Young Writers Society

Almost everyone here knows that your characters have to be a realistic as possible. A lot of people here hears their characters voices in their heads, and talks or writes to them.
But do they're characters know that they're imaginary? Have you ever talked to them about how they only exist in your and soon the reader's head? If you have, how did they respond it? Or do your characters just know that they're not real, without you needing to tell them?
Or do they believe they are real, living breathing creatures on whatever world you put them on (which of course has to be real.) If so, how do they think they know you?

I was debating on which forum to put this in. If this is confusing, please tell me. I will be needing this info for my novel.

Thanks!

Almost everyone here hears their characters voices in their heads, and talks or writes to them.

0_0 I don't.

Haven't heard of many people who do this, actually.

Anyway, my characters don't believe anything, because they're not real. They're puppets I control, and not really anything more. So this has, yeah, never really been a problem for me. =)

I was debating on which forum to put this in. If this is confusing, please tell me. I will be needing this info for my novel.

Well, if this is info you're gathering for your own writing, then this is the right place. So no worries.

Thanks, and I'll edit that part. Anyone else?

Yeah, we consult once in a while. To be honest, my characters act a bit like Deadpool (for you comic fans)--they poke fun at the fact that they aren't really there.

Hm...Well, I control my characters, like Sureal said. But once I've fully developed them and created their full 3-dimensional personalities, sometimes they'll just stop in the middle of the story and I can't get them to DO anything. Then I realize that that's because it's completely out of character for them to do that - even if it's a main plot point in the story.

Does that help at all?

Yes, thanks. But do they know that they are imaginary?

Lol, mostly. Although the more I develop the characters, the more I realize that they have a lot in common with me. Or my boyfriend. Or my sister...etc. You get the idea. They develop a lot of traits similar to people I know. So once that happens, it's weird and confusing - especially when you write a piece of dialogue and then your bf says the EXACT SAME THING to you the next day.

I don't talk to my characters, because they are not real. They never were real, and therefore, there is no way they can be aware of anything unless I decide it so. This is the only kind of autonomy that is real, in my opinion; when a writer creates a character, the character has no will, no real awareness of anything. There is nothing there because the character was never alive.

So I don't see how talking to a character is at all possible. If I asked my protagonist Chad Palma if he was real, all I'd get from him is silence. Honestly, I don't see how people can claim that they 'talk' with their characters. I just don't get it. What's to talk about? You're in control, not them.

Krupp, it's more like, you know them so well that you can predict what they're going to say if you say this or that to them. It's a character-development exercise-thing. So, if I "ask" my characters what they thought of the Primeval episode I just watched, it helps develop the characters -- so I know that Jason would have found the dinosaur interesting and Lester funny, that Alexandros would have been more interested in the Abby/Jack relationship and the implications, that Sophia would have been dreamily glad at the increased tension between Abby and Connor.

If you can imagine it as real dialogue, it helps you get a feel for that character's voice.

And Vivacious, they all know that they're not real automatically, because I know that, and they know everything I know. ^^

TL G-Wooster wrote:Krupp, it's more like, you know them so well that you can predict what they're going to say if you say this or that to them. It's a character-development exercise-thing. So, if I "ask" my characters what they thought of the Primeval episode I just watched, it helps develop the characters -- so I know that Jason would have found the dinosaur interesting and Lester funny, that Alexandros would have been more interested in the Abby/Jack relationship and the implications, that Sophia would have been dreamily glad at the increased tension between Abby and Connor.

If you can imagine it as real dialogue, it helps you get a feel for that character's voice.

And Vivacious, they all know that they're not real automatically, because I know that, and they know everything I know. ^^

Fair enough for me. I just get irritated when I hear about people 'talking' to their characters as if they're real or whatever. Maybe I'm just a d--k when it comes to creating characters; I don't really ask them anything per se, I tell them what they like, and that's just how it is for me. To each his own, I guess.

I agree with Krupp and Sureal. There are way too many schizos on this site.

Prokaryote

Schizophrenia is in now. Didn't anyone tell you?

I prefer to be a normal minded person who can control his own mind, but thanks anyway.

My characters don;t know that they're imaginary. I see their lives like a little movie in my head that i can alter when i want (yeh, I know that's kinda odd).

Schizo? Heck no. It's just a matter of a good imagination and the ability to control your own dreams at will.