Multiple Personality Disorder in Writers

After reading Phobia, Spouse came to me and said, “This [particular] character is you.”

Well, yeah. I wrote the book. It came out of my little ol’ head. Everything in it is me.

But I tend to think that writers–in fact, humans in general–all have a bit of Multiple Personality Disorder. Sometimes we’re shy and sometimes we’re outgoing. Sometimes we’re brave and sometimes we’re cowards. We love and we hate. We laugh and we cry. We’re lovers and children and parents and friends.

I like pizza and beer (a little too much). But sometimes I want oysters and wine.

Those are the vagaries of life. Of humans. Of writers.

For some characters, I have to dig deep to make them true to life. They are only a small piece of me, and it requires conscious work to understand their motivations and desires. They act in ways that I wouldn’t, and I shake my head at their foolishness while writing their behavior. Other characters come more naturally to me. I recognize their feelings and thoughts as if they were my own.

But in both cases, part of me is reflected back to the world. Sometimes they’re the parts I love about myself. Other times, they are the parts that I hate. Either way, it’s me.