How attatched do you become to your characters?

My apologies if this topic has been raised and answered before. If so, please point me in the right direction. I've scrolled through the topics and I've tried the search, but nothing really came up.

So - how attached do you become to your characters?

As a newbie, I'm still trying to hone my craft. I've noticed that I tend to develop an attachment to several of the characters I've created. I even accidentally fell in love with a gorgeous redhead whose fate I had envisioned was entirely different, and she ended up as the main character in a different story.

My attachment also pushes me to dig deeper into their stories, and I let them evolve far beyond my initial idea.

So, my stories end up in a series, and when a series comes to an end, I feel genuine loss.

How far does your attachment to your characters reach, and have I fallen victim to a noob trap?

I think it’s a good idea to become at least a little attached to your character, so that as you said, they develop real personalities and quirks rather than being bland cardboard cutouts.

As far as falling in love with them … well, I don’t know, why not? They are your fantasies. Of course you are going to develop some characters that come close to your ideal. I haven’t done so, but I can think of several characters in my stories I could fall in love with.

If you can’t let them go after a story is finished, then the solution seems obvious: a series!

As joe71 says, a little attachment is good for developing character traits and insight. But if you love them too much you may end up not wanting to harm them or not wanting to put them in morally awkward situations. Then they'll turn into boring shells, devoid of conflict with others or they come across as invincible, always getting into scrapes and coming out unscathed. And nobody wants to read that stuff long-term.

Conflict drives a story so be wary if you find too much emotional attachment developing. It can spell the end for a character. I try to retain some semblance of objectivity in writing to avoid this.

I prefer character-driven stories. Unlike most here, I begin to fall in love with them even before I start writing the story. This is because I normally write little bios on the lead "actors" and as I write them into the storyline I have continually and three-dimensional real people. Well, at least in my head. 🙄😊

My take on this is that there must be a piece of the character inside you as you write and work with them. With the books I have written and am adapting for Lushstories, those characters have lived with me since 2021. Their never-to-be-published background information now runs to several A4 pages.

As for killing off a character or putting them in an awkward situation? I don't see that to be a problem, I do the latter all the time and you can always resurrect a character in another story if you are in "love" with them. Though, I don't see that scenario happening to me.

So, to answer your question: I do become attached, and even deeply attached to the characters I have been working with for three and half years. But my attachment would never stop me from putting them in harm's way.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

As joe71 says, a little attachment is good for developing character traits and insight. But if you love them too much you may end up not wanting to harm them or not wanting to put them in morally awkward situations. Then they'll turn into boring shells, devoid of conflict with others or they come across as invincible, always getting into scrapes and coming out unscathed. And nobody wants to read that stuff long-term.

Conflict drives a story so be wary if you find too much emotional attachment developing. It can spell the end for a character. Try to retain some semblance of objectivity in your writing to avoid this.

Oh, part of why I develop attachment to my characters is because they're so ultimately morally flawed and because they do put themselves in harms way. I appreciate your insights. Thank you!

Quote by wxt55uk

I prefer character-driven stories. Unlike most here, I begin to fall in love with them even before I start writing the story. This is because I normally write little bios on the lead "actors" and as I write them into the storyline I have continually and three-dimensional real people. Well, at least in my head. 🙄😊

My take on this is that there must be a piece of the character inside you as you write and work with them. With the books I have written and am adapting for Lushstories, those characters have lived with me since 2021. Their never-to-be-published background information now runs to several A4 pages.

As for killing off a character or putting them in an awkward situation? I don't see that to be a problem, I do the latter all the time and you can always resurrect a character in another story if you are in "love" with them. Though, I don't see that scenario happening to me.

So, to answer your question: I do become attached, and even deeply attached to the characters I have been working with for three and half years. But my attachment would never stop me from putting them in harm's way.

Thank you for the insight 😊

I agree. I never let my attachment or love for my characters get in the way of the story. Traci did meet her intended fate (gangbanged on a pool table in a dive bar), but she also came out of that story a changed person (with an addiction to used panties 😉).

Have to be somewhat attached or it's not going to work. I can't gauge how attached I am as I can't place a value on that, but I definitely am not afraid to put them in awkward positions. Showing love for a character is doing just that!

