Do you base your characters on people you know? If so, how many of them know?

K5Rakitan

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Despite my disclaimer, I put a lot of people I know into my characters, and most of them know they're in the story. My husband is basically Joan's husband with a name change, and my husband is also my beta reader.

A friend who sang at my wedding gave me permission to use some of his lyrics in the story, but that chapter won't be released for a few more weeks.

I also put in someone who died a few weeks before my wedding, but I'm not telling who that person is.

As far as characters who are totally fabricated go, my husband's girlfriend Linda doesn't exist. I'm polyamorous with two male lovers, who I am not seeing in person right now due to the pandemic, and my husband is welcome to get a girlfriend if he wants one, but he hasn't found one yet. When writing Linda, I asked my husband how he wanted her to look, so I essentially gave him an imaginary girlfriend.

So, who in your life shows up in your story? Do they know they are in it?
 
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i do base a lot of them from my imaginary friends or spiritual beings. i wonder if they count.
 

ShrimpShady

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Maybe unconsciously, I dunno. I feel like my characters are more directly based on myself than other people. Although I guess I do base character relationships off of my real life relationships sometimes. It's just that most people don't make for very exciting novel characters lmao.

Not saying that I'd be an interesting novel character either. The hell am I even saying at this point?
 
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weakwithwords

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As I hinted to BenBen (not to be mistaken for the evil mascot BunBun though I'm starting to think their personalities are somewhat similar), one of the stories I wish to write is an autobiography. Although it would be all kinds of stupid fun to reinvent everyone else or maybe even myself as well as completely fictitious characters, that would be not only strange but also quite wrong. Even mirror worlds have some semblace to the originals.
 

ChubbyLiv

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Initially, I'd put some personality traits from a person I know into my character as inspiration to make them feel real, but usually, (always) my characters develop into a completely different human beings. So I could say, they are not a carbon copy of real-life people. Far from them.
 
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GDLiZy

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None. I built my characters from the beginning because I like to plan backstory and their involvement in the overall world. Their personality comes after the plot, not the other way around.

Maybe that's why most of them are of insane and indifference disposition.
 

Kldran

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With the exception of my main characters, pretty much all the characters I write are complete fabrications. I don't really feel like I know anyone well enough to base a character on them. I just sorta make it all up as I go, figuring out character traits as I write the characters.
 

AliceShiki

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Mmmmmm, my main characters are usually a partial self-insertion of myself tbh.

Like, they usually represent a part of my personality or behavior and then they're built from that.

The other characters OTOH... Mmmmmmm, I don't think I base them in anyone in particular, but I try making their actions feel like something that I would do under their circumstances... As in, they all act in ways that feel reasonable to me. I can't write characters that feel completely unreasonable.

So... Yeah, MC based on me to some extent, and the rest based on nothing, but still act according to what I think I'd do in their place~
 

K5Rakitan

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Mmmmmm, my main characters are usually a partial self-insertion of myself tbh.
My main character is mostly self-insertion.

I forgot to mention that there is one person who I met only a couple of times in real life who probably has no idea they're in the story, but they would probably recognize themself instantly if they ever read it. Since I don't know them that well, I watch them to try and get a better understanding of their motivations and stuff, mostly for the later parts of the story when I want to explain why they did what they did, because it's not something I could ever see myself doing. It's like putting together puzzle pieces by feel rather than by sight.
 

AliceShiki

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My main character is mostly self-insertion.

I forgot to mention that there is one person who I met only a couple of times in real life who probably has no idea they're in the story, but they would probably recognize themself instantly if they ever read it. Since I don't know them that well, I watch them to try and get a better understanding of their motivations and stuff, mostly for the later parts of the story when I want to explain why they did what they did, because it's not something I could ever see myself doing. It's like putting together puzzle pieces by feel rather than by sight.
That seems pretty hard! >.<

I can't really imagine the reasonings for things I wouldn't ever do, most of the time... It's just confusing to me! >.<
 

K5Rakitan

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That seems pretty hard! >.<

I can't really imagine the reasonings for things I wouldn't ever do, most of the time... It's just confusing to me! >.<
It is, but it's also fun because it's something I don't really have to do. They're never going to be a perfect match to the real person, so it's more like trying to figure out an archetype and how to work with it without going too stereotypical. I think that studying real people closely is a great way to understand how to make a well-rounded character.
 

AliceShiki

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It is, but it's also fun because it's something I don't really have to do. They're never going to be a perfect match to the real person, so it's more like trying to figure out an archetype and how to work with it without going too stereotypical. I think that studying real people closely is a great way to understand how to make a well-rounded character.
That's a fun experiment for sure! \(^^)/

... I'm too lazy to study people though... >.>
 

Ophious

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Yup, I based the characters in my story on people I meet in real life or even people online
Only 4 - 5 people actually know I think
and that's just because I outright told them that I want to use them as a basis for a character and had a one on one interview with them for that
Gotta say my compsci teacher was really chill for letting me do that to him
 

K5Rakitan

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That's a fun experiment for sure! \(^^)/

... I'm too lazy to study people though... >.>
I have a folder of bookmarks that I open once a day as a digital to-do list. That person's social media profile is in there. It only takes a few minutes a day to review. Like any form of learning, it takes time to get to know someone.
 

AliceShiki

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I have a folder of bookmarks that I open once a day as a digital to-do list. That person's social media profile is in there. It only takes a few minutes a day to review. Like any form of learning, it takes time to get to know someone.
That's a way of going about it! xD

... My to-do list is usually just kept in my head though, I usually remember it pretty well... I just have a hard time following it... >.>
 

Moctemma

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I don't. I have years without interacting with other people aside from my family. But I'm sure that if I wrote a novel in modern times and meet people, I would use them in my novel indiscriminately.
 

D4isuke

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I merely make characters through different personality that are unique and natural in so many ways. I’m pretty into unbiased (what I mean is beyond norms). As a perverted gentleman who has erotic imagination, I would barely “use” their body and personality to achieve something else rather than a mere fan-service.

So yeah, I make characters through fictional preference. I may also referred to someone in real life. It can be any.

to make a good character is to balance relatable and overpower in some ways.
 

BenJepheneT

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i could honestly never tell. people influence us in many different ways, often times subtly. you might have your world view tipped 90 degrees by some rando and you may never even perceive it.

in other words, your glowing, angelic isekai protaginist, if dug deeper, may be a caricature of the American Supreme Leader Donald Trump for all you'd know
 
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