Would you be friends with your characters?

[Straka]

A few betas who've read one of my works, said they wouldn't like my MC as a friend, but they liked him as a character.

This intrigued me because I don't believe I've ever thought, would I be friends with character X?

So I pose to you, which characters from what works would you like to actually be friends with if they were in the flesh?

[Alpha Echo]

Good question.

I think I wouldn't want to be friends with my MC at the beginning of my WIP, but by the end, the growth that she experiences...I would want to be friends with her.

I never really thought about that either. I've always loved my characters - even the "bad" ones, but I never thought about being friends with them. Looking back, I don't think most of my MC's would be friend. I have another character in my last manuscript that I'd love to be friends with, but she wasn't the MC.

[III]

As goofy as it sounds, I think I have become friends with my characters and I'll miss them when the story is over.

[sunna]

Well, if it's goofy, I'm right there with you.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Well, my MC is me. So I would hope I could be friends with myself.

Although there are some days when I piss even myself off.

[Carmy]

I'm friends with most of my characters, but there is an MC who pi**es me off because she's too dumb to see the danger she's in. There is also another MC I wouldn't trust any further than I could throw him.

[Liosse de Velishaf]

I would say that, yes, in general, I could probably be friends with most of my characters... What characters would I like best? Not sure yet.

[Calamity_Jones]

I don't think I could write about somebody who pisses me off. I'd have to make them suffer a serious accident very quickly.

Now don't get me wrong, a good villain is one that the reader feels genuine hatred towards, Professor Umbridge in Harry Potter, anyone? I don't think anybody could read about her without foaming at the mouth with uncontrollably burning furious hate.

But a character that annoys and irritates is a completely different thing... Like Nynaeve in the Wheel of Time. I want her dead. And she's one of the "good guys".

Most of my main characters I could make friends with, since I made one of my main characters more or less a clone of myself...

[jannawrites]

Absolutely. The main character in my first novel gets a lot of who she is from me (I think I sort of lived through her vicariously), and those of prominence in her life are similar to those in mine. I'd be friends with all of them.

There are two exceptions: a stalker (self-explanatory, that one) and a complaining, self-absorbed, unpleasant woman, who was based on all those in my life who've rubbed me the wrong way. In the end she's friend-worthy, but in real life I'd avoid her.

I wonder if anyone's ever written a book for which no characters are likable enough to have been their friends? Likable characters seem to go hand-in-hand with a writer's work - at least one or two - but maybe it depends on the genre.

[jannawrites]

I don't think I could write about somebody who pisses me off. I'd have to make them suffer a serious accident very quickly.

Now don't get me wrong, a good villain is one that the reader feels genuine hatred towards, Professor Umbridge in Harry Potter, anyone? I don't think anybody could read about her without foaming at the mouth with uncontrollably burning furious hate.

<snip>

I think it's cathartic to write about people who piss us off. In the case of the unpleasant woman I mentioned in my last post, getting her character out on paper helped me deal with the frustrations of people like her in my real life. Almost as if sharing her with my (potential) readers makes someone like her that much more tolerable, and relatable too, because everyone knows someone like her.

[Storm Dream]

The characters in my latest WIP would probably be really fun at a party...but I wouldn't want to be pals with them.

I'm actually trying to think of any novels I've had where I'd want to be genuine friends with the MC. Maybe last year's NaNo. Everyone else seems slightly unlikable. :)

[Nateskate]

My novel has multiple MCs. Some I'd love to meet.

[DisenchantedDoc]

I try to make my characters likable... I'm just too drawn to the anti-hero. Dammit!

But most of my characters are loosely based on people I know and have been friends with at one point or another in my life. Some I'm still friends with. Some I'm not (they become a great basis for villains).

[MissKris]

My MC in my first novel I'd be friends with. She's smart and independent and thinking. The MC from my WIP, not so much. He'd be one of those obnoxious know-it-all kids to me. And most of the MCs from my short stories are too quirky for me - except the old bingo-playing, muffin-baking, cussing midwestern lady. She'd be a hoot to be around.

[The Lonely One]

It's interesting to think I would make friends with:

- a space-aged killer

- an elderly self-loathing man with pictures, time and a gun

- spider-like creatures from Europa

- a man who is trying to wipe out humankind with a strain of mad cow disease

I'm sure I could go on.

I think our characters are part of us, but sometimes the parts you don't consciously feel comfortable with, or would never explore in social situations (me thinks blood-lust is worth mentioning here). Thus, we explore these parts of ourselves from the safety of the page.

So would I be friends with my characters?

I guess that depends on how close the keyboard is.

[C.bronco]

A few betas who've read one of my works, said they wouldn't like my MC as a friend, but they liked him as a character.