I usually come into a story with a clear idea of what it's about. In a longer series, like Only One Bed, there's a bit of a character arc planned (Emma's growing confidence, etc). In standalone shorts, it's more about what's happening in that scene, so I'm less invested in character growth than I am in writing something hot that feels like it could happen to a real person.

I often have the opposite problem. I come into a short story with little idea who the character is, and she reveals herself in the writing, demanding to be shaped a particular way. I'm often startled at how vividly I can picture the character's voice in my head, showing me how they'd react…

Very. I usually get to know them through dialogue.

Quote by pinkysurprise

I usually come into a story with a clear idea of what it's about. In a longer series, like Only One Bed, there's a bit of a character arc planned (Emma's growing confidence, etc). In standalone shorts, it's more about what's happening in that scene, so I'm less invested in character growth than I am in writing something hot that feels like it could happen to a real person.

I often have the opposite problem. I come into a short story with little idea who the character is, and she reveals herself in the writing, demanding to be shaped a particular way. I'm often startled at how vividly I can picture the character's voice in my head, showing me how they'd react…

I've run into a few characters, usually created as an extra or a mere backdrop to the story, and have had them demand the spotlight.

I can, but don't always, become very attached. However, there are some I am more attached to than others and I usually telegraph that because those ones often end up reappearing. Some of my one-offs are that simply because I did not feel that connection to the protagonist(s).

For instance, I had a character in some no longer extent Lush stories named April. She was a former sex worker taking a college degree. She ended up in four stories of her own and she and her boyfriend had a cameo in another series.

In my non-erotic writing, there's Tana, a fantasy character raised as a sorceror by her father, her world's dark lord figure, but now a healer. She has a trilogy of stories on StoriesSpace that I might expand and rework into a novella someday and I have ideas for a sequel about her daughter in which she would eventually appear.

I become attached to a lot of my characters, they come to life because I put a little of myself in them along with traits I find attractive.. having said that, after 15 chapters I killed off one of my favourite characters in a bomb explosion.. so not too attached lol

Quote by Ensorceled
Very. I usually get to know them through dialogue.

This is common for me, too. I often 'hear' my characters before I 'see' them, so I usually let them talk. As a consequence, many of my stories are fairly dialogue heavy. That's generally how characters reveal themselves.

I do find that I like the characters I write - not limited to just the protagonists, either. They should at least be interesting enough to spend 2K-10K words with, if not more.

Quote by Dogme

I even accidentally fell in love with a gorgeous redhead whose fate I had envisioned was entirely different, and she ended up as the main character in a different story.

Noob writer here; I started a series starring a mother and daughter, and the daughter's best friend is a gorgeous redhead who was supposed to be a sidekick and appear in two chapters at the most. I promise, I had absolutely no idea that she and her best friend's father would fall for each other! It might work out all right because everyone seems to be messing around with everyone else who isn't a blood relative, and the mother will probably encourage it. I love all three of my ladies, but this gorgeous redhead is something else.

Am I in danger of putting her on a pedestal? Here's an excerpt from her story, which should drop in a few hours, so you can decide.

“Paid him?!” Julia shrieked. “He pimped me out, that son of a bitch?” She jumped up with murder in her eyes. “God fucking damn it! Where is he?”

This is such a good question. Yes, I get very attached to some of my characters, and sometimes, I mourn for them when I finish a story. It is very tempting to pick a character up again and perhaps write another story for them. I might consider this my little secret, or should I tell my readers? I have not decided.

Occasionally, I consider writing stories within a little universe, perhaps choosing a street in Paris or further afield and somehow weaving it so that two strangers with mutual friends come together. There must be a twist— perhaps on the theme of kismet or not.

For me, this would be technically very difficult but I think about this often. I have tried it once, just three short stories stitched together - I loved it, but I kept it simple.

Great question.

The first several stories I wrote had me as either the central character or a,strong supporting role. I changed a few things about me, but stayed close in general. In that way, I started seeing my characters as limited and even boring - how many ways can you have the same character doing the same things?

So, as I've started to write some new stories, I am not a character in most of them, and in some I'm mentioned as a participant in some,activity but not as a central character. I've also done some in depth chats with my boyfriend, my roommate's boyfriend and even a male cousin, asking for their perspective on participating in various activities.

New characters and new points of view ( at least in my stories) are being considered, just to keep things interesting.