Write Away

I loved King's On Writing. I've heard it recommended as one of the only "how to write" manuals worth your money. Would you agree?

Philosophically, to answer OP's question, I absolutely think that all developed characters are parts of us. Maybe not the part of our personality that we present, or the part of our brain that we use every day, but to give a character life, whether hero or villain, it has to come from the author. I like to think that all good characters are reflections of an author.

That being said, it is a bit philosophical. On a direct and surface level, I wouldn't say I'm anything like most of my characters, beyond maybe a quirk here or there and a way of observing the world. It's kind of funny - "Serria", my username, is the name of the main character in my fantasy series. I first made her up when I was something like nine years old and started writing stories. I did online role-playing then, and so adopted the name as my handle. Serria is the character I've put the most work into, by far, as today I'm taking those ideas and trying to make a real story out of them... but even though I still use it as my username, the character's personality is polar opposite of my own. It's my identity, but not actually - that's how I view my relationship with most of my developed characters.