I think it’s inevitable that writers tend to write the things they know—and that includes places, pets, and yes, people. The trick when it comes to people is not to write them so real to life that they recognize themselves. Most people don’t see themselves through the same lens that the rest of the world uses. If I say to a friend, “Why do you always seem to xxx?” they will say back, usually with a hurt or confused expression, “I don’t.” I probably would do the same. I read once that the flaws we see in others are often the same flaws we have ourselves. Yikes!!
Just to be clear, I do not know these people and they are not in my books. 😉
So, ignoring the guideline I just set out, some of my friends might well recognize themselves in my books, but more through dialogue than through description. What someone says usually sticks with me and I use that for the basis of my character. So my husband might recognize himself as Tyler Birch in Impatient Passion when I have him say that his father told him he could go to any school he wanted but that dad was sending the money to Virginia Military Institute. That was true and we still laugh about it. Jack’s (and Tyler’s) relationship with their fathers came through in those few words.
By the same token, the grumpy but kind of endearing characteristics of Margaret in Passionate Destiny were based on a boss I had. He told me that he went to graduate school in Kansas. We had lived in Kansas and loved it because the people were so friendly. That’s exactly what Staten Island born-and-bred Joe didn’t like. “You can’t even stand in a X@%$ grocery store line without someone talking to you and asking about your ^%@! life story!” Without the expletives deleted, that’s the very sentiment Margaret expresses in the grocery of her new, small Virginia town. If Joe didn’t recognize himself in those words, I did something wrong!
On the other hand, my mom and her twin probably would deny ’til the cows come home that they are really Dan’s aunts in The Man of Her Dreams. They are two funny ladies who interrupt each other, contradict and agree, insult and quibble, yet obviously love each other dearly. They finish each other’s sentences just like Dan’s aunts, too. A conversation with them is like watching a tennis match, with your head turning back and forth as they deftly weave their words into single thoughts. Amazing!
When you write, are you more careful or less to hide the real person behind the character? It’s fun both ways as long as no one ends up with hurt feelings.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Dee
Naval Maneuvers When a woman requires an earth-shattering crush of pleasure to carry her away, she can’t do better than to call on the US Navy. Sorry, Marines!