As much as I loathe bumping those gorgeous blue eyes off the top of my blog, I suppose its time for a new post. Today's TOC? Characters.
I know that as a writer (and that, ladies and gentlemen, is like the first time I've really self-identified as a "writer"... thank you Jessica Morgan ...). Wait, where was I? Oh yes.
As a writer, I cannibalize people and places from my life and shove them into my novels. I can't help it, really. For characters, I find myself taking a dash of this person combined with 2 Tablespoons of that person and just a dollop of that barrista at the Westwood Peet's, shake and pour over ice for a perfect Character Cocktail. It's never so much of any one person so as to be recognizable.
Until now.
I'm writing kind of an office place comedy and those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know exactly what a whackadoo shit show my day job office can be. And you know I'm sticking these people in my novel. I have to. They'll be loving recreations (mostly) and not absolute carbon copies, but they should be easily identifiable.
I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but at the same time they are just too goddamn entertaining not to be fictionalized. Seriously - the blind albino who bears more than a passing resemblance to Milton here, the Holocaust survivor who falls asleep at her desk every day, the old guy with Tourette's Syndrome, the post-op tranny. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP, PEOPLE!So for those of you who write, how do you feel about putting people you know in your novels? Do it? Don't do it? Do it without realizing you're doing it like Senator Larry Craig in the men's room of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport? Do you ever worry that someone you know personally is going to "see" themselves in one of your characters and totally flip the hell out? Or is that just part of being a writer - doing what you need to do, damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead style?
i have no idea where my characters come from, in terms of personalities, I really don't! I have included one or two minor characters in my novels, based on people I've had the misfortune to know. Sadly, one of them, based on a, now former, colleague, didn't survive the edits.
ReplyDeleteI always use the personalities of the people I know. You can't make up the good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI think the only person I've ever put in one of my novels who would be readily identifiable to himself and the people who knew him...well, he's dead. Which doesn't rule out the possibility that someone who knew him could read my book and recognize him.
ReplyDeleteOften, though, I'm building characters out of the scavenged bits and pieces of people I know. At other times, characters spring to life fully formed in my head, like fricking Athena. Although in those cases, I'm willing to acknowledge that perhaps I just created them through "character cocktail" subconsciously.
So basically, you are all significantly better writers than I am because I'm basically stealing the souls of those around me.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with that. :D
Mine are piece-mealed from different people as well. "Character cocktail..." I love that!
ReplyDeleteVery rarely is a character drawn exactly from one person. And sometimes they are just completely made up. My husband swears they come off of certain people, he'll try to identify them, especially the guys. Like "who is Charlie supposed to be?" I say "Charlie is Charlie." And he'll say "No I mean who is he REALLY?" And he can't accept it, but sometimes they aren't anybody. Surely they must be my long lost lover!!!! LOL
If I've ever done it, it's been accidental. Though don't tell my Alpha reader that. Whenever I hand her something new, I tell her my most disgruntled character is based on her.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of people being recognizably someone else, as that for me spoils some of the fun of their being fiction. I'm not sure if that makes any sense to people who aren't me, but that's how I tend to feel.
That being said, sometimes something an acquaintance says will come out of character's mouth. But with friends as quotable as mine, it's hard to resist.
You are welcome. :)
ReplyDelete*raises hand*
ReplyDeleteI'm no better, trust me. :) I do have one revenge cameo of a coworker and I'm sure I'll chicken out and change something about her before I send the finished work to me agent, so it's not so dreadfully obvious.
Other than that I generally snatch up pieces of the people I interact with, but not whole personalities. But that one cameo felt really, really good. :)
I do it with modifications. I'm trying to find a place for you :)
ReplyDeletei think i could do it if i masked them a bit - ued their quirks but added some.
ReplyDeleteWell, not in my finished work, seeing as it's total fantasy in another world type of story. But, in my WIP, set in contemporary times, yep. See, the thing is, you're basing your story off of your work place, so it only makes sense to use the muses you have--them. But here's what I think might happen....as you get deeper into it, these fictional characters you've based off other people will start getting a mind of their own and say "Hey! Screw that, I'm my own person!" and lean away from your original concept of that character.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I may be talking crap, but that's what I think. I am basing some people from, highschool that would probably never know for sure it was based off them. But if they do, hey, I could give a flip. They weren't important to me then, and they aren't now. Makes me sound like an awful person, doesn't it?
I'd never put someone close to me in a book though. Or base a char off of one of them, because then I would be worried they'd figure it out and not like something the character did.
Oh and I LOVE Office Space!!!!!!
ReplyDeletePJ! MAKE ME A CLOWN!!!! :)
ReplyDelete