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There's a difference between using elements of real life to help you shape a character and creating a Mary Sue. Drawing on reality, and autobiography, is fine, as long your characters — all of them...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T12:00:43Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26767 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T06:07:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26767 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
There's a difference between using elements of real life to help you shape a character and creating a Mary Sue. Drawing on reality, and autobiography, is fine, as long your characters — all of them — are rounded and realistic, with flaws and strengths. This is more than "a knight in high fantasy can't have a fondness for rice balls and Van Halen." It means that your character has to have his or her own arc, motivation, backstory, and personality. It means s/he has to be wrong sometimes, and lose sometimes, before winning at the end. If you're concerned, write your story and then do an editing pass where you just focus on fine-tuning that particular character to make sure he is himself and not you.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2017-02-16T20:51:15Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 4