Becoming attached to your characters

Do any of you ever feel like you're attached to your characters? I do sometimes. I felt like apologizing to Liam for what I did to him in the Diamond Fist, as if they were real. Is that weird?

In my NaNo novel I have an idea for what to do with Xavier when he gets kidnapped (where he nearly loses his life, I'm not sure if I should kill him), and I know I'm going to feel guilty for doing it to him too. Does anyone get attached to your characters as if they're your siblings/friends/children? Or am I just weird? XD

i feel strangely maternal about mine :/

I do, very much. But I still try to not let that interfere with my story. I don't want to feel sorry for them and not give them some terrible luck if I have to, or refrain from making their life miserable if it's what the story needs. It's like I created the characters from scratch. I can't make their lives perfect just because I'm attached to them. I DO NOT want to be Stephenie Meyer, who didn't make her story better because she didn't want to kill off any of the characters. I want to be J. K. Rowling, who cried while writing the death of one of her personal favorite characters. I hated that part, too, but I have to admit that the Deathly Hallows wouldn't be the same without it. It made my heart sting, and that's why it's so good.
Also, my main characters can seriously annoy me from time to time XD

i know what you mean lizzie - i may not want to hurt them but i still think they have to go through some pretty crappy stuff because thats life

I decide on their fate before I become attached to them, personally. I think it's good becoming attached to them - it's as if they're your friends.

Lizzie wrote:I do, very much. But I still try to not let that interfere with my story. I don't want to feel sorry for them and not give them some terrible luck if I have to, or refrain from making their life miserable if it's what the story needs. It's like I created the characters from scratch. I can't make their lives perfect just because I'm attached to them. I DO NOT want to be Stephenie Meyer, who didn't make her story better because she didn't want to kill off any of the characters. I want to be J. K. Rowling, who cried while writing the death of one of her personal favorite characters. I hated that part, too, but I have to admit that the Deathly Hallows wouldn't be the same without it. It made my heart sting, and that's why it's so good.
Also, my main characters can seriously annoy me from time to time XD

Exactly. I think it's important to care about the characters, but that doesn't mean you should make everything easy for them. The story comes first and if it's going to be good, the characters have to suffer. That's just the way it is.