I have always viewed my artistic mind as a large magical mansion, with rooms, closets, stairways, and floors constantly being added, removed and rearranged. In it, the characters and concepts I create linger and mingle. When a new character is created they aren't created all at once. Normally they start as a formless being, slowly and carefully gaining a personality, a form, and eventually a name. This interaction between characters allows for their growth, and in turn, feel more and more real. Personification allows me to process my thoughts, and who even I am as a person.
There was once a period of time during high school where I was plagued by a stream of nightmares, with one figure in the spotlight. An inhuman figure cloaked in darkness that would do everything it its power to bring me pain. For weeks it haunted me, and the only way it eventually ended was by turning the haunting figure into a character. I personified it, gave it a face and name, an emotionally reserved and brooding personality simply trying to make ends meet working its 9-5 job of plaguing nightmares. After a while in my head it decided that its dead-end job was no longer enough, and persued its dream of becoming a writer. Turning ideas and concepts into characters that think and talk helps me to understand how they function. That's why when coming up for my idea for my project, the first thing I did was create a character, a personification of my antagonist's viewpoint.
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