Character Creation Situation

Have any of you either been in one of the following situations yourselves, or can you offer input from anyone who has?

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

Sometimes.



2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?


Can't recall ever doing that, but I think there have been times I've had an image of a celebrity in mind when I wrote something. I don't see anything wrong with noticing a certain gesture or mannerism and then giving it to your character. Writers sit in parks and cafes sometimes for that very reason, and I don't see the difference between watching the famous vs. the not famous.



3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?


Yes.



4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?


Maybe, but I wouldn't seek that person out to tell him or her. I would probably tell them if they were already a good friend of mine, but not just an acquaintance. It could seem kind of stalkerish to someone who is followed around all the time to begin with.


5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

No, but I imagine it happens a lot. There are some famous musicians who know I'm using their lyrics, but I don't think that's the same thing. I went through the proper channels for the permission, and they came to me, I didn't go to them. Their initial response was "Good luck with it. Hope it makes us both some money."


Thanks for any input on this little hypothetical train of thought.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

Yes, all the time

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

More with musicians - and in that case it's because I loosely based the character on someone I like.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

No, and that's probably a good thing.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

I might. Depends.

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

No an actor, but Kevin J. Anderson's book Resurrection, Inc was very much inspired by Rush's Grace Under Pressure album. The band was quite flattered.

No. I'm sure characteristics of people I know may sneak into my characters, but that's never my intention. I never base them off of anyone I know or see. I never name them after anyone I've ever known. I haven't explored why I'm so adamant about this, but there you go.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

I don't know what virtual form means, but I have taken bits of people I know in real life and used them to add dimension to a character. Quirks and flaws, or unusual medical situations. A personal experience that sounds interesting. Usually the resulting character is so different from the original source that there really is no comparison.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

Sort of. I have an unusual method of character creation, in that I cast my characters using the likeness of actors/celebrities. It helps me keep their image clear in my mind. I've never used the mannerisms that a chosen actor brought to a particular film role, but having a real person in my head allows me to visual my character's mannerisms more clearly.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

Nope. The only novel that a family member might suspect something is firmly trunked. First novel. Go figure.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

No. Not unless I was extremely active in the casting of the film version. Then I'd tell him that the role was written with them in mind (and it would be completely true).

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

The only example I know of is in screenwriting. When Christopher McQuarrie wrote "The Usual Suspects," he admits to writing the role of Verbal Kint with Kevin Spacey in mind. As luck would have it, Spacey agreed to play the part.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form? Sometimes their looks are, but their personalities are not...I think my characters' personalities are inspired by certain people and situations, but not exactly based on anyone.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones? I people watch. Everyone. Real life, television, you name it. It's all material.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else? Good god no, I hope not!

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you? I don't write things that are based on other people; besides, you'd never know how the other person would react to being told they were the inspiration for a particular person. I'd never tell them anyway because by the time a story's finished it bears no resemblance to whatever inspired it in the first place. That said, I've written poetry because of/for/inspired by other people. I've never told the person concerned that a given verse is about them, though.

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond? I haven't, no. I get the feeling I'd seem like a fangirl if I did that - actors probably get it all the time.

>>Proof that Monkey is the biggest nerd EVAH<<<

My friends and I play pencil and paper RPG's *way* too much. They are basically story-telling games; one person sets up the situation and resolves actions, while the others each control one character. We've been doing this for years, and we've discovered that in acting out all these strange, extraordinary characters, we always find a little bit of ourselves.

In order for our characters to have motivations that make since to us, we have to have some level of empathy with them. No matter how different from ourselves we try to make our characters, we always find some common ground; there's always that little piece of ourselves in there somewhere.

We've all tried to make characters that are as completely different from ourselves as possible, but in the end, we tend to get lazy and fall back on certain favored archtypes. My friend Chino likes to play muscle-bound tough guys (he's a large cop), my husband likes to play the sort of romantic lead, I prefer to play outcasts.

The last novel I wrote was inspired by a snippet of a dream...I woke up remembering the dream, and realizing that while I didn't know any of the characters in it, they were very much like characters that my friends would have thought up for an RPG.

So, this is all the really long way of saying that while I've never based characters on anyone I know, I *have* based characters loosely on the way people I know would design characters.

>>>End Proof<<

CoriSCapnSkip said:

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

Click to expand...

1. "Inspired by" -- to some extent, although I find that, while I may have an RL or TV figure in mind when I begin creating the character, by the time I'm done, they've evolved into someone new.

