is this ok

i have been wanting to write a fairy story for a while and i finally thought of a plot. so i went looking on the net to look for character ideas. is this good or should it be avoided?

 

I wouldn't. Your best inspiration for characters is from peoplewatching, or general life experience with people you have known.

Using someone else's character, or a template, or other create-a-character methods I've seen, tend to result in flat characters.

 

well the pic i have chosen reminds me of my friend, my story is gonna be based on tje trouble she has been through and i think thats why i have chosen that picture. i just wanted some fresh ideas. is this still a thing to avoid?

 

So you're talking about searching the web for the character's appearance?

 

yeah thats what i ment

 

That's probably fine then. A little unconventional maybe, but not wrong.

 

You cannot use the picture in your writing withoiut written permission from the artist.

 

as long as you don't use the actual picture, there's nothing wrong with that...

 

or an edited copy of the picture. That too would be a copyright violation..

 

I don't think she means publishing the picture. I think she means using it to get an internal image of the character. I do the same thing myself. Hard to see any difference between working up a character from a modeling website (or porn, I suppose) and using somebody you see at the gym or work.

 

Perhaps, but I felt it important to point out the copyright considerations if she DID plan to incorporate the image itself in any form.

 

I actually do that a lot. I tend to come up with the character's appearance on my own, but then, keeping that in mind, I'll go people watching / searching. When I find someone who is similar to my description, I'll print out the copy if I found it online, take a photo if it was an actual person...

I find that way I avoid writing about an ideal person and instead find someone real. I dont think that's so bad. In fact, I think it's some of the best I've ever received (from a professional writer, btw, so I dont think it's something to be avoided).

 

I do something similar to what you do when developing what my character looks like, but it is a bit hard to explain. I want my characters to look like what they are... Like I said this will be hard to explain. I don't want the protagonist to look like a bad guy. But pulling that out if thin air is hard for me. What I do, is pull parts of people and pictures together to form one person. I will take one persons eyes, someone else’s nose, another's ears and so on. It is a bit more work, but I end up with a character that is unique and completely my own work. I search online for bits that I like and use them as I see fit…one if my characters has Johnny Depp’s eyes.

 

Ah, the Igor Method.

Actually, this is what most writers do, in some way or the other. And not just description, either.

 

thanks for all the replies guys, thats helped alot.

 

I like to call it the Frankenstein method, seems a bit more descriptive.

 

Really? But wasn't it really Igor who ran around gathering parts of people?
The doctors always get the credit for what the subordinates do.

 

But the Doc put it all together, and brought the creature to life.

Igor was just his Google.

 

And....?

 

Haha! I loved this

 

...And anyone can find the parts, it takes skill to put them together into something that resembles a person. My dog finds parts of random animals, it doesn’t mean he can build them into something.

 

And... actually meant, "So what?"

So don't say Igor, it's better to say Frankenstein????? Should we move this to a gag critique forum?

Jeez

 

your a bit off the point here, i asked for help and all your doing is arguing (sorry bout the spelling, its to early)

 

Bad spelling, good point.

 

so is me using ideas from pic's off the internet to get a visual discription of my mc alright