@silentpyndrop I also always recommend taking a piece of yourself and putting it in your characters. I know that people give crap for "self insert" characters, but I feel that when you write stories with characters that honestly reflect yourself they feel much more real and honest. I did this a lot for the characters Liddan, Marigold, and Sylvie, actually, and it helped me improve on the character writing a lot, as well as gave me some perspective on my own self loathing (ha, I was super sad in college, wooo). Again, this is what separates the typical "self insert" character from authentically basing your characters off your own experience. Really what makes a self insert so obvious and boring is that they're not really based on the actual person, not honestly anyway. They're idealized versions of the author living out bright fantastic experiences they always wished they could be apart of. When you base a character off yourself, and I mean that truly, you aren't idealizing yourself. You're investigating your own flaws and anxieties and expressing those things in your characters. I always tell writers to do this, especially if I know them on a personal level, because I think it helps give you a fresh perspective on your own experiences. Agh, sorry, this is weirdly turning into a self help thing...ahhhh...okay give you characters a funny catch phrase like when they trip they go "Ruh roh, fiddly sticks I done it again" (this is a joke, don't do this unless ironically)