2. Not as a general rule with the original fiction, but occasionally, yes.

3. No. On the few occasions when I have drawn upon a RL acquaintance for a story, it's generally not somebody I know very well. I don't feel the need to put my friends/family/etc. into my work. And given that I write about vampires, they wouldn't fit there very well anyway.

4. It would depend on the circumstances, but probably not. I say that not b/c I think there's anything inherently wrong with that idea, but because the likelihood of my having an in-depth conversation with any of these people is fairly low. And that's not something I'd blurt out at, say, the stage door, or if I ran into them on the street.

5. It happens all the time. Plenty of writers adopt actors as inspiration for particular roles. Jon Robin Baitz, the playwright of "The Paris Letter" and the showrunner for the ABC series "Brothers & Sisters," saw Ron Rifkin in a low-profile play about 15 years ago, then immediately went backstage and said, "I'm writing a play for you." Rifkin was apparently like, great, thanks, that's nice, slightly crazy person I've never met. But Baitz wrote that play -- and, I think, two others -- with Rifkin in mind, and the plays were huge hits. Baitz made his career on those, and Rifkin, who had almost given up acting entirely, became much in-demand and went on to win the Tony, star on "Alias" and now be a part of "Brothers & Sisters," too.

That's just one example, but it goes to show that inspiration from actors is common and can be valuable.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?
Yep. I find that basing characters off of living, breathing people tends to lend that "realistic" feel to personalities.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

Sometimes. Not often... I'm more in favor of question 1's method of coming up with personalities.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

Yes!

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

Haven't had that happen yet, but if it did, and I could talk to the person, I'd say "hey, did you know this story was based off of that time when you <blank>?"

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

<shrug> Never seen that.

Characters

Almost all my characters are people I've known in real life, right down to physical description, personalities, and names.

I have been a huge fan of Jean Reno for around eleven years. But to be honest, to me, I think that some of the roles he gets to play suck big time... just look at Pink Panther (yuk!). So I write my stories and imagine him playing the male MC parts as I write them. He is my inspiration and why I started writing in the first place.
I wouldn't bother to write to his fan club and tell him I'd written stories about him, because I don't think he'd be interested, even though my roles for him would give him an Oscar! lol

I have also written a very caring foster mother part in one of my stories (finished), that is based on a best friend of mine who died of cancer in March this year. If my story ever gets published, I am dedicating it to her.


Elodie

CoriSCapnSkip said:

Hope you are either kidding or have good legal representation!

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I'm not kidding, and the biggest myth in writing is that you can't use a real person in fiction. If this were true we wouldn't have a great number of both classic novels, or roman a clef novels.

Really, when did you last hear of a fiction writer actually being sued for using a real character in a novel?

You do have to use a little common sense. I use real characters that are either famous, which usually gets you off the hook, or I use real people I know well. I most often use real names, real descriptions, and real personalities, but I'm not writing about their lives, I'm not placing them into true to life situations, and any name and description you use in fiction is almost certain going to match a real person somewhere in every detail.

Why try to create a character as if it's a Frankenstein monster that must be pieced together from various body parts? What you get often resembles the monster.

If you're nervous, change the name, but real people go down on paper better than fake people.

It's fiction. And as one writer put it on the copyright page. "This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, even the real people, is purely coincidental.

Or as another put it. "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. And the earth is flat."

If it's fiction then...why not...and here's a crazy idea...make your characters up?

A writer must be an observer of human nature, in that regard everyone you ever see or meet will contribute to you creations.

Which gives me an idea for a story project. Go to a local mall or any busy place. Watch the people. Then pick out any one person and make up a short story about about him or her. Why is she there? Where did she just come from? Where is she going and why?

Could be fun, then we can all share them and talk about what it was about this individual that caused us to pick him or her.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form? Yes, sort of. I usually already know what kind of character I want, but use TV and movie characters to put on the final touches.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones? I base all my characters speach patterns off movie or TV characters, so they don't all sound the same. I may also use some physical appearence traits and mannerisms from the character, or I might already know what the character looks like and just want speach patterns. If I haven't come up with a first name yet, I'll take that from that character too (if it fits).

