To have one's own story told by a third party who doesn't know that the character in question is himself the hero of the story being told, that's a technical refinement.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If somebody is in a story, they need to be there for a reason, and not just to set up somebody else's story.
You have to figure out who the right person is to tell the story. And often, people who are very self-aware will only sound as if they are pontificating if they tell the story.
When a story is told really well and is real, even if it's not about their own lives, people can apply it to themselves.
I think the idea is to try and understand everything about the characters and where the character is coming from, from their point of view, why they say what they do. And not, 'Oh, but I would never say that. Why does the character say that?' But then making it as personal as possible.
A story is built on characters and reasons.
People who actually tell stories, meaning people who write novels and make feature films, don't see themselves as storytellers.
But at the same time, the commonplace statement about them is true: every character is the hero of his own story. Each has a justification for his actions that is convincing to him. It's fun to give these people voices.
Basically you come up with the fictional idea and you start writing that story, but then in order to write it and to make it seem real, you sometimes put your own memories in. Even if it's a character that's very different from you.
The narrative constructs the identity of the character, what can be called his or her narrative identity, in constructing that of the story told. It is the identity of the story that makes the identity of the character.
If you write a story based on a real person, you're trapped by the details of the real person and his life. It gets in the way of writing your own story.