Creative Writing How much empathy do you feel for your characters?

Hi guys! It's me again! :anime:

I wondered if all of you writers feel empathy for your characters when you write about them.

Do you feel their fear when they're fearing something?
Do you feel the stinging in their heart when they're sad?
Do you feel their joy when they're happy?

I've found that when I write about someone... sometimes i get to feel his/her feelings. So I write that down and the fic becomes much more realistic.

But I wonder... does that depend on the experiences you've had on your life? (Because ... how can you describe something you haven't felt before)?

Does the success of a writer depend on how many emotions he has lived before? I tend to think so. What do you think guys?

So - how much empathy do you feel for them?

 

I always get really into my characters. I wrote a short story in grade 11, and I was thinking of the name "Artorius Veritas" (the main character) for weeks. It's easier to write if you see your characters goals, methinks.

 

Always complete empathy. A lot of my characters(not just the main ones), are actualy based on part myself. I usualy try to empathise with everyone anyway, and I usualy succeed.

 

Sometimes when I'm writing and, say, something really crappy happens to one of my characters, I just stop... read over it a couple times... and just go "Damn.. that sucks". But I think that's as close as I get, not sure if that really qualifies. I base a lot of my main characters on a Fight Club sort of logic (Note: If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, and don't wish to have it ruined, I suggest you NOT read ahead) A lot of my characters possess traits that I could only dream to have; a slick, smooth attitude with a hint of arrogance and the ability to back it up, for example. Though while they have nice physical traits, their mentality goes down, like my character Jian. All of the above applies to him though he's got an absolute blood-lust, urge to kill, and randomly goes off on self-pity and depressive suicidal tendencies, so they aren't perfect.

 

I feel empathy for the ones I write for, and those I don't write for (as in those in copyrighted works or others' works…)…

But sometimes I get disconnected, kinda like when an actor/actress loses focus and forgets that he/she is the character… and that's when it gets hard…

^^;;

 

I feel alot of empathy for my characters, but I try to make them unlike me, or else it's just a story about me, but still, they often resemble me.

I try to get in the character's shoes and not force the character into my shoes. I always think of what my characters would do in my every day situations, so it's as if they feel empathy for me, if you can dig that. (Heheh, sorry, been reading The Body again)

 

I don't know how much empathy you, personally, should feel, but in order to make the story interesting your reader should be able to empathize with the character. There is nothing worse than having a main character that sucks. I always make people I know read my stories before they go anywhere just to be sure I haven't done anything that betrays the initial character that makes people interested in him/her.

 

Yeah. Beta readers always help. *shakes head* Mary/Marty Sueism is not the way to go…

 

Not really, BB. I understand perfectly, because I've been through that! ^^;;; It bites, doesn't it? And then in my case, I'm too darn lazy or stubborn to change things around… I may end up with a whole different universe than the one I started with!

 

What you said gives me the impression you only write one thing at a time. It's easy to stay consistent when you're writing one story. At any given time, I could be writing one to six stories. All having different deadlines. That's when you have to get into what you're doing to keep everyone straight. I can't afford to get any of those stories mixed up.

 

i usually feel for the protaganist/lead because somehow they always reflect some life exprience i understand, i mean you write what you know? right? so in a way its like reliving through a different characters eyes, the same expriences and emotion, in different situations. yup. i hope that made sense!

*heart* me