Changing your mindset

[Gamblnluck]

I'm curious how many have to work to get into the mindset of your character. I like to write multi-chapter stories. Sometimes I switch back and forth in my writing. I presently have two in progress. One is told from the viewpoint of a thirty year old submissive lesbian ( I am an old, 70+ hetero male). The other is told from the viewpoint of a mid-thirties, hetero male who is on the spectrum but in general is a nice, reasonable guy in a society where judicial slavery is the theme.
It seems I have to go back, read a chapter or two and 'reorient' myself to the story at hand. I've written stories from both the male and female viewpoint.
I generally find it easier when I want to get the emotions out to write from the first person POV. That is particularly important if there is a dom/sub viewpoint. I don't think it is anywhere near as effective to write from the dominant view..... "I busted the helpless bitch's ass with my whip and it made my dick hard" is not nearly as effective as portraying the same scene from the viewpoint of the 'bitch' getting her ass blasted and feeling the humiliated victim.
I've tried third person and sometimes it works and sometimes not. To me it is easier in the first.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

I'm curious how many have to work to get into the mindset of your character. I like to write multi-chapter stories. Sometimes I switch back and forth in my writing. I presently have two in progress. One is told from the viewpoint of a thirty year old submissive lesbian ( I am an old, 70+ hetero male). The other is told from the viewpoint of a mid-thirties, hetero male who is on the spectrum but in general is a nice, reasonable guy in a society where judicial slavery is the theme.
It seems I have to go back, read a chapter or two and 'reorient' myself to the story at hand. I've written stories from both the male and female viewpoint.
I generally find it easier when I want to get the emotions out to write from the first person POV. That is particularly important if there is a dom/sub viewpoint. I don't think it is anywhere near as effective to write from the dominant view..... "I busted the helpless bitch's ass with my whip and it made my dick hard" is not nearly as effective as portraying the same scene from the viewpoint of the 'bitch' getting her ass blasted and feeling the humiliated victim.
I've tried third person and sometimes it works and sometimes not. To me it is easier in the first.

This has never really been an issue for me, but when I write, I see EVERYTHING going on like I am watching a movie. As the scene plays out, I write the dialogue, explain the scenery, talk about feelings, and so on—just the way I see it going on in my head.

I have been told that my writing is very... visual... maybe that is why.

So, as for the characters, I "observe" them in their environment and let them show me or tell me what they want to happen. I mean, I do the work and put them in their positions, but then they will develop as the story goes, so what I thought they would be doing at a certain point is not always what actually happens.

Make sense?

 

[Voboy]

If I have to work to get into "writing mode," that's usually a sign to me that the story might not be going well enough to finish.

Sometimes I push on and power through, especially if I've got a compelling reason to finish. But if it's just an arbitrary story I've started, I'll often abandon it when it's becoming a chore.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm curious how many have to work to get into the mindset of your character.

Well it's about imagination, innit? Probably the same or at least quite similar to how Kate Winslet or Robert DeNiro get into character for their acting roles.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Probably the same or at least quite similar to how...Robert DeNiro get into character for their acting roles.

My mind before resuming my LW stories.

 

[NoTalentHack]

It's never been something I've had a ton of trouble with. I actually have the opposite problem, where I tend to empathize too easily with my characters and therefore am rarely able to make a "real" villain unless they're a sociopath or the like. It could be a neurodivergent tic; I know some other folks with my particular type of brain spice find it too easy to put themselves in other's shoes, to the point where it can be detrimental to their ability to deal with bad actors. It could be that I've been playing D&D since I was eight and DMing since not too much longer than that, so I've had to switch between characters rapidly for like forty years. Hell, one could enable the other, for all I know.

I do have a slightly related issue, though, in that I tend to empathize too heavily with my own characters. It's hard for me to make "real" villains unless I either make them a sociopath or leave them more as a sketch than anything else; instead, they come off as broken, pathetic, out-of-control things, even when they're doing evil stuff.

 

[Gamblnluck]

o, as for the characters, I "observe" them in their environment and let them show me or tell me what they want to happen. I mean, I do the work and put them in their positions, but then they will develop as the story goes, so what I thought they would be doing at a certain point is not always what actually happens.

Make sense?

Yeah, that is how it works when using the third person POV. You know all.

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

WHat always tickles me is that I will sometimes go into the story creation process and expect my characters to be one thing, but then, through the course of the story, they do their own damn things and are not always what I wanted.

Like they take on a life of their own, or something.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I have some characters that take on a life of their own and some that refuse to live. Those buggers I kill off!

 

[CarmineBlancheJr]

I have some characters that take on a life of their own and some that refuse to live. Those buggers I kill off!

You can also keep them as "walk-off" characters.

I have a series that I published on SmashWords (D2D now, if they would get their shit together and Repub them), where there is an ongoing gag to the effect of, "Hey, what happened to Timothy?". Then the other person says, "Oh, he was kidnapped by the 'Free Canada Liberation Party.'" Then the first person says, kind of in a blah way, "Oh... sucks to be Timothy."