Characters Welcome
Given my comic Facebook posts on living with BOTH my father and Pirate Boy, I get a lot of emails from readers, or Facebook friends, asking if that is where I get my inspiration from for this character or that. And, in truth, I use lines here or there, or elements, to create characters, but in practical writing terms, even the most eccentric, criminal, charming, and troublesome dads I have written about (in The Roofer, Double Down, the Billie Quinn books) are their own characters. I can smile here and there about what is based on reality. But they are their own.
Somehow my characters, as I have blogged before, come to me on their own terms. Fully formed. I borrow pieces from real life, but somehow compartmentalize the differences.
However . . .
Working on my comedy, lately, two "characters" from my real life are so utterly PERFECT (with a capital P) for a role in my books that . . . I'm using them! I have the most perfect villain . . . perfect. Hell, I'm even giving her the real-life name of the person who inspired her. Yes, the wonderful T-shirt my best friend gave me "Be careful or I'll put you in my next novel"--it's coming true. And mostly? It's because for the first time, a character is so fantastically b*tchy and I feel so lazy about coming up with some OTHER b-word characteristics that I figured, why bother? I'll just use the real person.
On the flip side, I had a client two years ago who I was quite convinced was certifiably insane. Vulgar, nasty, incompetent, EVIL. She was a bully boss in ways I could not even fathom. She made the boss in The Devil Wear Prada seem mild--because yes, the boss in that book and movie made people cry . . . but this woman had an employee whose case of M.S. flared; she called one woman whose husband was in the ICU--while she was at his bedside!--with work-related nonsense . . . (minor things!). There were people in her department working until 2:00 a.m. and then reporting for work at 6:00 a.m.--with an hour commute. And this was COMMON. But she was untouchable because of her position and the people who backed her. If I wrote a book with a boss doing things like that, NO ONE would believe it--unless they had also ever been in such a toxic environment. It was not "camp" (a la Parda) but sick. It also wouldn't be fun to read about. It's too ugly.
But my dad? As I posted . . . yesterday he tried to board a plane with two knives and a corkscrew in his carry-on. Funny. But if I wrote that in a book, no one would believe me. I'll save that for my real-life stand-up routine.
So tell me . . . have you ever based a character on someone in real life? Ever NOT used a character because it would be TOO unbelievable? How much do you borrow from real life?
8 comments:
I'm nervous about using anything remotely real life in my writing. I've used stuff in my blog (without names) and gotten flack for it... I can't imagine the kind of flack I'd get if it was on a bookshelf.
But the other end of that is, I want my fiction to be believable... so I do pick and choose some characteristics here and there, because they're awesome or they fit or something. But the characters themselves are their own people. If that makes sense. Because yeah, if I used some of the more entertaining real people I know, NO ONE would ever believe it... in fact, I have a mild suspicion they'd believe the made up filler a lot more readily than they'd believe the stuff I culled from real life.
as a caveat to that comment - when you're surrounded by people who don't write, they all seem to think they ARE in your book anyway. I don't know if it's because they have an inflated sense of ego (because honestly, most people are not entertaining enough to follow through a novel, that's why we make characters so extraordinary)... or maybe it's simply because they're not creative in nature - so they can't see how you create a character without taking from people you know.
Merry:
LOL on all counts. I was very nervous about a couple of my books because I felt elements of my dad were too close to home, but he regarded them all as wonderful, so I guess I need not have worried. And my mom and I are very close so any "frosty" or difficult mothers--she knows damn well it's not her. Neither seem to be concerned other people will think I am modeling them on my parents.
And yeah, the TRUE things, people have flat-out assumed I made up.
And finally, YES. I think people see themselves in books when they are not there. LOL!
I have based characters on a kind of person I've known in real life, but not on that person him/herself. I've used caring, empathtic people who are very much like individuals I've known, but those fictional characters always end up doing things the person I knew woldn't do.
Another example: I've known delusional people, but never anyone who thought he was Roy Rogers or anywhere close.
Joe:
Yet Roy seemed SO real!!! :-) And that's probably the best sort of fictional character.
Yes, this one woman boss . . . there would be no way to depict her in fiction. No one would believe it. It was that awful. Since I was only the writer, and not an employee, I would listen, mouth agape at the crazy stories, but then I spoke with her on the phone twice and she was every bit as vile as people said. I even tried to imagine--now what would someone go through in their life to treat people that way? Then I wondered . . . can she look at herself in the mirror? It was like wondering about a sociopath in a sense. Like some different set of rules/conscience. Hard to pull off in fiction believably.
Oh Lawd! Where to begin. Everyone assumes my novel is ripped from real life -- because first paragraph is true to myself. From there, I veer all over the place because it's fiction. You know, made up. Imaginary. Not real. I don't base my characters on anyone, but I do snatch characteristics, intertwine them and come up with characters. I figure if and when my novel is published, there are going to be people very disappointed not to find themselves in the book.
My favorite "story" associated with writing is when I published my very first piece in the Chicago Tribune. These were akin to opinion pieces, essays, whatever you want to call them. It was a piece all about holiday cookies. A friend told her mom about it. Her mom read it and liked it and told my friend as much. Then her mom said, "I didn't know Amy was a baker." My friend said, "She's not. She's a writer."
I keep that story really close to me, because I think it's an easy way to explain to non-writers where things come from.
The main character in my novel bakes. If it's ever published I think my bio will include these three words: Amy doesn't bake.
I used to worry about the repercussions, and now, I say, bring it on. If you did something you don't want me to write about (ha, I didn't) then maybe you shouldn't have done it.
Amy:
Your last sentence sums it up for me!!!!! Funny . . . the Tall Windows post . . . the original blog that offended was about a person cursing me out (in a longer blog on people doing unkind things that included numerous real-life examples, and the theme of good versus evil in fiction). ANYHOO, my response to the church was, "If someone doesn't want to read about herself [albeit anonymously, in essence!] on my blog, then guess what? Stop reading. And don't call me and curse me out like some shrew so that you give me a leaping-off point for a blog post." Simple solution. LOL!
And I love your friend's response. She doesn't. She's a writer. Love it. So true.
And one more thing. When Spanish Disco was published, if you read the acknowledgments, I actually PUT IN THERE that my mother bore no resemblance to the mother in the book because I really thought, "People are going to think this is based on ME." I was an editor, I was a caffeine addict . . . I was mouthy . . . I hated to shop. All these elements of the protagonist. And it was written in first person!
Just bits and pieces. The exceptions are my friend Andy Rosenbaum made a real-life cameo in The Devil's Pitchfork. I also named a character after him in Hot Money, but they're nothing alike.
I often make a non-named cameo in my books, but otherwise, just bits & pieces.
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