Main Character Street

M is for Marissa

M is also for Main Character

  The main character of my series is Marissa West, but rest assured I am not going to be writing about her....well not really. I already wrote a whole character profile on Rissa so I won't repeat anything that I've already said. What I do want to talk about as far as Marissa is concerned is self insertion.

  So many writers are against self insertion and I know when I finally do get published I will probably get nailed to a wall but I self insert characters into a story. As I said in my B post when I started writing I was told "Write what you know, write what you see, write what you love." I know who I am, I know all the ups and downs and the good and bad things about myself so why not insert them into a main character. If I know  who I am then why not create a character in my image and add or subtract traits I do or don't have? I have so many of my friends tell me who strong I am so why shouldn't I put that into my main character? I am a feminist at heart and I believe we need strong female characters, more of them, until people see women can be as strong as men.

  I will defend my self insertion of myself and my friends to the ground. Creating believable characters is hard and writing is hard enough so why not use any way of making it easier we can. Anyone who does want to attack me I will just look them straight in the eye and ask them how they feel about J.K. Rowling and anyone who says they are a fan I will inform them that Jo put a lot of herself into Hermione, and her friends and people she knew became characters in the story as well. So if one of the most successful writers of my generation isn't against it I don't see how any other author can turn their nose up at it.

   I have made some distinctions between myself and Marissa which are very important. Marissa is much more focused on school than I am, she has stage fright and I don't, she has some daddy issues and for the most part my father and I have a great relationship. Looks wise Rissa is also very different, she looks the way I hope to look maybe someday but not right now. So while I might have self inserted with Marissa there are still plenty of ways that I am not like her.

  Anyway I think any author who doesn't put a little of themselves in their characters is either lying or in denial.