Writing Prompts: How to Develop Your Main Character to be So Much More than Just Yourself

We’ve all heard the advice: “Write what you know.” We express relatability when we write what we know. As a result, many novel protagonists, especially for beginner and intermediate writers, are essentially self-inserts- the author exploring their own personal traits and past on the page. Their character is an alternate version of them.

I think there’s nothing wrong with this. Bringing your truth and your experience to life through archetypes and storytelling is a beautiful thing. But how do we develop our main character in our story to be robust enough that they are not just a reflection of the author’s own worldview- but actually feel like a complete person who brings something new to the table?

It starts with identifying and exploring how you really feel- what you’re really passionate about.

“Write what you know” isn’t about the events; it’s about the emotions. It’s not about transcribing your diary. It’s about emotional alchemy—the process of taking the raw, messy, and sometimes painful truths of your own life and spinning them into the pure gold of a fictional narrative.

The stories that grip us, the characters that live in our heads rent-free, aren’t memorable because the plot is 100% original (it never is). They’re memorable because they feel honest.

But if your job as a novelist isn’t to report your life. Your job is to recycle its emotional energy. So what is the next step to creating your character so they are so much more than another version of yourself?

How do you take a personal feeling and turn it into a scene where a character, say, battles a shadow demon or confronts a corrupt king, who may or may not represent your ex boyfriend?

1. Identify the Emotional Core

Look away from your plot. Look inward. What is a feeling you know with bone-deep intimacy?

• Is it the suffocating feeling of being trapped by family expectations?

• Is it the sharp sting of betrayal by someone you trusted?

• Is it the fierce, protective ache of loving someone you can’t have?

• Is it the simmering rage against a system that feels unjust?

Find that feeling. Don’t judge it, just isolate it. This is your raw material. This is your lead.

2. Externalize and “What If?”

Now, take that feeling and give it to a character. This character is not you. They are a container for that primary emotion.

Next, ask the most powerful question in fiction: “What if…?”

• Your Feeling: Feeling trapped and powerless.
  • “What if…”: What if you felt powerless not because of a boss, but because you were the only one without magic in a magical family?
• Your Feeling: A secret you’re terrified will come out.
  • “What if…”: What if that secret wasn’t a personal mistake, but a hidden bloodline that could start a war?

This is the bridge from personal to creative. You use the “what if” to build a fictional scaffold around a real human truth.

3. Raise the Stakes

Your real-life argument with a loved one might have ended in a slammed door. In your novel, that same emotional core- that feeling of being misunderstood and worthless-can fuel a scene where the protagonist shatters a political alliance or awakens a dormant power.

In fiction, we get to make the internal external. We can turn anxiety into a literal monster. We can turn longing into a magical quest. The problems are bigger, the dangers are deadlier, but the feeling at the heart of it all is just as real as the one you felt this morning. So raise the stakes of the situation.

4. Combine the reality with the potential

Who would this person be if you changed just a few things about their life story, or combined two people you know of into one character, for example? Do some journaling about what makes this character different from yourself in some way- even if they are living and resonating with a similar frequency to your own. Find what makes your character distinct.

Ask Yourself These Questions to Make Your Character More Unique

1. What is their worst trait, and how do they justify it? Self inserts are often idealized and romantic versions of ourselves. Give your character a real, significant flaw (e.g. arrogance, cowardice, a hot temper, selfishness, crippling prejudice) Then, more importantly, figure out the internal logic that they use to defend that flaw. Do they see it as a necessary evil?
2. What does it mean to them when they say no? And who or what are they loyal to- so much that they would struggle to say no?
3. What is a core belief they hold about the world that you, the author, fundamentally disagree with? This is the fastest way to create separation. Challenge your character to have a worldview, a political opinion, a moral code, or a personal philosophy that is not your own. Do they believe that “the end justifies the means”? That “tradition must be upheld at all costs? That “true strength is not showing your emotions”? Explore what they believe this- what in their past shaped this perspective? This question will create a wonderful contradiction in your character, just like real people possess.
4. How do they react to pain and challenges? Are they stronger and more resilient than you? Or are they struggling more than you are? How do they express their emotions when something goes wrong in their story? This question grounds the character’s actions in the plot and observable actions.
5. What are they secretly vain about? It could be their hair, their intelligence, their skills, popularity/reputation, or their ability to lie. This reveals a crack in their self-image and what they value.
6. Who do they secretly admire to the point of envy? This person represents something they were they were (or they wish they had) Their choice reveals their deepest insecurities and aspirations.
7. What is their relationship with money? Make it different from your own, and you’ll see that their financial views reveal their views on security, power, and influence.
8. What is something they lie about, whereas you would’ve known to tell the truth?
9. What’s a small, simple thing that brings them genuine joy? This adds specificity and softness.
10. What do they think is their best quality, but it actually one of their worst qualities? Do they think they’re “brutally honest” when they’re really just cruel? Do they think they’re “cautious” when they’re actually too risk-averse? This gap between self-perception and reality is deeply human

This process of emotional alchemy is what fuels my own novel. The heart of the novel, the engine that drives the plot, comes from anger- especially bringing to life the kinds of anger people are afraid to talk about.

My what-if questions were: What if people were attracted to the very people they hated? What if the dynamics of power and surrender for a young woman reached God-level proportions?

You can check out my novel on Amazon here. It’s free to access on Kindle Unlimited and also available in paperback.

Your Story, Your Gold

Your most powerful writing tool isn’t a complex vocabulary or your plot diagram. It’s your emotional connection to the world. It’s your vulnerability. It’s your willingness to dig into your own problems and scandals and experiences and share what you find.

Don’t write what you know. Write what you feel.

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