You Aren’t What You Eat…Or Write…By Ripley Proserpina

Sometimes, when I do author takeovers on social media, I’ll get asked the question, “Which one of your characters is most like you?” It’s not an easy question to answer, because the truth is—I’m not my characters and they aren’t me. I haven’t written myself into my books.

My favorite part about my characters is getting in their heads, and maybe they like the same things I like. For example, Briar in the series Midnight’s Crown, wanted to go to Boston College her whole life.  That’s me.

Betha, in The Ice Bride, is a photojournalist. That was my original plan for my life. And it was a degree I’d get at Boston College. So yeah. That little bit is also me.

But, those are facets of my personality or past. Not-a-one of my characters is wholly drawn from real life.

I think this helps me when I get reviews that say things like, “This character is too stupid/smart/perfect/ugly/easy/virginal.” I don’t own it. I don’t take the reviews to heart and read them as a criticism of who I am as a person.

I might love the characters like my children, but even the most loving parent can recognize when their kid is being… well… a jerk. This isn’t to say that when my characters aren’t liked I don’t think to myself in a voice reminiscent of my five year-old self, “But whyyyyyy?”  

All told though, I’m okay if people don’t like what I write. None of us can be liked all the time by everyone. I’m going to write characters who aren’t perfect or universally relatable. Some of them may be a little like me. Some of them may even have mothers who are a lot like mine. Some are going to be aliens on a planet in a far off universe who can turn into mist. Readers aren’t going to like all of them. And that’s fine.

Filed under: Ripley Proserpina