When writing, do you become obsessed with your characters?

Question

I have not written fiction for a few years because I have been at university. Now, I have a little more time, and I have been working on a story (which will probably become a short novel) for several months.

I am almost obsessed with my characters. I think about them a lot – their thoughts, their motivations, their joys, their sorrows. My characters fascinate me in the same way people in real life fascinate me, and they seem to exist in the world as strongly as they exist in my head.

I do not consider myself crazy. Can any other writers elate to my obsession?

Answer 1

Certain ones, yes. The book I am working on now has 9 major characters in it plus a whole batch of secondaries and I am very much obsessed with all 9 of their lives (they are one family) but two of them in particular are nearer and dearer to me than the rest. One is the actual narrator. The second is a small child.

But that is good. It shows you are doing detailed character studies and you actually KNOW your characters and how they will respond in almost any situation. I congratulate you for "getting it". Just wait - it gets worse. Sometimes you can actually hear them talking to you and telling you what they should be doing. I keep a tape recorder on the seat of my car and a note pad beside my bed. They get to me at the worst possible times.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 2

In most cases I feel that I can identify with all my characters. The more I write about them the more they grow and obviously so does their life story.
In a strange way I think of some of them as friends I’d like to have, others like enemies I’d like to avoid making, and some that I’d never really wish to meet at all.

This probably stems from how I create my characters; I don’t use the usual “I based this character on my 9th grade History teacher…” I tend to create each character as an extension of myself. So on at least some level I can relate to them all.

I suppose some might think this would make my characters unoriginal or disingenuous, but through criticism I’ve found it actually creates a character with a unique view on his or her place in life, or at least the life depicted in the narrative.

So the answer is “YES” – You can rest easy you’re normal, or at least normal for a writer. Besides this will help you plot, as the more you think about the characters the more you’ll be able to see the struggles they’ll face as well as gauge their reactions.

Good luck on your current piece by the way!

Answer 3

I agree completely! They become very real because they are pieces of you, even if only in small quantities. Some of the characters I've written (I'm up to almost 3,000 pages - ugh) have become so familiar to me, and their plights and triumphs feel so genuine, that sometimes I have to remind myself that they're fictional. :)

But you know something? I think it's the sign of a really gifted writer. If you love your characters, you'll do right by them. You obviously have a really creative passion for what you do, I hope you decide to publish your story when it's finished! :)

Answer 4

Mainly, I write non-fiction. (I AM a professional writer, meaning I write to put bread on the table.) On the occasions when I have written fiction, my characters tend to take on lives of their own. I don't have to ask myself, well, what would Sam do in this situation.? - if I've done my job creating Sam, I'll know what he'll do. I dunno if that's the same as "obsession". I just let the characters play off one another in my head and write down what happens. I sold a teleplay to ABC once, and it was produced, so this method CAN work, commercially.

Answer 5

I personally put more work into developing my setting and mood than my characters, but I certainly become closely attached to them. Sometimes I even base some off others I have grown to like so much in stories I wrote previously because I enjoy writing about them.

Answer 6

That is exactly how I am! I am constantly thinking about my characters! But mainly my main characters. I know what they look like, and how they feel to certain things. Lol, It makes me feel like I'm crazy. But I heard a saying, If you think you're crazy, you're not. Good luck on your story!

Answer 7

I wouldn't call myself A writer but I love to write. It's kinda funny because all my charactors normally relate to someone in my life. Right now I am writing a short horse story. Alissa the main charactor is EXACTLY like me!
HaHa

Answer 8

You kind of have to be crazy to write good fiction :P. You can't approach the world like other people; you have to be a sensual artist. Your characters come alive through you, so you have to sort of become scitzophrenic (sorry for the misspell) in order to bring them through the page. They are an extension of your subconscious and inner thoughts, and you must love your characters deeply for the story to survive. You must know their desires (very important) and you must desire them when you write...not necessarily when you don't (especially if you write characters like mine, who sometimes primarily desire things like revenge and killing and suicide). But when you are in there, in that place where the story is coming from, you have to want to kill if your character wants to kill (only mentally, you understand. I'm not condoning murder, just to be absolutely clear :)). Anyways, the short of it is


You're not crazy. You're just a writer. Welcome to the club, freak.

Answer 9

Ah heck, the moment I get a character idea into my head I'm obsessed with it. Right now my character is sixty-three year old teenager (she only looks sixteen) who literally 'grew' up in the 2nd dimension (we live in the 3rd dimension) and was trained to be a type of soldier called a Deceiver, but she finally has enough of it and quite, and flees to the 3rd dimension. Heck, all I think about is her.

Answer 10

When I write my stories I tend to think random thoughts about my characters in different times of the days, but I think that that is part of what a writers mind does, it gets infuences from life around you and gives you thoughts and sentences and colours and places. I write my own stories and I also write fanfiction, and that happens everytime. Right now I have this small part of a story I am writing in my brain....

Dr Who....

She could smell the freshly cut grass, and the rain that fallen on it only moments ago. It smelled like home, her beautiful, wonderful, and perfect home. And there he was, her love, her life, her greatest adventure standing right in front of her.

"Hello, Rose," he stated as he smiled at her, and put his white hands into his pockets, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too Doctor," she whispered back to him, as she reached his spot and put her own hands into his pockets, searching for his.

Once found, she smiled at his bright chocolate eyes and felt at peace. Now she could give him her forever, even though she knew that one day he would be the one to watch her die.

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