Do you have fun with your characters? There should be the initial fun of creating them, of course, but for me I think the most fun comes when they develop and mature and truly take on a life of their own. You can look back at the earlier stages of their development and literally see how far they have come.
I also enjoy dropping my characters right in it when appropriate to do so but that probably says more about me than them. I will claim dramatic licence though! So yes you should have fun with your characters, especially for novel writing, you will be living with them for a long time. Even in flash fiction writing, while you will generally go from one character to another for each story, you should still know what makes that character tick and enjoy working out how best to get that across to your readers. If you become tired of your characters, it does show through in your writing so love them, love to hate them, enjoy writing for them, enjoy putting them through the emotional wringer etc! It will help your writing flow and sparkle. Characters written like this always draw me to a story. I think it is the characters, more than anything, that makes a story unforgettable.
Talking of characters and having fun, I've become a character in a book, Winter Writerland, written by Beatrice Fishback. I met her at Swanwick Writers' Summer School this year and, along with Jennifer C Wilson, Fiona Park, Val Penny and, of course, me, the five of us came up with story ideas for a cosy mystery. All highly enjoyable and many laughs were had at what we came up with! Beatrice has written the story up as a novella and I'm very glad to share the link. (Naturally all four of us have given our blessing to being characters in a book but I must admit it was a development in my writing journey I hadn't anticipated!). Oh and don't ask me if I'm the murderer (a sentence I never thought I would write!). At the moment I don't know. I wouldn't say anyway. No plot spoilers here!
Love your writing. Your readers will love you for it.
I also enjoy dropping my characters right in it when appropriate to do so but that probably says more about me than them. I will claim dramatic licence though! So yes you should have fun with your characters, especially for novel writing, you will be living with them for a long time. Even in flash fiction writing, while you will generally go from one character to another for each story, you should still know what makes that character tick and enjoy working out how best to get that across to your readers. If you become tired of your characters, it does show through in your writing so love them, love to hate them, enjoy writing for them, enjoy putting them through the emotional wringer etc! It will help your writing flow and sparkle. Characters written like this always draw me to a story. I think it is the characters, more than anything, that makes a story unforgettable.
Talking of characters and having fun, I've become a character in a book, Winter Writerland, written by Beatrice Fishback. I met her at Swanwick Writers' Summer School this year and, along with Jennifer C Wilson, Fiona Park, Val Penny and, of course, me, the five of us came up with story ideas for a cosy mystery. All highly enjoyable and many laughs were had at what we came up with! Beatrice has written the story up as a novella and I'm very glad to share the link. (Naturally all four of us have given our blessing to being characters in a book but I must admit it was a development in my writing journey I hadn't anticipated!). Oh and don't ask me if I'm the murderer (a sentence I never thought I would write!). At the moment I don't know. I wouldn't say anyway. No plot spoilers here!
Love your writing. Your readers will love you for it.
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