Where do you get your inspiratiom from to develop the personality of your characters? Do you develop the personality of your character as you write? Or do you put pieces of people around you like strangers or people you know in your character? And, is it plagarism if you mix up personality traits from a few characters in established fiction work and create an unique personality for your character with it? Or is that tecnique just lazy? I myself have been trying out different things
I come up with the character arc first - how does she change from the first page to the last? Then I think about how she is on page 1 and what would have made her that way. This gives me her backstory and personality. It's also linked to the core conflict in the book - if the main think keeping the MCs apart (I write romance) is, say, that one finds it hard to trust, I have to think about why the person is mistrustful. It's not plagiarism if you take inspiration from other authors' characters. The bar for plagiarism is pretty high.
Welcome to the site! I've tried basing my characters on other people, and it almost never goes very far I have to start with a plot and/or theme idea, come up with a character that fits into the plot/theme, adjust the plot and theme when I expand the character idea, adjust the character when I expand the plot/theme ideas, then adjust the plot/theme again ... I go back and forth a lot between plot, character, and theme, but characterization never comes first for me. It's almost always my favorite part, but it's almost never my first part. When I do look at specific people for inspiration, it's generally from the perspective of trying to show that the person is wrong about something that I want to do differently to show that they're wrong. And that technically falls under "theme"
For me it's like Frankenstein! I trudge through the swelling graveyard of my mind; collecting bits of memories and encounters. I stitch them together amidst flickering flames until at last a storm approaches and I goad the lighting with frenzied howls! "LIVE DAMN YOU!!" Of course, this is a messy process that requires a storm of inspiration so it's not very practical. Creating a character arc seems more efficient and demands far less reconstruction and clean up in my opinion. I actually create a lot of villains from nightmares I have had. I have a friend who uses a modified D&D style character creation model. It obviously doesn't get super in depth but it seems to provide a good potter's wheel for him to better mold his creations. Best wishes
I tend to have my setting and plot developed first, then have the characters fit the plot with the basic traits, and then add other qualities that make sense from their background.
Not that I have much experience (still stuck with my first serious WIP), but for what it's worth: I came up with a theme first, accompanied by a character or two. It wasn't possible to separate the theme/characteer, still isn't . But what @Simpson17866 said about the back-and-forth, that's almost exactly what I experience. I go one step with the plot, then I examine how that affects my MCs. Sometimes the next step for the plot is prompted by the MCs. And so forth. Inspiration comes from a) my own experience and b) from reading extensively. Yeah I know, second-hand and all that, but there are some experiences I'm not anxious to make. And I'm blessed/cursed with the ability to place myself in other people's shoes. Ergo... No, I've never put a person I've read about, or even traits of her/him consciously into a story of mine. I'll never do that. I've never used a specific plot I read about in one of my stories. Will never do that either. I just have to find an alternative way to express what I want. That's the beauty and joy of creativity anyway
Well I only really have one well developed character so far in my story and I basically made to him to be completely different to the standard fantasy hero main character. So guess my inspiration came from being tired of those characters in fantasy ^^
The personality of my characters fit the role they are playing. I learn about different personalities through observation of others. I suspect there is a little bit of me in my characters. Sometimes a character I create wins my heart, and I write a spin-off specifically for that character. I think necessity is the main inspiration for me.
I had one or two basic personality traits from the start. But the characters I have built layers upon layers of complexity all by themselves. As I continued to write, and throughout the separate drafts, they've changed and evolved so much from what they first started off as. So, you could say it has been quite an organic process, this first WIP. When two characters meet, how they gel together is often a good telltale sign on finding out more about what they're like. Do they get on, do they abhor each other? Why? That sort of stuff. I found out there is quite a lot of character conflict in my novel. And then, I sort have just taken it from there and gone with the flow.
I'm pretty much like @Dracon. My entire WIP started from a personal experience when I was very young (nothing bad). I played around with a story that developed from that experience until I had a beginning I was happy with, the main character started with a name and she developed from there, each character thereafter was created as they interacted with the MC as the story progressed. I never had an arc or even an outline to begin with, though I have since started working with an outline simply because the story started to get complicated as it went on and I was losing track of who did what and when. As for personalities, they started with a very basic idea of what sort of role they would play and they just developed from there. I have to say, my MC was the most difficult one to get to grips with, all the others just did their thing. I've read about people writing entire backstories for each character, but that's not something I could do. I can't think that far ahead (or back) with a story. When I started this one I had a beginning, a rough end and a vague idea of what would happen somewhere in the middle. I only started the outline half way through the book when I had a better idea of who was gonna do what and why, and I've changed that umpteen times as the story and characters have progressed. Some characters were gonna be ultimately evil when they started out but through the book's progress have now become more complex with a hidden good side, others were good but have developed a more sinister side. I actually find it one of the most satisfying parts of writing when a character develops a personality/direction all on their own Different approaches work for different people. Who knows, when I start my next book I may do it in an entirely different way.
I don't think you can call what I have 'inspiration'. What pushes me in my writing is my need to break things. I like to tear things, ideas, beliefs down. I look for weaknesses and pull at the seams of people, or at least how I see them. People have all these parts to them and it just begs the question, what if you took a part away? What if you kept all the pieces, but connected them in a slightly different way? What if you played with the sequence of events. How does knowing something happened before, or after, effect how an idea or act is viewed? To be honest, I'm glad I found writing. If I didn't have my own worlds to mettle with, my own creations to abuse, I would be a monster. Well. More of one. ETA: Oh snap, that was my 1000th post! Probably shouldn't have made it so depressing.
