Hi all,

This sounds a little crazy, but I think I might be falling in love (okay, not literally but you get what I mean?) with the male lead in my story! It's my own fault really - I wrote him to be everything I could ever want in a man! Trouble is, I find myself daydreaming about him. And what's worse, sometimes, when I'm out and about, I catch glimpses of him in other people - until of course I have to remind myself that he's a figment of my own imagination!

Now, the question is - am I actually 'crazy', or has this happened to other people? I mean, it seems like it's probably a natural result of writing romance novels - why wouldn't you fall in love with the person you've created? After all, you're trying to create a person that others will fall in love with, aren't you? I just wanted to know whether or not I should consider putting my novel aside in favour of not descending down the path of lunacy...

Jess

I' pretty sure it happened to Emily Bronte.

Didn't painters throughout history do this? I think of Rossetti and his models (who ended up looking surprisingly similar on canvas).
Most modern figurative nudes I've seen look like 'dream women' - creatures to fall in love with.

Essentially, doing this in writing is no different, IMO.
It's just a different emphasis.

I think you shouldn't worry, unless you start sending your character Valentine cards

I haven't done the actual full-on falling in love with a character, but I have been pretty much obsessed with a few of them.

Don't worry; it will gradually fade away when you stop working on the piece.

Yep this happens to me quite regularly. One character in particular who I'm still not done with yet is ever present.

For me the other thing was this male MC was able to tell me what the heck was going on when I didn't know. I was able to sit down and have a chat with him almost anywhere and while he didn't figure it out for me, he would answer my questions.

There was a point too when I accidentally kept saying hello to people and using his name. That was very weird. But I'd been alone with the story for a while. I mean no one to speak to for a couple of weeks so odd anyway.

It happens to me with a lot of my characters (male and female) though this one has been more intense. I wouldn't say I was in love with him though, just very very close. Know him very well.

Happens to me all the time. Not sure I could have someone as a central character who I wasn't deeply involved with emotionally ... so far that's been love, but I can imagine also hating them.

And with one project - the one which ended up being ASA - in the first go at that project I fell in love with a relatively minor character, and was frustated that I couldn't write him properly. So in ASA itself he got a third of the novel...

What you really can't afford to be is indifferent to your MC and the others.

Halfway theough a shopping trip I had to ruch home just to undress, and play with, once again, on of my protagonists ...

And once, at a boring lunch, with others exchanging details of new grandchildren I almost, almost made as my contribution the information that my heroine had named her third Rose Marie.

<Added>

Obviously as misty-eyed as ever, that should, of course, read "Halfway through a shopping trip I had to rush home just to undress, and play with, once again, one of my protagonists."

For a minute, Sandra, I thought you were on the wrong forum.

There's a better one?

There's a better one?

A few, in fact:

The Ford Transit forum
Beastforum (better not go there)
Powerballs forum
and let's not forget the GLBT Knitters forum. (yes, it is for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender knitters)

Fair bet none of them will improve your writing, though.

Think it'd better be the OIWB - 'Overcoming Inermittent Word Blindness - since on first reading I misread 'Breastforum' and transgender kittens

transgender kittens

What a great name for a new forum.

transgender kittens What a great name for a new forum.

Or a band - presumably the siblings of Pussy Riot...

the siblings of Pussy Riot...

Dropped by to mention that Thomas Hardy is said to have fallen in love with Tess, but I see events have somewhat overtaken me.