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else? Yes. The funniest part was that my Dad thought two of my characters were based off other characters I'd never seen or heard of. Those were my only two all original characters! (I guess I don't need to worry about purposefully copying other characters if I'm doing it accidentally)

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you? Honestly, no. Other than speach patterns, all my characters are original. If the actor read the book and recognized the speach patterns of their character and actually took the time to write me about it, I'd certainly write them back, but it's my story and I really don't owe them anything. Considering two of the actors I used are currently some of the biggest names in Hollywood, I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time someone's fictional character reminded them of themselves.

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond? No, I haven't.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

Some of my characters are, and others aren't. One of my protagonists' personalities and work ethic is based on a very close friend of mine. My history teacher is the main antagonist of one of my WIPs...but in a good way (yeah...I know that sounds confusing...hopefully, someday, you'll be able to read it and understand my genius insanity.


2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

Not often. Occasionally, a character will be slightly based of someone from either TV or the Movies...

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

Yep. But that's because they knew before hand who was who.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

I don't think I would. I would hope that the day would come when they pick it up and read it, and call me up and tell me how wonderful it is (ha in my dreams). I'd be way too afraid of rejection...I'm fine with rejection from publishers and agents...but from someone you wrote the story for?

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

Nope. That'd be interesting to see, though.

CoriSCapnSkip said:

Have any of you either been in one of the following situations yourselves, or can you offer input from anyone who has?

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?
I could go on and on and on and on with some writing theory, but the short answer is this: all fiction reflects the experience of the author to some degree and in sone way. So, yes; some are composites, some are strict mirrors, but all are inspired by other personalities.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?
Not consciously; I re-read some of my characters and see "oh, that came from there" or something, but I never think "I'd love to work that in somehow."

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?
Yes, but it was because the inspiration was quite transparent.
4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?
It would be dangerously close to plagiarism (as I interpret plagiarism) if I didn't.
5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?
I cannot answer that one, sorry.
Thanks for any input on this little hypothetical train of thought.

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You're welcome. My responses in bold, in case you haven't figured it out (which I'm sure you have).

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

Not usually from the virtual form, if I am know what you are talking about. Does virtual constitute books and movies? If so then yes, of course. Also, many of my characters are derivations of myself or people I know. I try not to deviate from that unless I become inspired by a character that is unlike me or people I really know (an old man or a young girl for instance).

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

No, not in particular. I watch real people quite a bit though. And I eavesdrop on them.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

Yes. My mother, a couple girlfriends. . . . my dog. They also often recognize me. . . usually a fair amount of me though skewed enough that it is not actually me.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

Perhaps. . . though I would not push it on them. If they heard of it or asked for it, maybe. I think it is a little tacky to send stories to celebrities. . . isn't there a genre like this? Fan-fiction, right?

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

No.

Jamesaritchie said:

It's fiction. And as one writer put it on the copyright page. "This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, even the real people, is purely coincidental.

Or as another put it. "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is coincidental. And the earth is flat."

Click to expand...

As Mr. Ritchie and I seem to always have similar mindsets (except when he calls me out for being silly) I would like to reiterate his point here and also point to a book we both seem to love. Huck Finn by Mr. Twain. Read the Author's note before the story. "People attempting to find meaning in this story. . ."

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?

I think most of my characters are mushed up pastes of everyone I know with highly exaggerated personalities.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?

No, not actors. I watch people sometimes, though.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?

My husband recognized himself in one or two of mine. He has also pointed out when he sees me in my characters. "You're putting some of yourself into her, aren't you," he'll say.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?

I would share it with a friend, but not a stranger.

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?

No.

1. Are your characters inspired by people you either know in real life or have watched in virtual form?
Yes! My characters are usually inspired by someone I know, but they never end up "being" that person, they just have one or two superficial qualities stolen from them. Ex: one of my characters I'm working on now was based on a friend I used to have, but you can't tell it's her at all. The only thing they really have in common is the whole born-in-a-small-town-can't-wait-to-leave thing.

2. Specifically, do you ever closely watch performances or other appearances of actors and steal aspects of the looks and mannerisms of certain ones?
Nope.

3. Has anyone ever read one of your stories and recognized themselves or anyone else?
No. At least, not that they've told me.

4. If a story owed a lot to someone (presumably in a GOOD way) like if a story was inspired by your favorite actor and you had a chance to share that with him or her, would you?
Absolutely.

5. Have you ever heard of any writer telling an actor that a work was inspired by them, and, if so, how did the actor respond?
Never heard of it, but I can only guess the response would be good. Unless the actor didn't like the work, of course