This intrigued me because I don't believe I've ever thought, would I be friends with character X?

So I pose to you, which characters from what works would you like to actually be friends with if they were in the flesh?
Just the good guys, but only if they brought me pie.

[Clio]

Well, most of my characters are historical, but I've put the meat on their bones, so to speak. My female MC is indeed my best friend. Being separated from her by 2,000 years is a minor inconvenience in the crazy world that is my brain. I'm also hopelessly in love with one of the males - not the main protag - his sidekick! I've tried to keep the truly vile characters to a minimum, or just have them float through the background. But I did give one his head and he turned out to be as loathsome as I planned, and hopefully, readers would want to inflict a terrible death on him.

But when it comes to the one or two fictional characters I've created in this WIP, I got so close to one of them that when I reached a part of the novel where I had to do a terrible thing..... Oh, don't... I can still weep about it :Sun:

[Phaeal]

In my current WIP novel, I want to be RL friends with everyone from the sweet teen MC to Nyarlathotep. Me and Nya, BFF. Yeah, that'll work, 'cause the second F will really be forever. ;)

There are tons of fictional characters I'd love to be friends with. A very partial list is probably already too long:

Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
Zooey Glass (Franny and Zooey)
Faramir, Pippin Took, Sam Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)
Joe Gargery (Great Expectations)
Melanie Hamilton-Wilkes (Gone with the Wind)
Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre)
Olga Bracely (Queen Lucia, Lucia in London, Trouble for Lucia)
Queequeg (Moby Dick)
Jim (Huckleberry Finn)
Francisco d'Anconia (Atlas Shrugged)
Mary Crawford (Mansfield Park)
Mr. Knightley (Emma)
Sam Dodsworth (Dodsworth)
Special Agent Pendergast (The Relic and others)
Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter)
Christopher Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time)

and from TV:

Dwight Schrute (yeah, Battlestar marathons!)
Dexter Morgan (as long as I don't become a serial killer)
Kara (Starbuck) Thrace (as long as I don't make her mad)
The whole crew of Serenity, yeah, even Vera

Wow, interesting. These characters range from the sweet and loyal to the brilliant but difficult to the exotic. I'd love to throw a party for them all.

:PartySmil

[auntybug]

Absolutely. My last 2 books have a great group of friends. They are kinda like some of mine. I'd love to be surrounded by them. Like Jay, I really miss them when the book is done. (Hence my last book turning into a 2-part. I love them so much - they wouldn't leave me alone!)

[JoNightshade]

I'm notorious for trying to make friends with quirky, unpleasant people.

So in other words, yeah. My characters would probably be my kinds of friends. :)

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

Let's just say I'd rather be friends with her than enemies... :)

[ABekah]

Yes! I would be best friends with most of my characters, actually. Except the antagonists.

My characters are often bits and pieces of me, my friends and family.

[Straka]

The whole crew of Serenity, yeah, even Vera


I'd echo that.

Otherwise...

Robert "Bobby" Shaftoe (Cryptonomicon) He would be a good drinking buddy

I'll have to think up some others.

[stormie]

Not only have there been characters I would like to be friends with, but I sometimes feel I am that character, after I've finished writing the ms. *Cue eerie music*

[MumblingSage]

I'm friends with some of my characters, some I don't talk to, some I talk to but don't like much. They'll probably stick with me even after I finish their novels, too. I even have a few who haven't been written yet...

Anyway. Most of my characters are nice people, I think, so I'd probably get along with them in real life. Mostly because I don't enjoy writing about people I don't like. Even my antagonists might get along with me. That could be a fault in my writing, though, since it could make all the characters somewhat 'samey'...

[lexxi]

Hm.

In the mystery novel I'm working on now, I could imagine at least being friendly colleagues with most of the characters, yes, including the murderer.
There's one character I haven't introduced yet who might turn out to be a lot scarier, but even in his case the real scariness might be all in the past.

Several of the characters I could see being close friends with. One of them is a recovering drug addict who would have been much more unpleasant to be around when he was using but much more positive than negative during the course of the book. And even during the unlikeable parts of the backstory I'm still fascinated with him and sympathetic.

In the play I've started but sort of put on the back burner, I would have less in common with the characters, including the time period we live in, and because it's a farce some of their foibles will be emphasized more than their good qualities. But I could probably get along OK with most of them if not actually be close friends.

In the long interactive fiction I was writing between 1999 and 2007, most of my main characters were considerably younger and more successful than me, so they probably wouldn't be interested in being friends with me, but if we did end up spending time together I don't see why we wouldn't get along. Some of the background characters would make close friends.

[RedScylla]

I would perhaps be penpals with my MC, but I wouldn't want to be his friend if he were out and about in real life. He's on death row, because he deserves to be.

