Do you write your characters, or do they write themselves?

[constellaria 0]

Most of the time they write themselves. If I have to force it, I don't write because I feel that what they do or say should come fully from them and not my personal thoughts or opinions.

[GERALT OF RIVIA 4]

Usually the character's tell me what to write. Sometimes I go in and refine things but for the most part it's the character's doing the work. 

[I Am The Night1986 0]

For me it's a little bit of both. Sometimes when you know a character you can pretty much think the way they do, right down to their actions. Some of my characters are rebellious where I am the opposite of that. Maybe it's just my way of acting out?

[spu 2]

i very regularly have threads where my characters do something completely unexpected for me? in obvious terms, i write them - but sometimes when i'm writing them and i get in ~* the flow *~ and don't think about what i have to write. it just comes. i can see what they're doing in my mind's eye without even having to think about it so i just type it out? if that makes any sense??

[britata 6]

I think a lot of mine tend to write themselves after a while. I rely so heavily on emotions anyway that it definitely plays into how my characters are written. There are times when one of my characters will do something that just flies in the face of logic, but it's just who they are. I don't try to ever hold back or limit. Sometimes, I literally have to go lay down after writing a post for a character who decided to do something that would cause problems for them, just because it's sometimes difficult to not go back to the post and edit it so they have a clear way out of conflict. I think my characters being in my head so much really helps me in bringing them to life and showcasing many aspects of their personalities- with their strengths and flaws. 

 

I'm very much a go with the flow kind of writer. If I try plotting too much, my writing just feels contrived. 

[Kat713 6]

I have a character, she just writes so easily as herself. I have never struggled to write her, even in complex situations like having to decide on who to help or who to not. She just DOES IT HERSELF. I get little say as the writer; if that makes sense lol 

[crybbage 6]

I think most of mine tend to just write themselves. I spend a lot of time collecting ideas, thoughts and feelings just building up character concepts before they're ever active that by the time they're 'live' they basically function by themselves.

[Rose 1]

I have a few characters that I truly do believe write themselves and I am just along for the ride and to type up the incident reports (or so the joke goes). There are others though that I am definitely the one steering the ship. I have a pretty equal balance between the two but lately my louder and more assertive sorts are getting more playing time because they just won't HUSH!

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Rose

[Myarelli 8]

At risk of sounding like I have absolutely lost my mind I will offer this:

For the most part my characters write themselves. They feel like very real people in my brain and when they have a reply, they're dying to get at they don't shut up and they're practically writing it in my head even when I'm doing the dishes. My best writing comes when they are at the wheel, and it feels so genuine and so them. It honestly is like they're taking over when I sit to write.

That being said there are times I feel like I have to baby them and drag them to the keyboard with me. I have a few "problem children" who never want to do replies outside of their ship and I have to push them along because friends, family, and coworkers are also important! When I do this it's more like I'm writing and they're looking over my shoulder giving me random advice such as "I wouldn't say that" or "do this". Ultimately this way of writing is taxing on me because I feel like I have to paint a picture of someone from memory. Movements become a task, in that I have to focus and imagine them, dialog becomes a task, in that I have to consider how they would respond (and then hope whatever i come up with earns a nod of approval from my over-the-shoulder-companion). 

In a few rare cases I have let OOC fears overrun IC reality. Meaning that what my character wants to do and what I feel is best for them/me/their plot do not line up. For instance, I've had a happily shipped character meet someone new and had the desire to leave their current partner but...OOC that felt wrong to do to my writing partner and we already had such a great plot worked out, so I overrode them. Turns out when you do that they die! And then writing with them feels a lot like puppeteering a dead corpse. I can kind of do it, since I know them well enough, but it never ever sounds the same. I end up coming up with narrative that doesn't suit them and dialog that doesn't accurately reflect them.

[Voidhead 3]

When it comes to OCs, the characters usually write themselves and adapt to the changing situations. What tends to happen is their personalities naturally evolving from what I've kinda planned for them to be into something else completely.

 

When it came to characters that are placed in some kind of fandom, I tend to be more careful and reign it in a little, so they won't become unrecognizable.

[Hal 5]

Whenever I write a reply I get into the character's mindset/voice and go with their impulses (or if they would think twice, do that), so I guess they do write themselves. I don't really have plans for them, just ideas for what might happen if they stay on their current course. Those change all the time.

[Somniac 207]

I tend to write characters who are wildly different from myself. It takes a while to break them in, and to get an idea of what makes them tick the way they do. In that way I'd say my characters tend to be very premeditated. I think the characters that fascinate me the most are the ones who have elements of something that's baffled, shocked, or otherwise drawn a strong reaction from me - and working backwards to one potential path of how someone might become a person who does That Thing.

There gets to be a point where I know them well enough that their particular brand of disaster becomes more quickly apparent to me, though.

[Elena 546]

I am the writer, and the characters are the figments of my imagination. I have built the characters, trait by trait and backstory element by backstory element, so I must have understood them and I know how to write each of them. But it is always the writers merit, not the characters, because we are the real ones and they are real only in their stories and times, we are writing their story so we are making decisions for them, to sound believable and consistent.

[ValonRhodes 4]

Lord my life would be easier if I wrote them but sadly my brain children write themselves. 

[multiplicity! 11]

A little bit of both!

 

I like to think that I have control all times about my characters, but sometimes there's a moment where I was going to write one thing, and then realize that the character would never do that and end up letting the character do what they want. I wouldn't say my characters are treated as real people, because they're not, they're fictional, but there are moments where it seems like they take the reins and I'm along for the ride.