Why feeling closer to book characters doesn’t mean you’re broken — it means you’re beautifully human.
📚 Have you ever cried over a book character but felt numb around real people?
You’re not alone — and there’s nothing wrong with you.
For many, especially teens and young adults, fictional characters become lifelines. They offer something the real world often can’t: emotional safety, understanding, and the freedom to be yourself without fear of judgment.
🪞 Fictional Characters Let Us Be Ourselves
When you’re reading, you’re not just following a plot — you’re stepping into someone else’s shoes. You feel their fears, hopes, dreams, and heartbreaks. Unlike real conversations, books don’t interrupt, misunderstand, or dismiss. They let us sit with emotion. They give us space to think, to feel, and to reflect.
This kind of connection feels deeply personal — and sometimes, even more real than your actual relationships.
💬 Characters Can Say What We Need to Hear
As a writer of young adult fiction (Freerunner, Catching Hope, A Thousand Lies) and suspense (Dead Weight, Dead Silent coming 2025), I’ve heard from many readers who saw themselves in my characters. Some even called them friends.
Lexi Michaels, for example, pushes through fear and self-doubt. Abbi Kincaid dives into danger both literally and emotionally. They’re not perfect — they’re messy, brave, unsure, and determined. Just like the rest of us.
“Lexi made me feel brave.”
“I didn’t think anyone else thought like Abbi until I read your book.”
These stories matter because they reflect you — your struggles, your strengths, your search for meaning.
🔐 Fiction Is a Safe Place to Feel
There are many reasons you might relate more to characters on a page than people across the room. Maybe you’ve been hurt. Maybe you’re neurodivergent or socially anxious. Maybe you just haven’t found your people yet.
Books offer safety. Predictability. A place where you can explore emotions without fear of rejection.
Books don’t ask you to explain yourself. They just let you be.
🧠 You’re Wired for Story — And That’s a Strength
Relating to fictional characters doesn’t mean you’re weird or antisocial. It means you’re human. Stories are how we understand the world, each other, and ourselves. They’re how we learn empathy and emotional intelligence.
In fact, your ability to connect deeply with characters likely means you’re capable of forming meaningful real-life relationships — when the time and the people are right.
🧭 Characters Can Help Guide Your Life
Books don’t just reflect our lives — they shape them.
They show us what courage looks like. What healthy friendships and boundaries feel like. What it means to grow, heal, and forgive. And sometimes, they give us the language to describe things we didn’t even know we were feeling.
Fictional characters can become mentors, models, and mirrors.
✍️ As a Writer, I Think of You
When I write, I think of the teen who feels alone in a crowded school hallway. The college student who wonders if anyone truly sees them. The reader who needs hope, not perfection.
That’s why I write flawed but fierce characters — so that someone, somewhere, will feel seen.
If a story gives you comfort, strength, or simply a place to breathe — then the characters have done what they were created to do.
🤝 You Will Find Your People
The emotional connection you feel with fictional characters doesn’t mean you’ll never have deep, real-life relationships. It just means you’re someone who values real connection — and that takes time.
The empathy and insight you gain from stories will help you recognize your people when they come.
“Maybe you haven’t met your real-life people yet — and that’s something to look forward to.“
💖 Final Thoughts: You’re Not Alone
If you’ve ever felt more connected to a character than someone in your real life, that’s okay.
If you’ve reread a story just to spend more time with the people in it, that’s beautiful.
If you’ve said goodbye to a fictional friend and felt like your heart broke a little — that’s real.
Stories save us in quiet, powerful ways. They walk with us through the hard moments. They teach us how to love, how to lose, how to heal.
So keep reading. Keep connecting. And trust that one day, you’ll find people in real life who make you feel the same way your favorite characters do.
Until then, the books will be waiting — full of courage, friendship, and the quiet reminder:
You are not alone.
Want More Like This?
📘 Explore my YA novels:
🕵️♀️ Into suspense? Watch for Dead Silent, coming in 2025.