Writing what you have experienced.

[slothyykittee]

As an artist, have you ever created a character, or an entire universe, only for it to hit too close to home?

That's what happened with me when I was making a backstory for a character I made, and I feel pretty comforted when thinking about it.

"Write what you know" is what other artists will tell you. Even if you try to write the unknown, you will be left with a blank paper.

Here is an example: Melissa Shirley, a rabbit girl I have made when I was a bit down. She's introverted, sheltered, and overly religious. Due to this, she has no other social circle other than her family, especially her mom. After her mom died, and her family left to other places, she ended up alone. She's scared to even socialise with the other villagers, and instead hides in her home, away from others.

When reading all this, I went "Wait a minute... This rabbit is literally me."

It's amazing how the brain ends up describing itself without knowing. And I want to know if you had such an experience with your characters/OCs!

Here is some doodles of this little girl.

[OnceHere]

At 4/21/24 06:51 AM, slothyykittee wrote: As an artist, have you ever created a character, or an entire universe, only for it to hit too close to home?

That's what happened with me when I was making a backstory for a character I made, and I feel pretty comforted when thinking about it.

"Write what you know" is what other artists will tell you. Even if you try to write the unknown, you will be left with a blank paper.

Here is an example: Melissa Shirley, a rabbit girl I have made when I was a bit down. She's introverted, sheltered, and overly religious. Due to this, she has no other social circle other than her family, especially her mom. After her mom died, and her family left to other places, she ended up alone. She's scared to even socialise with the other villagers, and instead hides in her home, away from others.

When reading all this, I went "Wait a minute... This rabbit is literally me."

It's amazing how the brain ends up describing itself without knowing. And I want to know if you had such an experience with your characters/OCs!

Here is some doodles of this little girl.

Every time you make something you put bits of yourself in it, since art is a form of self expression. Or so that's what I've understood.

I don't think "write what you know" is really that helpful, at least for me. Challenging yourself to write what you don't understand is more fun to me since it forces me to think up something new, rather than stick to my experiences which are most of the time, lacking.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes. My first comic was just literally me but cooler, prettier, and has magic.

[Thetageist]

I have a lot of characters - far too many, in fact - that start off as self-inserts, and often the emotion comes before the rest of it, so the realization that they’re like me is always there.

(This is also part of why my cast of OCs is overwhelmingly white. I don’t feel comfortable race-bending something that is originally based on me, unless I can turn the character into something completely detached from myself. Bad Theta! BAD!)

Hopefully my writing will become less self-centered once I fix my own insecurities and learn to think about anything that isn’t my own problems.

[kmau]

At 4/21/24 09:05 AM, OnceHere wrote: I don't think "write what you know" is really that helpful, at least for me.

Not when you try to do it consciously at least, that is a self-sabotaging approach. Your stuff will come across way more natural if you continue to "write what you know" by accident, subconsciously.

When I created a villain for my story, I only realized afterwards that he's all of my convictions and beliefs twisted into the worst possible outcome. This deepened my understanding of him after the fact and helped me flesh him out even more, but the point is that it started as a subconscious, happy little accident.

[Oddlem]

SUPER normal!! I've had that realization so many times going back and seeing old characters and reading their backstory 😭 And it makes sense! You know your own experiences best so it's gonna be the default I think

[fe3l1ngsk1lledd]

Yes, of course. I also draw stickers as well, speaking of stickers, I might cook something up for PicoDay2024

[OnceHere]

At 4/21/24 09:49 AM, kmau wrote:

At 4/21/24 09:05 AM, OnceHere wrote: I don't think "write what you know" is really that helpful, at least for me.

Not when you try to do it consciously at least, that is a self-sabotaging approach. Your stuff will come across way more natural if you continue to "write what you know" by accident, subconsciously.

When I created a villain for my story, I only realized afterwards that he's all of my convictions and beliefs twisted into the worst possible outcome. This deepened my understanding of him after the fact and helped me flesh him out even more, but the point is that it started as a subconscious, happy little accident.

That's one way to do it. But experience can only go so far. It'll stop working at some point and you'll have to go outside and/or research to have new knowledge at some point. Though I agree that when you already have enough experience your subconscious will help you in writing.

[Tenebrare]

At 4/21/24 09:05 AM, OnceHere wrote: Every time you make something you put bits of yourself in it, since art is a form of self expression. Or so that's what I've understood.

I don't think "write what you know" is really that helpful, at least for me. Challenging yourself to write what you don't understand is more fun to me since it forces me to think up something new, rather than stick to my experiences which are most of the time, lacking.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes. My first comic was just literally me but cooler, prettier, and has magic.

I think people take this 'what you know' a bit too narrow. It is more about if you write about something, you should least familiarize yourself with the subject.

