Posts
I've met a lot of interesting people in my life, but I've almost never based a character off of a real person. I may steal a personality trait here or there, but for the most part my characters come out of my imagination. Some of them share some of my quirks, while some couldn't be less like me if they tried.
I think I'm this way because if I base a character off of a person that I'd be thinking of how they might react in a situation instead of it being a truly organic 'character' reaction. But that thought had me thinking that I might be the only one who thinks this way.
Are your characters figments of your imagination or do you base some of them on people you know?
I don't purposely base characters off people I know or real life figures. Periodically, though, I'll have a character - usually a side character - who ends up being sort of like someone I know, almost as if the personality just sponged up that real life person's. It's never an attempt to actually portray real life people, but those people do find their way in, if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThat does make sense! :) Thanks for your take on this, Amanda!
ReplyDeleteI've put people I know in my works, when they have asked.
ReplyDeleteI normally use pieces of movie-, tv-series- or book-characters I take trades I like and dislike and put then together.
When I write the character in sometimes it changes. I once put I guy in a story. I'd planned to use him for the rest of the novel, but he ended up going out the window - literary!
I find that when you put the pen to paper things take on a life on its own. I just let it happen. I've learned to trust it by now.