# Writing > General Writing >  the most difficult character to write about

## cacian

I find it easy to write of characters that are more or less the same as I.
which characters would you say are easier and which are more difficult to write of and about?

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## martunia99

I like writing about outgoing carachters that are like me, but the most difficult character for me to write obout is a shy person aspecially a guy

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## Charles Darnay

Of course it is easier to write about characters more like ourselves than those not. The further we go from ourselves the more we must rely on depictions of such characters, which lead to cliched, shallow characters (unless you are a great observer and have a living model to base your character on.)

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## cacian

> I like writing about outgoing carachters that are like me, but the most difficult character for me to write obout is a shy person aspecially a guy


Is there a particular reason why shy and a guy and not shy and a girl for example?

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## cacian

> Of course it is easier to write about characters more like ourselves than those not. The further we go from ourselves the more we must rely on depictions of such characters, which lead to cliched, shallow characters (unless you are a great observer and have a living model to base your character on.)


So you agree that a work such as of Mice and Men is rather contrived when it comes to Lennie the character?

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## martunia99

I'm just saying since I'm a girl and I only have sisters the only real example to me of a man is my dad and I don't like writing about my family because I like keeping my personal life private. Plus I don't know how a man's mind works so therefore it's harder for me.

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## cacian

> I'm just saying since I'm a girl and I only have sisters the only real example to me of a man is my dad and I don't like writing about my family because I like keeping my personal life private. Plus I don't know how a man's mind works so therefore it's harder for me.


I see what you mean.
Why shy?

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## Charles Darnay

> So you agree that a work such as of Mice and Men is rather contrived when it comes to Lennie the character?


As I wrote:




> (unless you are a great observer and have a living model to base your character on.)


Steinbeck was certainly a great observer of humanity and I read somewhere that Lennie is based on a mentally handicapped man that he met.

That being said, I not think that Lennie is as strong a character as you find elsewhere in Steinbeck - particularly East of Eden.

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## martunia99

I read Mice and Men and I loved it and shy because thats kind of the opposite of me and with brave and outgoing characters I feel like I can do more because they wouldn't be scared of everything and they could do more than someone shy, no offence to anyone that's shy and lately I started working on shy characters I'll see how it works out.

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## Delta40

Typically we tend to write what we know so I think the challenge is of course to write about characters unknown to yourself rather than just unlike yourself.

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## AuntShecky

You wouldn't want everything you write to be about yourself. That would be boring (to you) after a while, as well as limiting your talent. You could be, like the guy in the beer commercial, "the most interesting person in the world," but even so, while the world is overflowing with 5 billion unique people, the numbers of characters you can create is uncountable. 

What's hard about creating dialogue is making sure that characters sound different from each other. You wouldn't want everyone in your fiction to sound exactly like you (the narrator.)


PS-- I can't believe that I've been a LitNutter for 5 years and am still 5 posts away from the
"3000" mark!

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## cacian

> You wouldn't want everything you write to be about yourself. That would be boring (to you) after a while, as well as limiting your talent. You could be, like the guy in the beer commercial, "the most interesting person in the world," but even so, while the world is overflowing with 5 billion unique people, the numbers of characters you can create is uncountable.


I agree but characters in books are about people that will be reading them.
As a writer I can only write about what I know as a person to describe and write of/about characters in order to be come across as credible.
The rest/components of the story is the down to imagination.
If I am to be credible as a writer I have to be honest about the making of characters otherwise it will become obvious to the reader.
I therefore will not write of/about characters with special needs because a) I am not one and 
b) my readers will not identify with special needs characters because they are not themselves one.
Making stuff up about how a special need person is will look and sound 'doggy' so I keep well away.
The other thing I bear in mind a special need person will not be reading my books necause they are not able to and so what is the point?



> What's hard about creating dialogue is making sure that characters sound different from each other. You wouldn't want everyone in your fiction to sound exactly like you (the narrator.)


Sure but characters are to reflect 'better/perfect/fitter people because I personally do not see the point of reading about characters the same as my neighbours.
What I mean by the same as me is characters that know what they are doing and saying.



> PS-- I can't believe that I've been a LitNutter for 5 years and am still 5 posts away from the"3000" mark!


IS there something special about the '3000' mark?

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## martunia99

I personally don't write characters just like me but I give to them a little piece of me and add other characteristics.

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## cacian

> I personally don't write characters just like me but I give to them a little piece of me and add other characteristics.


Of course characters are not to just like the writer but a variety of characters but drawn from within.
A writer is start somewhere so he or she would start with themselves and extend to others.
There are so many personalites and so it is easier to pick up a gregarious one from a quiet one or a chatty outgoing one from a reserved/shy one.
I don't one can run out of characteristic to write about.

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## ryanvision

my hardest character is something who is inherently flawed but still warrants sympathy. its hard to do.

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## diome

One author said there's a bit of the writer in every character. More or less, something like 20% on average.

I suppose writing is easier the more familiar the character feels like. But also they need to be interesting enough, so I can be attached to them.

I'm having a bit of a challenge writing a main character who is inexperienced, shy and afraid of many things. She is so limited in her abilities that I occasionally notice to have ignored her personality. But in all she is adorable. :Wink:

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## cacian

> One author said there's a bit of the writer in every character. More or less, something like 20% on average.
> 
> I suppose writing is easier the more familiar the character feels like. But also they need to be interesting enough, so I can be attached to them.
> 
> I'm having a bit of a challenge writing a main character who is inexperienced, shy and afraid of many things. She is so limited in her abilities that I occasionally notice to have ignored her personality. But in all she is adorable.


That is a lot to take and think about.
May be one characteristic at a time.
About shy what does it actually mean because people's interpretation of _shy_ is varied.

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## miyako73

The most difficult character to write about, for me, is that of a nun because I don't know anything about nunnery. Does she even satisfy herself?

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## cacian

> The most difficult character to write about, for me, is that of a nun because I don't know anything about nunnery. Does she even satisfy herself?


how do you mean 'satisfy herself'?

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## Bobbycrane

The most difficult character to write about is Hitler. Even alternate-reality good Hitler is tricky.

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