# Have you ever felt as though characters were your friends?



## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

Have you ever felt as though characters were your friends? Sometimes I get so drawn into a book and the characters are so well written that I feel like I know them in person. It's amazing when this happens, but it only happens in certain books for me. It happened to me when reading Harry Potter, and I get it when I'm reading some of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels too, especially the city watch ones.

Anybody else feel this sometimes? If so, which books and which characters?


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## Todd Trumpet (Sep 7, 2011)

Two words:

Samwise Gamgee.

Todd


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

There are many, many characters I've "met" over the years that I liked and would love to hang out with; but as to actually feeling they were my friends, I can't say that resonates with me -- but perhaps that means something different to you than it does to me.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

I do feel as though I know certain characters very well but in order to feel as though I'm friends with someone, they have to know me as well as I know them. So no, I've never felt like "friends" with a fictional character.


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## RPMcMurphy (Apr 24, 2012)

I'm not sure that I've ever felt as if I was actually friends with any character in a book.  As others stated, friendship is a two way street.  Maybe I felt that if I were to ever actually meet a character from a book in real life that we might become friends but I've never felt that a character already knows me well enough to call me friend.

I've certainly felt a strong connection to various characters over the years but I wouldn't quite describe it as friendship.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

It goes both ways. I can write a character, read what I wrote, and realize the character really is a friend. Unconscious? Subconscious? I don't know. But it happens.


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## laurie_lu (May 10, 2010)

Yep I felt that way before but it was more like I was an associate going through the story with them.


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## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Todd Trumpet said:


> Two words:
> 
> Samwise Gamgee.


You mean the only mortal who resisted the temptation of the One Ring? That's one heck of a friend!
(My usual comment with Sam since the movie rearranged that small part.)

Can't say any character would be a friend though the closest would be Arthur Dent, but only on Thursdays. ha


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## Verbena (Sep 1, 2011)

I think the book is Cien anos de soledad(One Hundred Years of Solitude).


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

I am not sure I ever thought of them as friends, but I have gotten into books so much that the characters seemed real.  I remember feeling sad if they died or had anything bad happen to them.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

Along the lines as some have posted above, with me it's more like some characters I think would be pretty neat to meet in real life and know in person, but of the fictional characters I don't look at them as friends.


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## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

All the time, at least when I'm reading a really good novel.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

I feel more like a good book I'm reading is my friend, not so much a character in it.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

At one of our writers' workshop a writer was asked a question and in reply she backed up her argument by quoting one of the characters in her book. We all nodded sagely until we realised we were being swayed by a fictional character who only existed in our minds.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Funny question.  I feel this way with singers/songwriters - I feel like I know them or that we're friends especially if I am able to connect effortlessly with the lyrics and the melody of the song.

For well-written books, I am fascinated with the characters but there is always the awareness that they are fictional, and I feel the same with movies or plays.

Maybe because I see musicians as real people but characters as such?


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

Yes, Brother Cadfael and Mma Ramotswe (mr. Spock too, but _that_ love affair started on television).


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## Beth Jones (May 4, 2012)

Yes! My friends and I used to joke that we all had crushes on characters in books rather than on movie stars.


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## lorezskyline (Apr 19, 2010)

In a way yes as certain characters feel part of my life and I care so much about what happens to them, it's also when i'm in a bad mood I will turn to my favourite characters in books to cheer me up so I guess they are friends.  In particular Archie Goodwin from the Nero Wolfe Books, Bernie Rhodenbarr from the Lawrence Block's burglar series and in comics Tony Chu from Chew.