Examples of 'write what you know' can be easily seen comparing me and a fellow fan of a particular fandom. We both like same character, and we explore very similar ideas in our fiction, but since films we base on our fiction originally were in one continent and then publisher company wanted it to be in different location for popularity.

So 'write what you know' here happens to be that I set my action strictly to Europe because I know Europe a lot better than USA and the other fan sticks to USA because that's what she knows well. Canon wise both are correct takes. We just choose to pick location we are better describing and making characters to.

Sure I can write the story in US and she could write in Europe, but I am 100% certain that quality of our work is better by the fact we stick to the "what we know". And there are a lot of difference between cultures of the 2 location or even people, names, buildings, foods, or even if police gets involved.

'Write what you know' is a good advice, but it does not mean that you are a locked into comfort zone or 1st hand experience. With research you can become a knowing person.

And I agree with saying that whatever we do and create - we put pieces of ourselves in it. Our backgrounds and environment makes us people we are today. With this lady above - an American fic writer we sometimes even have same premises and the way we problem solve often is so "us" and so different and we have started to brainstorm together because we are so different and we find it fascinating how we can take exact same characters, exact same inspiration and even same starting point, and agree on same ending and yet have very different journeys.Consciously and unconsciously we put our own takes of life into our writings, even when its just fiction.

I hope I made any sense.

[OnceHere]

At 4/21/24 09:07 PM, Tenebrare wrote: I think people take this 'what you know' a bit too narrow. It is more about if you write about something, you should least familiarize yourself with the subject.

Examples of 'write what you know' can be easily seen comparing me and a fellow fan of a particular fandom. We both like same character, and we explore very similar ideas in our fiction, but since films we base on our fiction originally were in one continent and then publisher company wanted it to be in different location for popularity.

So 'write what you know' here happens to be that I set my action strictly to Europe because I know Europe a lot better than USA and the other fan sticks to USA because that's what she knows well. Canon wise both are correct takes. We just choose to pick location we are better describing and making characters to.

Sure I can write the story in US and she could write in Europe, but I am 100% certain that quality of our work is better by the fact we stick to the "what we know". And there are a lot of difference between cultures of the 2 location or even people, names, buildings, foods, or even if police gets involved.

'Write what you know' is a good advice, but it does not mean that you are a locked into comfort zone or 1st hand experience. With research you can become a knowing person.

And I agree with saying that whatever we do and create - we put pieces of ourselves in it. Our backgrounds and environment makes us people we are today. With this lady above - an American fic writer we sometimes even have same premises and the way we problem solve often is so "us" and so different and we have started to brainstorm together because we are so different and we find it fascinating how we can take exact same characters, exact same inspiration and even same starting point, and agree on same ending and yet have very different journeys.Consciously and unconsciously we put our own takes of life into our writings, even when its just fiction.

I hope I made any sense.

Yeah, it's better used as some kind of reminder to research about unfamiliar topics rather than an excuse to not expand one's knowledge.

[OneGrumpyLumpy]

I started writing Bury Everyone when I tried to take a defibrillator across the street at my old job. Several people including shoppers and employees tried to stop me, my boss was worried about what that meant for her business because it happened while I was in uniform.

Obviously there wasn't monsters or gore in real life, but that kind of cynicism and solipsism is everywhere in that series. The best example I can think of so far is the couple trying to get Epper (an undertaker) to leave because they're worried the obvious suicide makes them look bad in chapter 1.

I write this series under the impression that there's no such thing as inherent good in humanity and guilt is only a suggestion and tried to create a world around that, where the collection of the dead takes priority over preventing people from dying, and all of the bodies are fed to a monster underground to keep him alive and grow his power as a big "I told you so."

I guess it's my way of working through that trauma.

[Skoops]

I really try to shy away from making characters that are too much like me or story beats that are too close to my lived experiences unless it's some kind of joke, but I find a lot of the characters I've written dialogue for will take on a sort of voice that's more "me" than I might intend.

Like in this game jam game where I did the art and dialogue, Waha the Witch basically took on the endearingly dumb way I play my tabletop RPG characters with friends: idly self-aggrandizing, not taking things too seriously, sassy in the face of danger, that sort of thing.

Likewise, her counterpart the Pumpkin God is just a heightened version of me when I'm dealing with people that get on my nerves: curt, unimpressed, a penchant for big words.

Once you find that groove where you can feel yourself in the character's position, the lines write themselves.

[beanvamp]

my only "oc" is a romanticized version of myself

[T7-101]

I'm making a comic, and even in it's early stages I've began to see that a lot of the characters I've made remind me of who I how could or could have turned out and lived.

It ranges from the worst, to the best, and even the weirdest

But with the character intentionally based on myself, I can explore how I reflect on who I am, who I could have been, and use that to write a sad, bleak, yet hopeful message