Writing characters that you don't know

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Have you ever written characters that are enigmatic to not only the reader, but to you as well?

I realize this might seem like a silly question.

edited 22nd Feb '11 6:42:55 AM by Yachar

Yes. One character in particular I find is very frustrating to write because her mind is just way too twisted for even me to get. I spent like a year writing stories for her in an effort to understand her more but I just...can't. Her mind eludes me. At the same time though I can't quit because I have this love of challenges and I'll be happy as hell when I finally crack it and realize what exactly is going on in my character's head.

Yes, but I worked out a lot more about her as I wrote. I've got the majority of her backstory sorted now.

My heroine's own mother is like this to me, even though she's been in my head even longer than Kat! Heck, she's even the wife of Josieph, the guy in my avatar! And yet I still know very little about her. The most I've got of her background was that they knew eachother their entire lives yet didn't really start dating until an incident during prom night.

When you write characters as people, not understanding every aspect of them is pretty much inherent in the process.

I have a lot of characters I write who I don't fully agree with, or even understand. That's what makes them fascinating. I would say I don't understand half the characters I write about—including my own self-insert from my Lucky Star junk.