Your character is not you

Hey all,

 I have a problem were I like to make me characters. You know when your character goes through something and their reaction would have been your reaction. Yeah... I tend to do that a lot.

But hey! There's a solution.



You stand on your head and count to ten, while rubbing your belly with one hand. Just kidding. ;) And it's a good thing too, I can barely stand on my head, let alone rub my belly at the same time. ;P

You get to know your characters. Personally I don't like character journals and interviews. But I've heard those work great for a lot of people. But those just don't work for me.
So I like to have a sort of obstacle course. I have scenes in my head -some they most likely won't go through- and I write out their thoughts and actions on what's happening.

Owyn drew this picture of A' Mercy

 

Here's an example of A' Mercy, one of the main characters in Owyn's and my current WIP: (This isn't something that happens in the book, but these are thoughts she thinks often)

A' Mercy looked at Barrak as he ran toward a man with his sword drawn and scowled. She always felt like she was just a tag-along. Just because she was more feminine than Arin didn't mean she wasn't up to the job of taking out a few highwaymen. They knew she was deadly with her bow, but shoved her to safety instead. Everyone was always trying to help the poor orphan girl. Well, she would help whether they liked it or not.

A' Mercy feels this way a lot. Sure, I sometimes feel this way. -Of course I'm not an orphan in a different world, trying to save it- But A' Mercy is going to act on it. She has more of a temper than me. And she is my first character I've ever kept, so... No, I know I don't have an excuse. But what can I say? I'm guilty, but people who don't read this post will never know. So, shh... ;)

But this is her personality, it just seems to fit her. That's the excuse I'll use.

Do you have any characters that are too much like you? How can you change that? Or do you have an excuse like mine?

Have a great weekend!! Brookie