Character Flaws

Lilith Mercury is always attracted to the wrong sort of man. Boy, does this sound familiar. Freud believed that every person in our dreams represented some aspect of ourselves. What is a good story, a fantasy, if not a dream of some sort? As I read over my books, proofing and such, I am often amazed at the resemblance. I don't just see myself in Lilith, but all of my characters. Yes, even, or perhaps it is especially, in the villains.

As for Lilith, I've often said she carries my scars in more than one sense of the word. But so does Marco and Alfred. I've been on all sides of the fence, and that comes through in their personalities. It's like getting to write about different sides of myself. Kat is another character I have a lot of fun with. She's based on a very good friend of mine who likes to joke that Kat is her wicked side.

Marco is such a combination. He looks like a man I cannot have, and has a combined personality of myself, the man he resembles, and the one who nicknamed me Red. You see, I was never afraid when I heard the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As Lilith says herself, "If The Big Bad Wolf wanted to eat me, I wasn't about to stop him." Marco is my Big Bad Wolf made flesh, and I agree with her sentiments wholeheartedly.

Alfred is more of the man who was ... what I thought I wanted. He has a past, and that intrigues me. He's older and therefore more experienced, and that just turns me on. He saved Lilith's life, so she echoes my opinion. He's also Italian, and that never hurts. I took the time to learn the language just to make him sexier. To me French is the language of sex, but Italian is the true language of love.

Even our villain, whom I've not spoken much about, Bade Garren, is a part of me. If I had to call him anything, I'd say he's my wicked side. He does all of the things I could never get away with. In a twisted way, he's wish fulfillment. He also wears a silver stud through his left nipple. You see, even though werewolves have an extreme allergy to silver ... he likes the pain.

Before I started writing, I also found myself drawn to stories with characters I could see a bit of myself in. Does this happen to you? Do you like something completely different, or something that reflects just a little bit of who you are or who you'd like to be? If you're a writer also, do your characters reflect you greatly, or just a bit? Or are they completely different?