Sunday, October 21, 2007

Reality or Fantasy?

Are your characters based on people you know, or are they completely made up? I guess all writers must get asked this question since I've been asked so many times by friends, fans, interviewers and the like. For me, the answer isn't so simple.

I am made up of all the experiences I've had, all the people I've known, all the stories I've heard and read. As I think about the answer, I realize I've based some secondary characters on friends and clients. But the characters always take on a life of their own and usually differ in some major ways from their model. When it comes to my major players, I can honestly say they are pure imagination.

As I write this, I'm in the midst of updating a workshop on characterization I'm giving in a few weeks. I realized as I made note cards the reason my major characters are not based on those I know. They spring from a particular GMC. Their personality must conform to what I need it to be. Not true of the supporting cast, whose GMCs can be a little more loose, a bit more pliant.

So what about you? How do you come up with exciting characters?

5 comments:

Kelley Nyrae said...

My characters usually just come to me. Some times they have some traits of people I know but they are all their own people.

Julie S said...

LOL. I actually do not come up with exciting characters :-)

Dara said...

Oh, Julie - you do too!

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Sometimes my characters have character traits that are "inspired" by people I know in real life, but they soon take on a life of their own as the story goes along.

Dara said...

Inspired - I like that, Jenyfer.