Yes, I have a friend. I have about three close friends. Two of them I see about once a week. This girl, my best friend however, I see only a couple times a year.
Ivan is really not like me. He's what happens when I take the worst bits of my personality: Biting sarcasm, misanthropy, anger, violence....and exagerate it to make a tragic character. I do have other, nicer, more balanced characters (though no-one is perfect by any stretch of the imagination). The thing is, as a writer, I often have to think with a mindset that isn't my own. That way the characters aren't too much of me, and are more real and human. Sure, I like Ivan...I even sort of pity him, even though I made him up and know he's not real...I like him, but he does not always voice my views.