Agreement and Beliefs in Fiction

I was reading an article on writing the other day that really resonated with me and opened the door to new freedom. The article was talking about how often when a writer feels like his/her characters are starting to blend together, it is because the author is writing him/herself into them too much. Sure, a lot of a writer's characters are going to be filled with bits and pieces of the author, sharing some experiences or traits every now and then, but as a writer you should be careful not to write yourself in too much. This will lead to flat or too similar characters, and it can also really restrict your freedom as a storyteller. I fall into this trap a lot, especially when writing female characters. The writing becomes boring and stale even to the writer sometimes, if the characters are too similar to the author or to each other.

This article discussed ways in which to make your characters different, one of them being to remember that you as a writer don't have to believe everything your characters do. This might sound obvious, but when you get to writing, it can be the first thing you forget. You don't have to agree with every idea you set forth! In fact, the best writing often stems out of the author feeling very uncomfortable, stretching his/her boundaries, and going outside of his/her comfort zone into new territory. I suppose I knew I didn't have to wholeheartedly agree with everything I put into my novels, but once I get going, I sometimes forget that. Once I read this, it hit me that I have a lot more room for stretching my story than I had previously seen; it was like new worlds had opened up. 

So remember, you don't have to agree with everything your characters do, and all of your characters don't have to (and really should not) all agree either either.