What are writers but actors who get to play all the parts? And the most basic tenet of actors and writers? Become your character. Literally millions of us have playacted and beyond that, had some brush with the art of drama in a more structured form. Millions of us learn our languages, learn to communicate in written form, learn to write in the voice of our perceived or imagined selves, someone historical, famous, infamous, or completely made up. As writers and actors our jobs are to live for a little while in another’s shoes. If it’s that simple to do, if we can do that by following the simplest of rules, become your character, why do relatively few of us embrace that rule and transcend our craft, rise to the top? Because the hardest and by far scariest act of writing is to become your character.
Google ‘overcoming fear in writing’ and you’ll get hundreds of articles on fears regarding craft, revealing yourself by allowing your work to be critiqued, or attending to the business of writing. You can move past your inner editor, soak in craft, understand at a fundamental level that your story will never be perfect or finished, query an agent or publisher, but can you truly become your character? Only if you learn to let go of your identity while you write. Only if you lose yourself in your character, experience the story from your character’s eyes, body, emotions. Third person or first makes no difference. Your point of view while you write is your character’s point of view. Feel it. Live it. Become your character.
Many of us touch that deepest, most exhilarating of writing rushes when we first come to writing. Some of us only experience it once we have reached the higher levels of our craft and begin to let go of the rules, trust ourselves to the story until time to edit. But at some point, most of us will touch that deep spot, lose ourselves there within our character, become someone else. When we resurface, breaking through into our present selves, we sit dazed and wondering where the last twenty minutes or four hours went. And then the fear sets in. We distance ourselves from our character. And our readers notice.
It’s a topic not nearly so discussed as fear regarding the mechanics. We can still be great writers. Some of us can still make a living, maybe a great one. But our stories won’t be the ones that stick with a reader for a life time, haunt them in unexpected moments, transcend the flaws in our craft. Think of that written story for you. The one you read that lives in your heart. Was it the craft that touched you? Was it the writer? Ten to one, fiction or non-fiction, it wasn’t the craft or the writer or even the story itself that captivated you, it was a character.
And why did that character speak so deeply to you? Because that writer managed to become that character for a little while and breathe such life into words on a page that you forgot you were reading for a little while. And that’s our goal, isn’t it? To carry our readers down with us into that deep spot, to let them escape their own lives, live other lives, live in another’s shoes— for a little while.
Join me on the first Friday of each month for exploration, discovery, and discussion of the writing life. Losing Yourself — Part II will address the fears of embodying a character and how to alleviate them.
Ken overman
Very interesting point, Elle. I briefly entered that sweet spot when writing my first novel. I think it came easy since the the protagonist lived and adventured where I used to live (Greece) so everything was familiar to me, and him. My question is immersing myself into someone very foreign to me, such a my main antagonist in my current novel. Living in evil is foreign to me. Any thoughts? Thank you. Ken
Elle Andrews Patt
Hey, Ken!
I think first you might revisit characters in books or even film that seemed alien to you. Who can really relate to The Jackal, Patrick Bateman, or Dexter Morgan? The writers that handed them to you had to get into their heads, sink into their personas, and live in that headspace for the time it took to write Day of the Jackal, American Psycho, and Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Then go ahead and immerse yourself, even if briefly, in real life non-fiction involving the type of evil you are writing about.
A key factor, I’ve discovered, is understanding that any villain or ‘evil’ character has a purpose and doesn’t think of himself/herself as evil at all. If anything, they are saving someone or the world from something they view as untenable. Evil characters are human, too. Parse your character’s motivations and backstory and try to understand his POV. That’s probably the only way to truly sink into it and allow his voice to reach the page in a way that doesn’t distant him from the reader. Don’t just try, you must develop those variables in order to write him and even if you pass on his POV, at least his actions will be informed by your understanding of him.
In my next post, I’ll detail ways in which you can de-role from such a character at the end of your writing session.
June Gordon
“Living in Evil”…What a scary thought. Cannot see myself acting as an evil character but can recall evil people in my life…They become the models for evil personified. Think it is almost impossible to “become” the evil character and document the tale unless you see yourself as an actor on the stage. Very interesting
problem…And what constitutes evil?
Elle Andrews Patt
I think you hit the nail on the head. What constitutes ‘evil’? Any ‘evil’ character is a human who has her motivations. Villains are just misunderstood heroes in their own heads 🙂