I fairly frequently get an idea for a character in this one moment - could be something I'm watching, reading, listening to, see irl, dream, randomly think about, whatever. It might be a snippet of a scene, the vague idea of something happening to someone and how they reaction, or really just sort of a feeling that I want to put into words. (I have a ton of notes spread between my phone and laptop that are just vague clauses I took down to remember the feel of those things.) I largely write character-based stuff so the entire story will be built around getting the main character(s) to that point, and most things are determined by what it'll take to get them there. That includes both plot and character development. If the idea seed needs the character to be bright and bubbly so I can break them down later, they get to be bright and bubbly (for a while). If it needs them to already be broken down so I can drag them back up (or make things significantly worse!), they get to be broken down about something. Etc. Mind you, that's going to be just for main characters. For side characters, I'm more practical: they exist for a specific purpose in the story and they're whoever they need to be to make that happen. I do still flesh them out and sometimes they get semi-random traits that I just happen to like, as long as it gels with the required aspects of their character, but while stories are built around mains, secondaries are built for stories. That's my method anyway. I'm mostly a planner so I don't develop them as I write - some little nuances usually come out as I go, but the main thrust of the thing is all laid out before I start. I don't consciously put myself or people I know into my characters, either, but after I'm done I always seem to be able to pinpoint exactly who got which neuroses
I feel like the way that I create character personalities is a bit off convention. It depends on how the character itself came to be. If I had a dream about them, then I already have a basic idea on where their personality should go. If I just think them up, then I generally have a specific place I want them in the stories and create a base personality that I want them to have. After getting that base comes the fun part. I think up different situations that could be a part of the story, and I think about the ways this character could possibly act. I chose which way I like the best with their base personality, and keep going. I keep doing different situations, and eventually I have a character with a pretty well established personality. Tldr: I come up with a base to go off of and my characters make themselves
I would say I use a combination of those two methods + a little bit of me. And no, it isn't plagiarism.
I feel it's impossible to create anything entirely from scratch. The things that come out of your head need to be put in there in the first place - consciously or sub-consciously Mostly, I see a real person who I find interesting, and based on their appearance alone, create a character. I could see somebody in the supermarket who interests me, and I develop a whole character, with a complete life all of their own around that. I play around with them in my head for a few days, embellish certain features and dream up a back story and a past for them. Of course, little snippets I see and hear around me can go into them. It could be something on TV, or simply a voice or personality on the radio could inspire me. However, my MC owes a lot to me, but with all of my undesirable points exaggerated.
I get an idea based upon the stuff floating around in my grey-matter. Then from there things are 'discussed and agreed upon'. Next comes the part that most people are familiar: Trying to write it how you 'see' it, and give it flight. Sometimes you get off the ground first try, and others you rip the landing gear or a wing off. Eventually you get it up in the air, and the rest is just keeping up until you have to land. Landing is much like take off, trial and error.
The same characters have followed me throughout every story I've written, just in a different packaging. It's like they're already developed. But I develop them mostly through thinking about them (and their 'life') ... but also as I write; new things will come to me.
Sometimes, especially nowadays, I'll see a character I like the concept of, and either incorporate their traits/role into existing characters or create new ones with them. I'm able to make them my own and not just plagiarize them. Actually, starting from a base concept I'm familiar with really helps me get original. My unwritten prequel was inspired by the musical Hamilton.
First, I have something I want to say, and I build a story around that. Then I introduce my characters, and eliminate them as needed. I agree with Dracon that a character evolves, and sometime to my amazement. Even when I'm developing the characters traits I am sometimes surprised by the direction they take. The story I'm working on now, the opening character was killed off in the first chpt. I needed a hook, as the next chpt. was going to be ho hum.
Hey! Being a writer, it is an advantage for me to find inspiration everywhere. I usually read books. Several books have several ideas and these help me write better. Other than this, I also follow news on websites which gives me ideas to write upon. Thanks Life saver essays
Inspiration just hits me. I jot down notes, maybe write the first few paragraphs. Projects stagnate, go on the back burner, get another shot of inspiration, perk back up. Currently I'm working on a book whose core inspiration struck me while I was looking through Pinterest. That was in April, and I'm at 59k words, with a delay as I'm in final edit on another book. I also go looking for inspiration, or at least color material. I watch a lot of documentaries on Pivot and Sundance; even if I don't agree with them I find seeing other viewpoints generates ideas. Browsing Pinterest and Deviate Art (not a porn site) is useful. I spent a lot of time browsing Wikipedia, bookmarking interesting things (I just used a fire piston in my current project).
My characters are something similar to pawns. They just fill in the plot because I note the plot first and then I have all of these little characters thrown in and they think their life matters so one might be trying to find his place, another might be pursuing phenomena, another might feel the urge to hurt others and overall it's just like a big acid trip or a dream. Like when I listen to BE by Pain of Salvation, I hear these character arcs and feelings and when I take my earphones off I just go, "Wow, what a trip." Same with movies and television shows. These characters are given feelings and desires only to complete the story that could be told about anyone. That's how I create characters but I also listen to a lot of Selena Gomez so there's that.
I write and I explore. If I enjoy it I continue. If not I stop. Ideas inspire me, characters don't. Characters are nothing but caricatures of yourself. Don't waste time staring in the mirror just enjoy the feeling of being able to express stuff regardless of meaning or intent. Then die
