Writing Main Characters Based on Yourself

A reader e-mailed me to ask, is it normal to always write about a character who’s basically me?

I hope so, because I did it all the time.

I think this is an easy thing to do for a couple reasons:

1. We often use writing as a way of exploring ourselves. Our thoughts, feelings, principles, etc. Creating a main character who resembles you is an easy way to go about this.

2. The old adage, “Write what you know.” Who do we know better than ourselves?

While it’s certainly normal, I eventually figured out that I was limiting myself by making all my main characters me. When I started writing characters with different family backgrounds, religious viewpoints, etc., I stretched my creativity and made my story bigger than myself.

My first attempts at this was Me, Just Different, so I’d say it paid off big time.

So if you routinely create characters who are similar to you, try branching out and see what happens.

Have a question? E-mail me.