A Bit About Character Honesty

[Altani]

I mean, I’m entirely in the clouds when it comes to whether or not characters are “real.” I believe strongly in parallel universe theory, which suggests the possibility of infinite parallel universes where anything that can happen does happen. There are some adherents who believe that every time a choice is made or a situation differs, a new parallel reality is created.

I choose to believe that my characters are out there, somewhere. When I write, my headcanon is that I’m tuning into a particular parallel universe. Sometimes if the emotions aren’t right I might miss or not even be able to tune in at all.

It’s a weird headcanon, but creativity in general doesn’t seem to have a rational explanation, and I think my idea explains a lot about why and how creativity happens.

 

[Night Herald]

I mean, I’m entirely in the clouds when it comes to whether or not characters are “real.” I believe strongly in parallel universe theory, which suggests the possibility of infinite parallel universes where anything that can happen does happen. There are some adherents who believe that every time a choice is made or a situation differs, a new parallel reality is created.

I choose to believe that my characters are out there, somewhere. When I write, my headcanon is that I’m tuning into a particular parallel universe. Sometimes if the emotions aren’t right I might miss or not even be able to tune in at all.

It’s a weird headcanon, but creativity in general doesn’t seem to have a rational explanation, and I think my idea explains a lot about why and how creativity happens.

That's a wonderful and interesting way to look at things! It's not dissimilar from my own take on the nature of creativity (and reality) which has come to inform how I view storytelling (and everything). I think in terms of different existential planes and states/levels of consciousness rather than parallell (physical) universes (though the one folds easily enough into the other) and that we definitely tap into something beyond the mind when we exercise creativity. As I understand it, which I don't really, the mind is more a mechanism for sorting, organizing, remixing, and tweaking. The raw stuff comes from elsewhere, I think. When I say "mind" I mean the rational one, the logical and analytical engine; you can of course expand the definition of "mind" to include, well, everything, but that's a whole different topic.

With that in view, characters are as real as anything. I don't quite buy the idea of them existing somewhere out there as creatures of flesh and blood, but I don't think "real" begins and ends with material, corporeal objects. It's just a different layer of reality, expressed through different media. Could just be I'm wired sideways, but a good, hefty abstraction often seems more substantial to me than any old slab of matter, animate or not.