also might be wrecked by loss of direction.

Og

Agreed.

 

[The_Fool]

Cloudy wouldn't be a character I'd bond with in my stories, she's too virulent, a vitriolic female no man would desire in fiction or real life.

I desire her. Her kisses are wonderful.