[IdiotsRUs]

I don't know about friends, but there's one who, if I found him in my bed, I would handcuff him there. Does that count?

[RedScylla]

Friends with benefits? And handcuffs?

[tehuti88]

I've got so many characters of so many different types, I could never say which ones I'd be friends with or not.

Regarding the MC of my current WIP, I'd totally WANT to be friends with her--I love her so much and would love to be more like her--but our personalities are so different in some ways that I don't know if it would work. I think she'd be nice to me but it might be out of pity because she has self-confidence and is caring toward people that way whereas I don't believe in myself one bit. (I've been rejected by just about every friend I've ever tried to make, especially the ones who insisted they wanted to be friends and would be there for me, so I'd always suspect she's just being nice out of pity and will bail on me the first chance she gets, even though that's not in the least bit in her character.) I'd hate to drag her down since she's so confident and busy helping people and such; my gloominess and shyness would likely tax her severely, and the one thing we do have in common is our short tempers. These are the reasons I don't let my characters know I exist, I'd be humiliated if they rejected me!

Cripes, major downer! My apologies. :o

[Ageless Stranger]

Huh.

If me and my mc ever met we'd probably come to blows.

Self pitying, little git.

And that's just what he thinks of me!

[Oddsocks]

Some of them, definitely. A lot of my characters are people I really like. But not all of them. Some of my characters quite seriously lack normal human emotions, the capacity for normal human interactions, the forming of bonds of loyalty...they're kind of extreme.

While I love these people as characters, and can even sympathise with them to an extent, I would not want them as my friends.

[Inarticulate Babbler]

My protagonist probably wouldn't have condescended to speak to me, until after he met Will. Now, him I'd be friends with. Eventually, I'd be friends with my Protagonist, it would just take him a bit of time for him to realize how much was below the surface.

[Mad Queen]

I would perhaps be penpals with my MC, but I wouldn't want to be his friend if he were out and about in real life. He's on death row, because he deserves to be.
I wouldn't touch your MC with a barge pole.

I wouldn't mind talking to my MC, but we would never be friends. There are other characters in my WIP I'd love to be friends with, especially my MC's girl friend.

[truelyana]

I have already been most of my characters. I am no longer one anymore, and feel my own character degrading and I feel most confident in that.

[ChaosTitan]

My heroine - I'd rather be her friend than her enemy. She will go to hell and back to protect the people she cares about. Although I do tend to treat her friends as cannon fodder, so that might not work out too well for me....

But I don't think we'd be friends, because she scares the bejeezus out of me. ;)

[Enzo]

They're dangerous people.
They would get my car or house blown up, and I might not survive long enough to become too friendly with them anyway.

[Mad Queen]

Although I do tend to treat her friends as cannon fodder, so that might not work out too well for me....
I doubt any of our characters would be friends with us if they knew it was we who turned their lives into hell, and all because we wanted 'a good story' and a good story has 'conflict'. It sounds psychopathic, doesn't it?

[ChaosTitan]

I doubt any of our characters would be friends with us if they knew it was we who turned their lives into hell, and all because we wanted 'a good story' and a good story has 'conflict'. It sounds psychopathic, doesn't it?

:e2brows:

[darrtwish]

From my own works, I wouldn't be friends with Darren (from Paradox) because he's a complete jerk. But I'd be friend with his best friend Loren because she's smart, funny, and doesn't put up with Darren's crap. In my other WIP I'd be friends with my main character Maggie in a heartbeat. She's so similar to me in so many ways, I think I would understand her. I would also like to be friends with Quinn. She's such a nice girl, and really treats Maggie well. I've been friends with a Julian type person and I can't stand them, because they're too messed up for me to help up. Not fun at all.

[Feidb]

I'd definitely be freinds with all my major characters because there's a little bit of me in all of them. Physically, I couldn't keep up with them, but in moments of calm, we'd get along great.

Also, when I'm writing a major character, if I can't stand him or her, why am I making them a major character? I just don't write that type of book.

[donroc]

Definitely friends with my historical fiction MC and several of the fictional characters I created.

And all my other MCs as well, even in my horror novel.

Of course, if that is my taste, perhaps certain readers would not want to be friends with me, as happens to all of us in real life. We cannot be liked by everyone.

[Varthikes]

I'd definitely be friends with the two main characters from the series I'm currently working on. Especially the main dragon character.

[Telstar]

I don't think I could write about somebody who pisses me off. I'd have to make them suffer a serious accident very quickly.


Not only I did, but i made her a very positive character. Sort of opposite of what she really is.
But it's a minor one. And because my plot demanded it, i didnt blink twice.

Now, I would make friends with my MC and most of his friends.

[Telstar]

I don't know about friends, but there's one who, if I found him in my bed, I would handcuff him there. Does that count?