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## Alicia Dean (Jul 11, 2011)

I also don't really think of them as 'friends' but certain characters resonate with me more than others, seem more real than others, and I think about them even when I'm not reading the book. Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie affected me that way. There have been a multitude of others, but he's probably the most recent.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

Todd Trumpet said:


> Two words:
> 
> Samwise Gamgee.
> 
> Todd


I was going to say Frodo and Gandalf  -- I can't remember a time I didn't know about the Lord of the Rings. My mom was a big fan and introduced me and my brother to those books at a very young age. So I grew up believing in Middle Earth and still do. The only other book that's had the same impact as far as feeling certain characters were my friends would be Anne Tyler's _Saint Maybe_. I read _Saint Maybe_ when I was thirteen, and the tale of an ordinary man's redemption and how it impacted his family -- it just feels so real and true to me. I wish I could meet the Bedloes in real life.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't know if I've ever felt as if a character is a 'friend', but I think more to your point I have felt a strong connection to certain characters:

Richard Sharpe of Cornwell's Sharpe series b/c I love the depiction of the character and the whole Revolutionary War/Napoleonic period has always been one of my favorites.

Also, Aragorn of Lord of the Rings. Dark, enigmatic, a destiny he's reluctant to fulfill (I might be drawing more from the movies than the books on that last point!)--a very intriguing character.

Might as well throw in Elric of Melnibone, though he'd likely steal my soul before we'd have much of an opportunity to chat.


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## eldereno (Dec 27, 2009)

I rememeber reading And the Ladies of the Club by Helen Hoover Santmyer (unfortunately not on Kindle) in my early 20's. It is a very long book and so a very LARGE book to tote around but I took it everywhere I went! The detailed descriptions of everything (down to the weave of the fabric of the drapes in a room) made me feel as if I were in those spaces surrounded by the characters in the novel. Can't say that the characters were "friends" but I was most unhappy when they were no longer part of my life....more than with any book I have read since.


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## smallblondehippy (Jan 20, 2012)

Yep, I always feel like this. I suppose when you slog through 400+ pages with a character, you can't help but feel like you know them. 

Who wouldn't want a friend like Samwise Gamgee? Or Sam Vimes from the City Watch? Now, there's a good bloke to have a beer with down the pub.


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## Darlene Jones (Nov 1, 2011)

Not so much that they were my friends, but I've often read books with characters that I wished were my friends. There have also been times when I wished I could be in the book with those characters.  For me it happens much more often in books than it does in movies or tv. That's the magic of reading.


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## Dave Adams (Apr 25, 2012)

The Lord of the Rings did that to me. I always feel sort of sad when I finish...saying goodbye (until the next time I read the series!)


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## Ciuri Di Badia (May 3, 2012)

yea i have... like jenny of  the doodle and tommy of seduce the killer


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## henryandhenrybooks (Sep 6, 2011)

For me it's more like I wanna be friends with a bunch of these cool characters, but I don't think they'd have me...


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## goldie (May 9, 2012)

I read a lot of American history, mostly founding father's type.  When I'm done I always feel like these characters are my friends.  I happen to know Jefferson, Adams, Franklin - they just don't know me.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

Joseph_Evans said:


> Anybody else feel this sometimes? If so, which books and which characters?


I'm most likely to feel this way about books I've read many times over the years. For example, James Herriet and the Farnon brothers are very real to me because I've been rereading the All Creatures Great & Small Books since I was a kid.


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## Tracey Ivy (May 7, 2012)

I feel like many of the characters I write are my friends, they stay beside you forever.


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## JenniferRenee (Apr 18, 2012)

Definitely. I'm pretty sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione are my best friends. We've spent a lot of time together, and I know a lot about them.


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## Boatie (May 8, 2012)

Jon Olson said:


> I feel more like a good book I'm reading is my friend, not so much a character in it.


I couldn't agree more!


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## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

I see a lot of people are mentioning The Lord of the Rings - yes! I definitely felt like Frodo and Sam were my friends when I was reading it. I'd have dreams that I was in there with them, helping them on their journey, and they were talking to me like I'd been their friend and companion the whole time! The same with Harry Potter. I guess it's just the quality of the writing and dialogue that can affect a reader in such a way


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## Dee Ernst (Jan 10, 2011)

henryandhenrybooks said:


> For me it's more like I wanna be friends with a bunch of these cool characters, but I don't think they'd have me...


This is how I feel as well. There are lots of characters I'd love to be friends with, Archie Goodwin definatly being one. And Harry Dresden. And John Sutter of The Gold Coast. Hmmm...maybe 'friends' is the wrong word...


