: How can I understand characters whose worldview is alien to my own? I feel I've got a huge obstacle, whenever I'm pretending" to be a character and trying to make out how he/she would react.

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How can I write characters with ideals different from my own, without
making them strawman?

I would say that attempting to do so, LZP, is a worthy goal in and of itself.

(Also, I'd think that even those ideals we think define us perhaps do not circumscribe us as much as we may believe.)

You might define yourself as orange. But as orange, you are a color, like blue. To some people, you are the best color. Blue is the best color to other people. You and blue share that people love you.

You are a color that is associated with a fruit. So is Blue.

You are a color that sometimes is in our sky. So is blue.

Copper can be orange-ish, and it can be blue-ish.

Orange and blue are opposites, and as such are connected, as love and hate are connected, and war and peace are connected.

I think you can write the characters that you 'are not' (although I don't know that you truly are not, since humans are complex) by identifying those things that you share - even if it seems kat-a-wampus to your goal.

Maybe you are a pacifist and you are writing about a soldier. You both might be women, you both might have lost a child, you both might have thought of becoming a nun once. These are the elements you can focus into the character you do not find identity with - and build from there.

In the end, the exercise will likely be a good one. It stretches us to think about the human condition. I like your question.

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I reject your premise. For example, I am an atheist, 100%, to my last breath.

However, I live amongst people I love, my own family, that believe in God. My parents did, one was a firm Christian, one more of a deist. Half my extended family is atheist, half are religious.

I understand atheistic reasoning 100%, I have read the Bible cover to cover, blah blah blah.

However, I also have a pretty deep understanding of religionist reasoning (or thinking), especially the common variety of 99% of them (as opposed to Biblical scholars). I know what is wrong with it, where the rational flaws are, what the wrong assumptions are, and what they won't give up.

Now I get along fine with my family, we don't discuss religion and I don't (anymore) point out their bad logic or wrong-headed assumptions. It is not a topic.

That said, I know their arguments so well I can write a convincing religious character, because I can exercise self-control and NOT interject what is wrong with what they consider their "terminal" arguments, and NOT call out the irrational circular logic they always deploy.

I would say the same about Ayn Rand and her fool ideas. I've read them, I know what's wrong with them and every logical fallacy she employs and every deceptive trick she tries to use. But, I could easily write a character that truly believes in it, without interjecting my own criticism or knowledge of the fallacies they are using, because I DO know their arguments so well.

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Ah, this. I know what you mean. While I can't help you when it comes to keeping your own views out of the narrative, I do have advise on give your character's personality and logic different from your own.

For me, what helps is to give each characters a set of axioms which define them. For the book I'm currently writing, for instance, I wrote three chapters then in a separate document where I keep all my notes, wrote out explicitly how the characters view the world, deal with stressors, and the likes. Whenever I worry that a character may be doing what I want them to do because it's what I would do, I check that section of my notes and see if anything is violated.

For a more organic process, you can make a basic set of characteristics you want certain characters to have, and then as you write take note of how you have them react. I would then suggest reviewing each chapter after writing it to ensure that the characters are acting in a way you want, and then record that behavior.

So, to summarize, I suggest working out the characters before hand, and craft them to be different from you.

As someone who was a fan of The Sword of Truth series, I can understand your concerns, but I think that man has a few screws loose. Just because he opined his book series into the ground, doesn't mean you will too.

Also, for what it's worth, I actually like crazy characters whose moral compass points up. I find them easier to work with since I don't have to stop to think if their actions are consistent with a normal human's. I only need to concern myself with making sure that they are consistent with themselves. Also, I find them to be fun, and refreshing.

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