Oh I have many that i would bed... problem is they are most underage.

[midknighthaze]

I grew to LOVE my MC. I realized she was a bit like ME, ahem. :D

[Susan Lanigan]

Of the three main characters in my most recent MS-in-progress, I would definitely want to be friends with one because she is so cool. The other two, I would probably be friends with also.

I found when working on scenes with the two characters who were the main culprits and the most villainous I felt this heaviness - as if all the energy were draining out of me. I could feel their malevolence and it really made me angry.

[vfury]

In terms of writing and the amount of thinking I've done about the book, I've definitely become fond of my characters. That said, I don't know if I'd be friends with them: they're all much cooler than me.

Right now, I think I'll be very sad to let go of them when I'm finished polishing the book and move to query land. But when I'm actually there, I'll probably be more than happy to move on to the next project. :D

[redpbass]

The main character in my current story...his personality would clash with mine so badly we'd come to blows within ten minutes, I'm sure. His "sidekick" would irritate me in a different way, and the rest of his crew would have me stomping around looking for something to punch within seconds. The antagonists would have nothing to do with me, and I would only get along with one semi-important character in the whole story, and that guy barely even talks.

I love many of my characters, but there are only a dozen or so out of all of the characters I've made that I'd be able to be friends with.

[TheAntar]

A few betas who've read one of my works, said they wouldn't like my MC as a friend, but they liked him as a character.

This intrigued me because I don't believe I've ever thought, would I be friends with character X?

So I pose to you, which characters from what works would you like to actually be friends with if they were in the flesh?

I want to take my novel's mc to bed. :)

[Michael Parks]

Yes to most. I would not want a bit to do with the antagonists, of course. Nasty lot, those.

[willietheshakes]

Well, some of my characters remind me a LOT of myself so, no, I wouldn't want to be friends with them...

[dwellerofthedeep]

None of the characters in Doppelganger are my sort of friends.

Nephilim has some more variety in choices. Cadillac especially is an intriguing thought as he is a villain, but a cool and respectable one.

[MumblingSage]

I want to take my novel's mc to bed. :)
Hmm...I'm considering the implications if you did, though. :D I make it a rule never to get romantically involved with my characters, although I do allow them to develop crushes on my boyfriend.

[TheAntar]

Hmm...I'm considering the implications if you did, though. :D I make it a rule never to get romantically involved with my characters, although I do allow them to develop crushes on my boyfriend.

Ah yes but for some unknown reason I'm a guy writing a female MC in that particular story. Which is especially odd since the rest of my main characters are all male.

Just doesn't work as a man in her role, though. :)

[TypoSlayer]

I've got so many characters of so many different types, I could never say which ones I'd be friends with or not.

Regarding the MC of my current WIP, I'd totally WANT to be friends with her--I love her so much and would love to be more like her--but our personalities are so different in some ways that I don't know if it would work. I think she'd be nice to me but it might be out of pity because she has self-confidence and is caring toward people that way whereas I don't believe in myself one bit. (I've been rejected by just about every friend I've ever tried to make, especially the ones who insisted they wanted to be friends and would be there for me, so I'd always suspect she's just being nice out of pity and will bail on me the first chance she gets, even though that's not in the least bit in her character.) I'd hate to drag her down since she's so confident and busy helping people and such; my gloominess and shyness would likely tax her severely, and the one thing we do have in common is our short tempers. These are the reasons I don't let my characters know I exist, I'd be humiliated if they rejected me!

Cripes, major downer! My apologies. :o


*hugs Tehuti88* :)


anyway... I would like to be friends with my characters... especially my two male Mcs from my current wip. they're so lovable *hugs both*

now the demon...not so much. He might spit a fireball at me if I tried to get too close...:D

[slcboston]

Yes, up until they ripped my throat out. :D

[Skye Jules]

Yes, I probably would. I would even be friends with one of the antagonists--but only one of them.

[Cherry Bear]

I think I would probably love my villain in all her insanity; I'd probably view my MC as stuck-up, rude, and out-of-place from the inside, because that's precisely what she appears as. It can't be helped though. I didn't make her for me to like her, because then I would just try to make every action she performs perfect and I can't have that. She has to be human and make mistakes, which is must easier for me if I'm not her biggest fan.

[Chasing the Horizon]

I'd marry the hero from my fantasy series :D . I'd definitely be friends with the MCs in my YA series too. They're really sweet.

I want no parts of the MCs in my contemporary, they're both psychotic killers. Same goes for the villains in both my series.

Overall, I'd probably be friends (or more than friends in a few cases) with about half my characters. The other half are scary or just plain annoying. They're all interesting, though, and I figure that's the important thing for the story.

Now, whether any of them would actually want to be friends with me is a whole separate issue.