Do You Know Your Characters?

[The_Everlasting]

I guess what I'm really asking is " Do you model your characters after people you know?" How do you come up with your character's mannerisms and signature personality traits? I have modeled all of my charcters after people I know. They, of corse, don't know I've done that but I'm wondering what others have done? I'm a real people watcher so I pluck those quirks from everyday life and use them to make my characters seem more real.

What do you do?

 

[Christopher Wright]

As far as I know, I don't model my characters after people I know.

 

[Telcontar]

I've never modeled an entire character after a real person. However, I'll often take particularly memorable defining traits that I encounter in real life and "implant" them into a character. Things like verbal and physical tics, especially. I've also loosely based physical appearances on people I know.

 

[Ireth]

I sometimes draw inspiration from celebrities, though that's only for a few of my characters. And once I created a character only to later on meet a person who looked almost exactly like my mental image of him. THAT was bizarre.

 

[Jabrosky]

Once I started a romance story with the male lead based off myself, but it never went anywhere, and other than that aborted effort I've never based my characters off anyone I personally know.

 

[Devor]

It depends on what you write - certainly there's some inspiration which comes from the people I've met. But typically I think a character's personality should be shaped by a backstory that has relevance to the novel, at least for the main character. It's hard for me to fully reconcile most fantasy characters with a fully modern personality. It can be done, sure, but I think at some point the connection between character and person ought to break so that you can better incorporate the character's development into your story.

 

[Shockley]

In the last western I wrote I named all of the main characters after members of my family two generations back, so I knew some of them. Other than that and a semi-biographical side project, I don't base characters on real people.

 

[The Din]

Don't know anyone interesting enough.

 

[Gonji]

A friend and I wrote a short story where the tow main characters were us with different names. Once he wrote something he's email it to me and I'd write something. We wrote on it for about 5 years before we finally posted it on his website. So, I knew the characters pretty well.

 

[Ghost]

Do you model your characters after people you know

No. People I know are separate from the characters in my head. Of course, I'm influenced by people I meet or read about, but I don't set out to copy someone's presence or personality. It wouldn't feel authentic to me or organic to the story. Even quirks or traits I like aren't incorporated into a character until long after I've forgotten the source of it. They simply develop as I'm writing.

 

[Penpilot]

No, not really. As I write a character they may acquire bits and pieces from people I've met or seen. Sometimes the characters will take on the face of an actor. I guess my characters are an amalgam, taking things from all of my personal experience and things made up, but never do they have a singular source.

 

[JBryden88]

If I do, it isn't intentional.

When I come up with a character, I find their background helps shape their personality and so on. My main character in my current project for example, is a somewhat sheltered guy whose only ever been a militiaman in a small village, so when he gets pulled into a war... he flees in terror, he's unconfident in who he is, and yet when he does get over that particular set of circumstances, he's quite an alright guy.

 

[Ailith]

I don't base characters off people that I know in real life, but I do feel like I "know" my characters.

Once I figure out their backstory and general storyline, I take a Myers-Briggs personality test and answer as if I was that character. Once I get the results, I do research on that personality type. How do they relate to other people? How do they process information? Are they spontaneous or predictable? Are they motivated by fear, duty, or rewards? Do they notice details, or get swept up in grand sweeping ideas?

Of course, no person or character's personality profile will be 100% accurate, but I find it helpful in creating full, rounded characters.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

When I first started writing, I did this. (I mean basing characters partially on the personality of someone I know or have encountered.)

Lately, I do far less of that, and far more of what Ailith said above. Not the Meyer-Briggs. I mean I just suddenly know them. But me being an INFJ on the Meyer-Briggs, that's just how my brain's supposed to work.

 

[Ailith]

Dude, I'm an INFJ, too!

 

[coolstoneman]

I do that sometimes with certain characters in my stories. I picture how this person should look, act, and respond to things, and then will draw inspiration from certain characters that I've seen in films.

For example, I might be searching for a professor character from a movie or tv show. I know I want him to be somewhat short, older, silver hair, bearded and have a quirky personality in one way or another. So, a movie/tv character I might think of would match those attributes. Possibly Robin Williams, a great comedic talent, and has played a professor in the past(though not gray haired). Another one probably more suited would be Richard Attenborough (John Hammond of Jurassic Park). He has the gray hair and short stature to be ideally suited for my professor.

 

[gavintonks]

No I build mine up from name type body characteristics and how I wish them to act the parts in the story

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Dude, I'm an INFJ, too!

I knew it!




Well... "knew" is a strong word. "Suspected" is more like it.

Now, with my professor who first introduced Meyers-Briggs to me, I knew. I was the only one in class who guessed it. When he asked why I "thought" he was ESTP, I said it was obvious because when he explained each opposing pair, he always had a funny story about someone who had one of the traits he didn't have, which made the I, N, F and J sound dumb. "Typical INFJ," he replied. He tried to keep the class in suspense for the next 20 minutes with a "let's see if he's right," but no one really questioned my guess, which I thought was quite logical for a "feeler"... but admittedly, very judgmental.


I think The Cleaner is INFJ, too. Heavy on the N and the J, but I think my last scene that showed her vulnerable side would explain the F.