Falling out of love with your characters

Elodie-Caroline · Jul 24, 2008

Do you ever do this?

I wrote two novels about a character called Samantha; she's yesteryear's Paris Hilton, but she's also one of life's victims and is quite childish in a lot of her ways. A child in a woman's body.
I gave her someone to love her more than life itself. But because I knew, deep down inside, that in reality it could never last between them, I gave her love a big jealousy problem. I knew that their insecurities would keep them together.

Anyway, I have been fleshing out the final draft of my newest novel; Caroline, the woman in this one, is very strong and the total opposite of Samantha. But because I love this woman for her strength, I have fallen out of love with the Samantha character and am thinking of changing some parts of her story, although I haven't touched it for months. I really loved Samantha when I was writing about her, but now I don't even like her very much.

Does this ever happen to any of you, where you finish a novel/novels, you write something new, then you fall out of love with your 'old' characters? Is this normal, or just me? :Shrug:

Elodie

Phaeal · Jul 24, 2008

So far I still like all my characters, great or small, weak or strong, good or evil. I think if I really didn't like a character, I wouldn't be able to write him. I guess my liking of a character is based on how interesting he is rather than on a moral judgment.

I rarely dislike characters in other people's fiction, either, so long as the book is working. The only one I can think of offhand is Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter, 6 & 7). I didn't even want to read chapters she appeared in.

Elodie-Caroline · Jul 24, 2008

Hmm, maybe if I went back to the novels I wrote about her, I would still love her, I dunno? I know I did love her when I was writing her, but maybe I had to put her on the back burner to fall in love with my newest one?

I wouldn't know about characters in Harry Potter; I'm afraid I've never read any of them

Diana W. · Jul 24, 2008

Phaeal said:
I rarely dislike characters in other people's fiction, either, so long as the book is working. The only one I can think of offhand is Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter, 6 & 7). I didn't even want to read chapters she appeared in.

I know what you mean. I found that book very hard to read because of her brutality. The movie really lightened up on that. Probably a good thing because if it was hard to READ about how she tortured poor Harry, it would have been harder still to SEE it.

Diana W. · Jul 24, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
Hmm, maybe if I went back to the novels I wrote about her, I would still love her, I dunno? I know I did love her when I was writing her, but maybe I had to put her on the back burner to fall in love with my newest one?

I wouldn't know about characters in Harry Potter; I'm afraid I've never read any of them

Maybe if you just write the new book and when it's done you can go back to the old one. With the new one out of the way maybe you can get back that spark that made you love the earlier character.

Elodie-Caroline · Jul 24, 2008

I truly hope so because she is a sweetie really, too soft in most ways, but I understood her when she was always on my mind

NYBrit said:
Maybe if you just write the new book and when it's done you can go back to the old one. With the new one out of the way maybe you can get back that spark that made you love the earlier character.

Hummingbird · Jul 24, 2008

As to losing the love of a character: I have had that happen before. I just got tired of writing about that character even though there was so much too write. There were other ideas that were pressing for my attention and I wanted to work on them.

I took a break from the character I writing about so that I could love it again.

After a few days I started thinking about the character again - but I did not pick up a pencil. I waited until I had a few things I thought that the character would have wanted to do - even if it wasn't going to be in the story. For some reason that made it easier to write about that character again. I don't know if it was the break or the feeling that the character was more real because there were things it wanted to do that did not pertain to the story.

As to Umbridge.... Ewwwwwww.. I am so glad that they did not show everything that awful woman did in the movie. I dread reading those chapters as well because of how brutal she is. There have been a couple chapters I have skipped because I did not want to read it.

BardSkye · Jul 24, 2008

I tend to lose all interest in my characters once the book is done. That said, a writing pal sent me a prompt using a character in an earlier, finished novel, that got me excited about the character again.

Go figure.

BlueLucario · Jul 24, 2008

NYBrit said:
I know what you mean. I found that book very hard to read because of her brutality. The movie really lightened up on that. Probably a good thing because if it was hard to READ about how she tortured poor Harry, it would have been harder still to SEE it.

No, I didn't like her because she was a bit OTT. Way too melodramatic for my taste.

Akuma · Jul 24, 2008

Umbridge was a major *****, but I would never think a Harry Potter book would make people squeamish.

