Characters Are Not The Author

Sometimes there can be a difficult relationship between characters and their authors. People often assume that a character is simply an author's avatar, letting the author do whatever he or she wants to without real-world consequences. This is especially true for main characters. This relationship is especially believed if the main character and the author are already similar (same age, race, background, etc.). And the relationship is strained when that main character is a less-than-pleasant person.

What happens when you read about a character who kidnaps random strangers off the streets? What happens if that character tortures his victims? Then kills them? Then disembowels and consumes them? Assuming that people aren't so disgusted that they just close the book and call it trash, they usually attack the author, the standard rhetorical question being, "Who writes this filth?" The other common attack is along the lines of, "This book is a flimsy pretense for the author to do all the things he wished he could do, but was too afraid to ever try in real life."

The simple fact is that characters are not the author. I suppose that the more accurate fact is that characters shouldn't be the author. Sometimes these criticisms are true. An essential component of a Mary Sue character is that it is an author's avatar, but they are also a quintessential example of terrible writing. Every character will have a piece of the author inside, but none of them can be said to be the author in actuality.

If you have a character who happens to be a sick, twisted bastard, then write a story with a sick, twisted bastard. Don't be afraid of what people will say about you; be confident in the knowledge that it isn't you. However, you should be aware that some people will not understand this. People are compelled to make connections and associations. If you write something that seems to glorify an activity, let's say arson, then everybody will assume it is because you yourself are a fan of it.

In reality, the proper advice is to tread carefully. In a perfect world, people wouldn't assume that the author is writing something to live out a fantasy. In the real world, it does happen (and sometimes rightly so). If you're truly afraid of being mislabeled, then play it safe and just write about wholesome, pleasant characters. If you either don't care what other people think or simply care more about telling a story you think is worth telling, then damn the criticisms and do what you know you must.