How much of *yourself* do you inject into your characters? (a 1st person perspective question)

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm not male, nor do I have the attributes of several of my narrators. The female narrators and protagonists have shared some characteristics with me - generally long hair, but equally likely to take traits from anyone I've met (shagged) over the years.

My characters do tend to be sarcastic, snarky, and defensive - but that includes the immortal hellbeing and others who definitely aren't me.

 

[nice90sguy]

The main protagonist in my stories looks like me, thinks like me, and is totally like me in his sexual preferences. But he has a LOT more fun than me, the bastard.

 

[StillStunned]

If I was interesting enough to be in stories, other people would be writing about me.

 

[BgDaddy33]

If my main character is female then I tend to give her my physical attributes. I guess it helps me visualise scenes and activities. Her orgasms would normally be similar to mine too - pretty loud and body shaking. To be honest, I'd have a hard time describing a character that merely whimpered. Male characters I normally base loosely on my husband.

Write what you know right? Hard to argue with all the lovely red H's in your stories! Looking forward to checking them out

 

[BgDaddy33]

As for physical descriptions.... *yawn*.... pass.

That's a great distinction, I wasn't speaking only of the physical.

 

[mirafrida]

First or third person, I'm trying my best to write characters, not blank slates, nor versions of me. Thus I do not shy away from physical or personality details. But, the goal is to have them come up naturally, instead of hitting the reader over the head with them.

It’s like how you get to know a friend or neighbor or coworker. Not from an exhaustive physical inventory followed by them giving you a concise bio and personality profile - but rather through a series of small impressions, interactions, quirks you encounter over time.

I think there can be a fine line between having a character-driven story, and letting a character take over your story. Like, sometimes there are character details you are very attached to, but they distract or don't quite fit. As an author it can be painful, but you really need to bite the bullet and cut them...

 

[JakobKings]

I write male and female characters. Most of them have something of my own personality, even when it's the opposite of what I am. None of them are actually "me".
I sometimes avoid describing the characters more than the minimum, so the reader would be compelled to fulfill the blanks.
My stories tend to have more psychological aspects. I like to describe what the characters are thinking and feeling, even more than what they are actually doing. You can see people having sex easily on the internet, but when reading, you can be inside their minds and feel what they feel. That is what I think is unique about reading and writing erotica.

 

[countdowntolov3]

Seems like all my stories feature someone eager and kinky, but fighting with her insecurity. That's me, even when she's not the narrator. I think I'm driven to write her because I don't see myself in a lot of other media.

Her looks are wildly inconsistent though. And her background switches up, to emphasise one idea or another.

 

[BgDaddy33]

Same. I do first person exclusively - a one trick pony, so not a “real” author. But I’m enjoying the Lit thing so that’s ok…

The reaction to your stories would argue otherwise @Victoria14xs

I would call you an author any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[BgDaddy33]

I think I'm driven to write her because I don't see myself in a lot of other media.

This makes me curious to see what you have!

 

[SimonDoom]

This is one of those questions where there's no right answer about what you "should" do. It all depends on the needs of the story.

Do you want to write an erotic story where the reader easily can insert himself into a point of view character? Then perhaps keep description and particulars vague. But if the details of character are important to the story, include them.

I would say a lot of myself typically goes into the characters of my stories, especially the male characters. But even with the female characters, I imagine what I would do as a woman in that situation. A lot of it is fantasy projection.

I don't think it makes much difference what the point of view is. Third-person POV can be much more like first-person POV than many people seem to realize.

 

[BgDaddy33]

This is one of those questions where there's no right answer about what you "should" do. It all depends on the needs of the story.

Do you want to write an erotic story where the reader easily can insert himself into a point of view character? Then perhaps keep description and particulars vague. But if the details of character are important to the story, include them.

I would say a lot of myself typically goes into the characters of my stories, especially the male characters. But even with the female characters, I imagine what I would do as a woman in that situation. A lot of it is fantasy projection.

I don't think it makes much difference what the point of view is. Third-person POV can be much more like first-person POV than many people seem to realize.

Correct. I wasn't implying one way was right or wrong, I was curious from a writer's perspective, how much of ourselves we tended to inject into our writing. Getting to live vicariously through our characters if you will. I think perhaps we all do it to an extent, some more on purpose than others perhaps.