Feathers · Jul 24, 2008

Hmm - yes. At one point or another I get bored, loose the momentum, and loose interest in my old characters. Or a new idea sweeps me away so completely that for a few days I'm in love with THAT. Usually, though, I'm pretty much engrossed with my MC's until the story is finished. Then I move on.

I don't think I've ever fallen out of love with a MC while writing a story; but after a story is finished, old characters just don't seem that special to me anymore. So maybe it's a natural thing.

Cato · Jul 24, 2008

Umbridge was one of JKR's most effective characters in the HP world. Voldemort had nothing on her.

Clarec · Jul 24, 2008

Maybe if you went back and re-read your work and remembered why you'd written this character in such a way, you'd find your love for her again. You presumably wrote her as described for a reason, to fit the story you were working on, and it would be a shame to throw away all your hard work.

It's one thing to look over your work and think "that's just rubbish" but disliking a character need not be the end of the story. However if you re-read your work and *still* disliked her, chances are readers would too. Why would we love her if you don't? It's a fine line but you did write her for a reason and hopefully you just have to rediscover that reason.

Clare

JustGo · Jul 24, 2008

I haven't had this happen yet. I do, however, fall out of love with the stories themselves all the time...

hammerklavier · Jul 24, 2008

Seek professional help immediately!

Oh, I guess that's what you were doing here... carry on, then.

Elodie-Caroline · Jul 25, 2008

Hi everyone,
I didn't once get tired of my character when I was writing her, I wouldn't have managed the novel, the sequel, and wouldn't have spent nearly two years of my life on her if I had. But after finishing the sequel, at the beginning of this March; when I think of my girl now, she doesn't feel the same to me anymore. I do still love the story, it's a strong story, very emotional, and I had great feedback on it.

When I think about it, I suppose I really needed to cut Samantha off to be able to write my newest character, otherwise some of Samantha's traits might have seeped into Caroline. But I do think, that if read my works about Samantha, or maybe once I know the newest novel is finished, then I would probably still love her like I used to. Or yes, maybe this is just a natural progression and means I can let the story go with no emotional attachment now, much better for querying it I should imagine.

tehuti88 · Jul 25, 2008

I don't so much "fall out of love" with my characters as grow kind of bored of them and latch onto a different character. Then I might tire of them, and return to the old one, or go to yet another.

I don't see it as a bad thing. It's just phases. Sometimes you feel like listening to soothing background music, sometimes you feel like getting up and jumping around to dance pop. Now, if it ever reaches a point when you need to write about a character (maybe for a publishing deal) but you've grown so bored/tired/annoyed/disgusted with them that you can't write them effectively anymore, then it might be a problem. But it might just mean it's time to move on from that character. It happens. Sometimes we outgrow things.

I have lots of childhood characters I haven't written about or wanted to write about in years. I've basically outgrown them. I don't feel like I've fallen out of love with them, though. They're still there. There's still potential to turn them into something I can relate to here and now. Maybe another day I'll be back in the mood to pick them up again.

WistfulWriter7 · Jul 25, 2008

Do you not like her as a "person" or do you not like her as a "friend?" You might not like who Samantha is in light of finding a strong character like Caroline that you like. Besides, you don't have to like a character for the story to be good. Sometimes my mc gets on my NERVES.

ishtar'sgate · Jul 25, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
Does this ever happen to any of you, where you finish a novel/novels, you write something new, then you fall out of love with your 'old' characters? Is this normal, or just me?
Elodie

Can't say it has although once the novel is finished and I've moved on to another story they are simply friends I once knew but haven't seen in a while. My new friends are much more interesting.
Linnea

Falling out of love with your characters

Elodie-Caroline

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Elodie-Caroline

Diana W.

I'm evolving

Diana W.

I'm evolving

Elodie-Caroline

Hummingbird

Pen, Paper, Prepared. ...Write!

BardSkye

Barbershoppin' Harmony Whore

BlueLucario

Blood Elves FTW

Akuma

Rare Writer Pokemon

Feathers

emerging from the writing cave

Cato

Master of Puppets

Clarec

JustGo

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hammerklavier

It was a dark and stormy night

Elodie-Caroline

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

WistfulWriter7

passionate dreamer

ishtar'sgate

living in the past