My Characters Are Not Me
“Listen to what I said here,” I said to my husband and then read a sentence from my work-in-progress. After I had finished reading, I said, “Well, I didn’t say it, my character did.”
Don said, “Wait. You wrote it. So doesn’t that mean that’s what you said?”
“No, not really. My characters are not me.”
This answer might seem a little strange. But it’s true.
Now of course every character was created from my experiences, my thought process, my head. But they didn’t have the same childhood or experiences I had. My characters react and say things differently than I would. Otherwise, all my characters would all be the same—they would be me—and that would be very boring …
It’s kind of like an actor who plays a role. The difference is: I make it up as I go. I become every character, instead of every character being me.
And oh my goodness – I can’t believe the mouths on some of these people!
Love and Laughter,
Dorlana
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Dorlana Vann - Author 
Dorlana,
Love your characters. And, yes, I understand. Same goes for me. And my husband sometimes is shocked,too, at what comes out of “those” characters mouths! But it is all in good fun and creating the people that populate a story.
T.
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HeyTheresa,
Thank you 🙂 What are we going to do? We gotta stay true to the characters – lol.
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