Would you model characters based on people you know?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by AvihooI, May 26, 2011.

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  1. Ophiucha

    Ophiucha New Member

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    Not really, no. I might give them a quirk or something of someone I know, maybe an odd part of their appearance, but any significant aspect of their personality is dictated by the story and the other characters, and I can't really rely on people who lived in completely different situations to be good models for that.
     
  2. Laura Mae.

    Laura Mae. New Member

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    I find it easier to base a character on an aspect of someone's personality, because you can use their behaviours and their traits to help shape your character. For example, one of the my characters can be seen as quite intimidating, as a female, because she's very forward, and can be actively aggressive (not violent, just with a lot of passion and zeal). To help shape her character I just have to look at myself or any of the females in my family, it must be hereditary or something, lots of feisty women lol.

    You shouldn't base any entire character on someone though, just use them to help you/give you ideas.
     
  3. dianableu

    dianableu New Member

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    I've found that you can start out the character that way but eventually, they will develop into their own person. Basing it on a real person if just sort of a prompt to get you started.
     
  4. cretinhop

    cretinhop New Member

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    I also do this more than I actually base characters off of real people... But even this, maybe not so much. Most of my characters sort of walk in, though maybe unconsciously they are adapted from people I know. However, in a short story I'm sort of playing with right now, I am adapting people I know into the story. It's not quite a personality-rip, though maybe a physical-trait-rip, as much as it is how I imagine the people being based on short meetings with them. I have never based characters off of my close friends. They just seem too freakish for fiction sometimes. ._.
     
  5. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    ...yup!... lots 'n lots... but i don't consider the writers of such stuff as 'bad guys'... just misguided! ;-)
     
  6. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    I once wrote a character I specifically tried not to base off one of my bestest friends (mostly out of paranoia because it was not a sympathetic character to me :p) and she read it and was convinced I'd based the character off her, and loved the character, and thought she was amazing despite within a few paragraphs establishing she had almost complete opposite character traits in many respects. I swear she only latched onto her because of her race - the only Asian girl in a group of all-white characters (and even then she was Indian - also plot relevant - while my bestie is Iranian) - when actually the way I'd write my best friend is so completely different I'm not even sure how to begin describing it. :p I actually worried the race thing might make her see them as similar but it seems no writing tools and tricks will make a close friend look the other way when you want to introduce a character with a broad stroke of similarity to them.

    It happens a lot to me, and I stopped caring long ago and make the characters do all the horrible things I originally planned, because I never saw them as the same as my friends. Apparently the people I know will assume that I will do it. For years I avoided writing groups of teenage girls, and wrote a lot of male characters (not many male friends due to my all-girls school) and lots of fantasy settings which were distanced from real life. But now I know that my characters are my own and the wider world doesn't have to know that I had friends who may or may not be vaguely analogous to the ones in the story.
     
  7. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    A lot of characters I've written are modeled in some way or other on people I know or have known. If someone has an especially interesting quirk or characteristic that I like or find fascinating, I weave it into a character of mine.
     
  8. TyUnglebower

    TyUnglebower New Member

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    I have based characters on aspects of people I know. And in the most extreme, I have based the outwards mannerisms or style of a character off of someone I know, even though I assign very different motivations to those mannerisms.

    I may like the way a friend of mine talks, or walks or dresses. Or how the handles a certain situation, and then put it into a story of a novel. But the character will have done so for different reasons.
     
  9. Sundae

    Sundae New Member

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    Not people I specifically know. I find that too restraining really. Because while I can take their personality, if I want to put that person in a bad situation and do something terrible to them, then I find that my conscience needs to make sure that they come out okay in the end. I can't just kill them off nor can I just push them over the edge and make them mass murdered or something because I feel guilty about that because they're my friends.

    I find it much more freeing to base my characters on people I don't specifically know but have an idea of what their personality is like and work with that. Because I don't know them, then I am free to think: "how would she act in a situation like this" and use what I do know about them to come up with a viable reaction.

    LOL this reminds me. I can't remember where or when, but I remember reading an article in which an author who based one of his characters on a personal friend, got sued by that friend for defamation. I think he also lost the case. lol
     
  10. funkybassmannick

    funkybassmannick New Member

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    I base all my characters off real people that I hate. That way, I can do all kinds of nasty things to them and it's really fun, too!
     
  11. maxwell1422

    maxwell1422 New Member

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    I do this. A LOT! for almost every character i make up and i think everyone does this as well even if they don't know it or not. I mean your inspiration had to come from somewhere. And i don't see why other characters from TV, movies, books, games wouldn't count as inspirational.
     
  12. SteamWolf

    SteamWolf New Member

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    I tend to steal personality traits rather than writing in a real person with a different name.
     
  13. Heron

    Heron New Member

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    Everyone has to get characters from somewhere, and where better to get ideas for people in a book than from the people you know?

    Personally, I do this sometimes. Some characters are based heavily off on someone I know, some only use some mannerisms or whatever from someone I know, sometimes I combine aspects of people I know into one character. But of course in the end your character will be unique, whether s/he's based 80% off of someone from real life or you just use a phrase or mannerism or similar sentence or anything.

    But yeah, never disregard the free fount of material that you can get from other people. Whether it's personality or dialogue, even the most simple stuff can be used. And I noticed that whichever and whatever it is, when you gather small bits from real life people it tends to help your writing with a bit of, umm... it makes it seem like everything isn't coming from one source-- adds a pleasant touch of life to your world. Imo. :redface:
     
  14. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    I base characters off people I hate, too, except it's usually my villains/antagonists so when they get their comeuppance, it's a real sense of revenge. :p
     
  15. Dsz

    Dsz New Member

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    I agree with this idea. But personally I like to write the character's history from birth and then assume that he/she will act partially according to that and partially in a spontaneous way.
     
  16. Ana_Avarice

    Ana_Avarice New Member

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    My current novel has many characters based off of people I know in real life. Mainly because it was supposed to be a graduation gift to the ones who were seniors, but it turned into a forming novel instead of the short story it was meant to be.

    I love incorporating my friends into my stories because, to me, they have such distinct personalities and have life stories itching to be told.
     
  17. heyitsmary

    heyitsmary New Member

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    Sometimes. But most of the time I base my characters on people I know of/don't know very well and they end up taking a life of their own.
     
  18. Rascal

    Rascal New Member

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    I tend to do the same thing as you.
     
  19. animefans12

    animefans12 Member

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    Some characters are based off of people I know while others are based on my imagination. So it depends on what stories and genre I'm writing about. If it's a paranormal story, I would do some characters based on people I know, while others like fantasy stories, I wouldn't use any people I know. ^^
     
  20. Rustgold

    Rustgold New Member

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    Given that you can produce a full fictional character from a tiny trait, there shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't gain an inspiration from a RL person.

    I believe in one rule, never based a villain in any book on anybody you don't like. They don't belong in your publications full stop.
     
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