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## Tonyshoey (May 23, 2012)

I can think of two I'd love to be mates with, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike from the Robert Crais series of books. They strike me as a pair I'd love to go for a drink with and at the end of the book I genuinely feel as if I'm saying goodbye to two people I'll miss.
A rare skill as a writer.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Can't say that I've ever felt they were friends, but I have felt like I've known some.  Mostly when the book I've been reading has so transported me I felt like I was in a different reality when I was reading.  There's a sense of disorientation when I realize that what I read didn't really exist.  

Betsy


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

JenniferRenee said:


> Definitely. I'm pretty sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione are my best friends. We've spent a lot of time together, and I know a lot about them.


Yep, that's who I was thinking too.

Dawn


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## JackDAlbrecht (Sep 24, 2011)

I believe it is the attachment that you are referring too?  If so, I would have to say that I have run into this many, many times.  My favorite has to be Andrew Wiggins from "Ender's Game". I have also experience the same issue with LOTR, Harry Potter, Charlotte's Web, Discworld, Dragon Flight, The Crystal Caves, Sword of Truth, Wheel of time, Imago and many more.  Books tend to be my escape from reality, and I usually get so lost in their worlds that I have a hard time letting go when a series ends.  I think this is what the written word has done for millions of people.  Nothing can touch us like a book, because we words tend to help us identify with characters more than a movie can ever do.


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## morantis (May 8, 2012)

I know that as an author, I used a piece of software that was used for dossiers and had entire histories and profiles written about them.  I found that when I wrote, just the fact that I had invented characters that were that deep, I would incorporate some of that into the story.  I can feel when an author has done that and connect better with the character.  Why would I care much about a character that the author did not care enough to put a little time into them.


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## Nicole Ciacchella (May 21, 2012)

Might I introduce you to my husband, Fitzwilliam Darcy?   The frustrating thing is that I love Elizabeth too, so I can't imagine fighting over him with her.

I'm very attached to the characters in Harry Potter.  They've been with me for years and I've spent countless hours with them.  I'm especially attached to Dobby the House Elf. (sniffle)

Also, the characters in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and read it right away!


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> At one of our writers' workshop a writer was asked a question and in reply she backed up her argument by quoting one of the characters in her book. We all nodded sagely until we realised we were being swayed by a fictional character who only existed in our minds.


That's something we all do. It is drawing on shared cultural references to communicate. When that cultural reference is sufficiently widely shared, we do it without even giving it a second thought. If we reference Dickens, we do so without much thought. People quite Shakespeare all the time, but even when his plays are based on real people they are pretty loosely based. It is only when that cultural reference is shared by a small group that we are really aware of it. If you use the phrase "redshirt" amond science fiction fans, they will understand what you mean. Use the same phrase among football fans, and it means something else.

I don't think of the characters as my friends, but I don't use the word "friend" at all loosely. I do care about the characters, but I don't see myself in any sort of relationship with them; I don't imagine that I am there in the story, like an extra sidekick that the author just hasn't mentioned.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

I generally read books where the characters should be turned into the police, therapy, or anger management. 

I was discussing this on Twitter a couple months ago. When you really look at it, the bulk of the heroes in romance are men that I would never, ever want to be in the same room with, let alone naked. Bunch of players


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## Joseph_Evans (Jul 24, 2011)

I think rereading a book has an effect on this too. I find that in rereading a book, I get to know the characters so well that it feels like I know them in person. One that really affected me was Troy by Adele Geras. I was so attached to the characters that, even though I knew what was coming, I was devastated at what happened to these people I cared about!


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## Kenton Crowther (Jan 5, 2012)

As a schoolboy in short trousers I was pretty sure Allan Quatermain in _King Solomon's Mines_ would credit me with being a good shot, and would share his pipe tobacco if I got a bit short. Later on I thought I would have had a good mate in the 'Henry Miller' of Henry Miller's books. In actual night-time dreams, I WAS their friend, man.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

I've become vested so much in characters I want the stories to continue. I used to read Joan Collins and found her to be the Queen of fan fiction.


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