Should You Write Characters Based On Your Personality?
Characters are a tricky beast.
We want our characters to be this strong, smart, badass who can blast any alien on sight! But those turn out to be some of the most boring characters on the planet. There’s no substance there because these men and women are literally perfect at everything.
It’s surely confusing, as we want to escape reality into a world that isn’t a mirror of our society.
So why can’t we write a perfect character that we all dream of?
Relatability. We as humans identify with people who relate to us. Think about it. Your friends. The family members you can talk to for hours during a Super Bowl party. The co-workers you have endless chats with when there’s no work to do. You connect with these people because you and that person (or people) have things in common that attract you to one another.
So it’s not crazy that audiences demand the same relatability from the characters they watch on their movie or television screen.
Guess who relates to you more than anyone else? You.
That’s right. You know who you are inside and out. Surely, you’ve had a magician lock some secrets in a small part of your brain, but you know you for the most part. So when writers try to write a relatable character, they tend to base their characters on who they are.
That should work, right?
Eh…
Here’s a shocking fact: You’re boring as fuck. Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s reality. Most of us are boring as fuck. Yes, I’m talking to you Jack, the firefighter who does skiing on weekends and Police shootouts on Tuesdays.
Writers tend to craft the main character after their personalities, but the issue is that many of us don’t have the layers to be an interesting character onscreen. Yes, we do interesting things in our daily lives, but living in real time is different from living in movie time.
Characters need to be exaggerated in film and television, even the realistic and grounded ones. This isn’t to say that we as people don’t have layers. We do. But more often than not, we have one personality throughout most of our day. That’s because our journey isn’t confined to a two- or three-hour format. Our personal journey could be years or even decades! That means we’re not being put through hell every second just to get to it.
I don’t like to repeat myself, YOU ARE A BORING PERSON. You’re awesome, so put those tissues away, but a protagonist can’t run in real time.
This doesn’t mean that pieces of you can’t be put into your characters, but they have to fit the story you’re telling.
It is important to put your “voice” on the page, meaning that your characters and dialogue are unique to you as a writer. But that’s based on your writing style, not your personality.
So I’ll wrap it up — no, you shouldn’t write your characters based on your personality alone. Your story comes first, so the scope and nature of what you’re writing need to be fleshed out. If you’re a foul-mouthed goofball, then your drama film about a bullied teenager can’t be the same way. Base your characters on the uniqueness of your voice that allows readers to enjoy your authentic and realistic story.
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