{"id":397,"date":"2024-08-16T17:41:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T17:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ravenromdaandravai.com\/?page_id=397"},"modified":"2024-08-16T17:42:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T17:42:00","slug":"using-real-people-as-characters-yes-or-no","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ravenromdaandravai.com\/index.php\/small-articles\/using-real-people-as-characters-yes-or-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Real People as Characters, Yes or No?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ravenromdaandravai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/real-people-use-unsplash-1.jpg\" alt=\"People around a laptop\" class=\"wp-image-399\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I\u2019m just going to come clean immediately on this one.&nbsp; I use real people for many of my characters.&nbsp; I\u2019ll throw the word \u201cas inspiration\u201d mostly out of fear of getting into trouble.&nbsp; So, right off, I will say it is good to have these based characters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nonetheless, it is not a perfect catch-all.&nbsp; Let me give you a reason to introduce one of each type:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">With my honesty factor still running, I admit that I used one of my son\u2019s 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.\u00a0 I pared away less interesting parts of their personalities and the things that might feel contradictory.\u00a0 This way, I got an interesting character with the right strengths and flaws that I wanted out of one of my heroes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In <em>The Dark Beast, <\/em>I had a problem with the main protagonist.\u00a0 I wanted portray a person in conflict with himself (without knowing it.)\u00a0 I also wanted to show the physical and mental changes occur to a person when they can\u2019t break free from their anger and passion.\u00a0 The Dark Beast saw the world with keenness, but it was also distorted.\u00a0 So, he couldn\u2019t quite get to the right conclusions. In the moment, it was impossible for me to find a real person.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d even want to do the search.\u00a0 So, I let the plot dictate the character.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I\u2019m not going to lie.&nbsp; I like throwing people in my stories.&nbsp; It isn\u2019t just out of laziness or convenience. For me, it\u2019s fun.&nbsp; I work a book in a way that I might normally force, because the character you would choose won\u2019t act the way you want.&nbsp; The real people have different rules of engagement that you have to fight \u2026 and those are good things. Struggling against your work can produce interesting conflicts and spontaneity.&nbsp; It can prevent things from becoming to trite or the feeling that you\u2019re on one track the whole book.&nbsp; However, if you are working themes that are essential, don\u2019t waste time finding the right person.&nbsp; Give the story what it needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m just going to come clean immediately on this one.&nbsp; I use real people for many of my characters.&nbsp; I\u2019ll throw the word \u201cas inspiration\u201d mostly out of fear of getting into trouble.&nbsp; So, right off, I will say it is good to have these based characters.&nbsp; Nonetheless, it is not a perfect catch-all.&nbsp; Let &hellip;<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ravenromdaandravai.com\/index.php\/small-articles\/using-real-people-as-characters-yes-or-no\/\" class=\"more-link pen_button pen_element_default pen_icon_arrow_double\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Using Real People as Characters, Yes or No?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":334,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-397","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Using Real People as Characters, Yes or No? 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