: Re: Is it ok to be autobiographical with a main character? This question really comes down to a personal issue I've had present in my fiction. I'm still very new as far as being a writer is

@Frith254

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If I can interpret "I'm still very new" as "writing my first novel", then skip this, go back to your story and keep writing. Ignore everyone telling you anything about how to write. Because all this good advice out there (like on this page) will be clearer after you've struggled through your first novel.

So, no, it is no problem if a main character is based on your personal experience. Honestly, on what else do you want to base it? He/she will have feelings and problems and you have to describe these feelings and problems, so you start with the feelings and problems you know and adapt and develop them.

Adapting and developing means, if your hero had to shoot someone and you've never done something like that, then you can describe him nonetheless. You felt sad and guilty sometime in your life, I'm sure. Just adapt and push these feelings a little bit.

So, yes, it is a problem if your main characters do not differentiate. If you believe in god and think god's laws should be followed strictly and every character in your book thinks so too, then it's just boring.

A fiction writer writes most of the time about things he has no clue about (rape, dragons, murder, drugs, alien invasions). Maybe you take drugs, but you never met an alien. Writers make up shit, so start doing that. Then your characters will vary.

And if you think you should just be working harder at being a writer, then the answer is: Yes!

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