Quote: Nogget @ September 13 2009, 7:17 AM BSTIn that respect, and considering that everything we write must involve a part of ourselves, do writers with a lot of self-loathing have an advantage?
I'm not sure about "self-loathing", but it helps to be able to view yourself with a rather brutal honesty.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 13 2009, 3:00 PM BSTI'm not sure about "self-loathing", but it helps to be able to view yourself with a rather brutal honesty.
Er yeah....I meant brutal honesty, not self-loathing 
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I don't see that brutal honesty would be as useful as real self-loathing. When I watched a Frasier episode this week, I realised I'd have great difficulty putting a character through such a painful experience, because my own personality likes a quiet life. However, Sootyj's suggestion makes sense, in that if I could hate my own characters, I could 'abuse' them.