I’m just going to come clean immediately on this one. I use real people for many of my characters. I’ll throw the word “as inspiration” mostly out of fear of getting into trouble. So, right off, I will say it is good to have these based characters.
Nonetheless, it is not a perfect catch-all. Let me give you a reason to introduce one of each type:
- With my honesty factor still running, I admit that I used one of my son’s friends as the basis for Ravai. It worked well for a while, but I thought his it would even be more fun that I make him a conglomerate of many of his friends. I pared away less interesting parts of their personalities and the things that might feel contradictory. This way, I got an interesting character with the right strengths and flaws that I wanted out of one of my heroes.
- In The Dark Beast, I had a problem with the main protagonist. I wanted portray a person in conflict with himself (without knowing it.) I also wanted to show the physical and mental changes occur to a person when they can’t break free from their anger and passion. The Dark Beast saw the world with keenness, but it was also distorted. So, he couldn’t quite get to the right conclusions. In the moment, it was impossible for me to find a real person. I’m not sure I’d even want to do the search. So, I let the plot dictate the character.
I’m not going to lie. I like throwing people in my stories. It isn’t just out of laziness or convenience. For me, it’s fun. I work a book in a way that I might normally force, because the character you would choose won’t act the way you want. The real people have different rules of engagement that you have to fight … and those are good things. Struggling against your work can produce interesting conflicts and spontaneity. It can prevent things from becoming to trite or the feeling that you’re on one track the whole book. However, if you are working themes that are essential, don’t waste time finding the right person. Give the story what it needs.