Exploration of Self (and others) through Recreational Roleplay and Fantasy/Fiction Writing

If you think recreational roleplaying is evil, deranged or stupid, read Everyone Roleplays Otherwise, you are likely a reasonable person with an open mind, so, let's play on!

It is my considered opinion that human characteristics and/or personality traits expressed through fiction writing and/or roleplaying are actually parts of the writer/creator drawn out in caricature. They may be singled out or exaggerated but we either possess these traits or we are interested enough to try to emulate them in fiction and roleplay. We are, of course, very capable of working in features which we do not use in 'real life' nor possess in any quantum, but to venture into these areas indicates they are a part of us, even if they're just footnotes for reference. Even more interesting is why and how we may choose which tidbits to explore in fictionalized characterizations. It may seem that inspiration and ideas come from nowhere but they begin as thoughts and so they come from within or through external experience which resonates within. That doesn't mean that a person who writes or plays a murderer is at all interested in killing. It means that they are interested or just curious about what makes up a person who can do such a thing. A murderer is a lot more complicated than 'he who kills'. He has history, reasons, psychological and emotional dilemmas. Bits of this may be common to many other people who do not kill and that's where the creator can draw from his own psyche and experience, perhaps magnify or twist, and arrive at a fully dimensional character. Characters created from something other than bits of the self are shallow or flat. We can make use of stereotypes but if we do not personalize these characters, we do not breathe life into them. It takes a lot of work to convincingly portray a personality in fiction. It comes from within or there's enough interest, even an urge, to investigate the parameters, which indicates an attachment or association with the creator himself. When a creator/writer creates many characters, I believe they can (if they dare) look back at them and see similarities with themselves and might be amazed at why their characters were configured in particular ways. My characterizations are then fractionalizations of me, drawn out aspects of me. The beauty of this is that I get to take a look at myself from the safe distance of fiction. I get to objectively observe and manipulate a character in a way which I may be reluctant or unable to do with my own real life personality or situations. Furthermore, I can vent and express to most any magnification AND perhaps exercise what I would not dare in real life experiences. Granted, there's a line one should not cross here but it's in a different place for each person. I do not want to live my whole life through fictional characters, but there are emotional dramas and crises that I would really like to skip in real life experience and yet, I am curious. So, from the safety of imagination, I can explore without risk, venture without cost, and perhaps satisfy without consequences. Now, if you'd like, let's take a look in my personal Character Closet.

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