My characters and I live in vastly different worlds.
My biggest problems are tests and papers and boys. I play volleyball at the beach, do homework in coffee shops, laugh with my friends until way too late.
“Wouldn’t that be nice?” my characters say.
They fight bad guys. They have secrets. They argue and push buttons and get in trouble. Although they struggle with the basic issues of humanity, just like I do, it’s on a completely different scale. Sometimes I’m jealous of them, sometimes they’re jealous of me, but mostly we’re just really different.
However.
Sometimes I do feel like our worlds collide.
For example, when I see black trucks like these on the road, I feel like Ian (a main character from TIB) is inside — listening to rap and generally being a hot bad boy. So I love black trucks. They make me swoon.
Pianos, piano music, and concert halls remind me of Luke (also from TIB). Sophie’s little brother, he’s a master piano player who lives, breathes, and thinks music. I love listening to (and playing) piano music because no matter how annoying Luke can be, in all his little-brother-ness, he becomes something much bigger when he plays.
And lastly, if I ran, I would probably feel closer to Sophie (TIB’s main character), but I don’t run.
What kinds of things make you feel closer to your characters — like your world and theirs could collide?
a romantic enters the world 
The lovely Kirsten Hubbard sent me an article about a little boy named Dax a while back. I squeed. 😀
When something embarrassing happens to me (and it does regularly) it reminds me of Max. The awkward nerd.
We have that in common, lol.
Listening to my characters soundtracks really brings me into their mindset. Otherwise, I’m afraid we have very little in common – which I like. 🙂
@ Amna, Kristin — cute stories!
@ Sumayyah — yeah, I agree — soundtracks really help!
Lol! Interesting. Yeah, I have a soundtrack for a partially written love story of mine; and it drives me straight into the main character’s head. Long drives do it too, and X-acto knives…haha.
-Mandy
This is too cute. Ian sounds like my type. Whenever I have extra-snarky thoughts, I feel like my MC from SH. Whenever I feel super-confusing unbelievably out-of-control, how can you feel this much feelings about a boy, I think of what I want relationships in my WIP to be. Prettiful.
p.s. Papers, boys, beach volleyball, coffee shops…we would totally hang out in real life.