Talk:A Courtesan of Rome/@comment-33240385-20181117160028/@comment-3452092-20181119031058

I don't insert myself as the characters either, because in general these characters are nothing like me and if I did that to every story I read, I would probably go insane, because there are so many of them with so many different personalities and lives. That said, it doesn't change the fact that I view the characters the way I view people, through my own filters and mindset which is decidedly not grey. I can accept that generally good people go bad things, but that doesn't mean I'm not extremely annoyed at them when they do those bad things. I can accept that bad people can do good things, but while that doesn't mean I will start liking them because of that good thing, it also doesn't mean I don't cheer for them when they do the good thing.

And yeah, the mindset you read them in probably does affect how you react to the characters. I react strongly to many of them, not because I see myself in them (except in the rare cases I actually do see an element of me in them, but even then there is never enough of me to make me really connect them to me), but because I see their actions as very much one thing or another and so the culmination of those actions creates a strong reaction within me toward that character and like I said. . . it's more fun that way. At least to me. I like having a strong reaction to the characters.