Using names of people you know

[Greybeard]

In an interview with J.K. Rowling she explained that some of the surnames in her books were taken from people that she knew growing up. She wouldn't give specifics, but hinted that some of the villains were based on people who tormented her.

Is this an acceptable practice? What are the benefits and risks of doing this?

 

[Joe the Gnarled]

How do you come up with characters?
I often start with a real person--if not someone I know, then an actor or actress I think would fit the part. It's easiest for me to start with what someone looks and sounds like--if I know that, then I know about the character's personality. As a result, I use a lot of photographs of people or performers. Of course, there always comes a point, as I'm working, when the character breaks away from the person I based her/him on to become her or his own self. That's how I know I'm doing it right. A word of warning: tell no one that you based a character on her/him. Even if you think you've written about that person perfectly, s/he may not like what you have to say, or if the character you create starts doing things the person you based the character on doesn't do, they can get quite vexed. If they ask, lie. If you're a bad liar, like me, practice in front of a mirror. Do not tell them.

I found this on Tamora Pierce's website. I think that if you find the right person to base your character on it can be beneficial. You get an instant feel for the character. It gives you a sense of how they think and feel, and how they would react in a certain situation (if you know the person well).

I have only recently started using this method, so I do not know if it will work for me, however I think this will cut out a lot of time developing my characters, and eventually he/she will grow into a person apart from the real one I copied.

 

[Kaellpae]

Using a real person as a rough draft. Or at least some of their personality or physical characteristics. But I agree not to tell them unless you know they wouldn't care or if you had some awesome stories to tell with their character. I use people I used to know and therefore won't see. And I highly doubt they would recognize it as themselves after I put in all the details.

 

[TWErvin2]

My novel has this at the beginning:
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons is entirely coincidental.

I think that statement means something.

Using part of a name of someone you knew, if the character in no way resembles that individual (isn't recognizable)--I don't see a problem, just as JK Rowling didn't see a problem--nor did her agent/editor/publisher.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

I don't really use personalities, but I will use names, from books or people I know. Generally it's a props situation.

 

[srebak]

I also used the names of a few people i knew. I did so in anger and used their names for villain henchmen, henchmen who were immediately killed off not long after their introduction. Is that okay? Is there a downside or price to come with this?

 

[Joe the Gnarled]

I also used the names of a few people i knew. I did so in anger and used their names for villain henchmen, henchmen who were immediately killed off not long after their introduction. Is that okay? Is there a downside or price to come with this?

I would only caution you to remember to give your villains a full personality. If you only include the things you hate about those people, your characters may come across as fake. Even the worst antagonists have some redeeming qualities. Now, if you are only using these people as a model for minor players such an in depth exploration of their personalities may not be necessary.

 

[srebak]

Here's the thing, when i used the names of people i didn't like, i first used the names of three particularly disliked people as the henchmen of the main villain. When i described them, i only mentioned their weight and made them seem stupid, clumsy and lazy. I did give them lines, but the most work i put into them was thinking of the best way to have the characters killed off. Once again, this was in anger.

 

[Map the Dragon]

My novel has this at the beginning:
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons is entirely coincidental.

What he said.

However, I do like I line from the film A Knight's Tale when Geoffrey Chaucer says something to the nature of...I will villify you in fiction...every flaw, wart, blah, blah, blah.

Now that's fun in writing.

I did also give respect to a few good friends and family memebers when I devised a few names. A couple names are even a jumbled allusion to an author I respect more than most.

 

[TWErvin2]

I also used the names of a few people i knew. I did so in anger and used their names for villain henchmen, henchmen who were immediately killed off not long after their introduction. Is that okay? Is there a downside or price to come with this?

Is it a good idea to use a work of fiction to get back at someone (or someones) who made you angry? Maybe it'll make you feel better, but other than that there isn't an upside. Change the names. If it makes a difference, in your mind you'll always know who they are/who the characters represent.

 

[Ophiucha]

I avoid it like the plague, honestly. The very last thing I want, while I'm writing, is for someone to be influencing the way I write a character. If I name a character Carina, I am going to think of her - at least subconsciously - as Carina, my best friend, and I am going to give her certain dialogue ticks or character traits reminiscent of the real thing. I see that as detrimental to my writing, because I create characters very finely to serve the story, and giving them some sort of grounding outside of the context of the story could change how I write them, and I don't want that. Same thing with giving them 'theme songs', I find. Obviously no song will be just right, but I find if I associate a song with them too heavily, I'm more willing to tweak their personality to fit the lyrics a little better. So, avoid it at all costs.

Also, at least when it comes to names I am very familiar with (Carina, Alexandra, and Alexander, namely), I just have difficulty dissociating them with what I am familiar with. It's weird for me to read a book with a main character named Alexandra, because it makes me want to put myself in that character - I hear 'Alexandra' and I think 'me'. Hell, I do this with real people, too. Nobody calls either me or my fiance 'Al', but I call him that because it would seem really weird for me to call me "Alex" (which is what most people call both of us). And in that near year we've been together, I think he's never called me by my name, he only ever uses it when discussing me with somebody else.

 

[Bella]

Oh.. I could easily make my childhoods bullies to badguys in my book! I think they owe me that.

 

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

I think this is a great idea. As an illustrator I have to admit on the current project I have the severed heads at the feet of a warrior princess. They are all portraits of people who tried to thwart me in various petty ways! It is great therapy and nobody will ever know - they are not photographic likenesses but symbolical.

 

[Dante Sawyer]

Using a real person as a rough draft. Or at least some of their personality or physical characteristics. But I agree not to tell them unless you know they wouldn't care or if you had some awesome stories to tell with their character. I use people I used to know and therefore won't see. And I highly doubt they would recognize it as themselves after I put in all the details.

I do similar things regarding the usage of real people in my writing. Personality traits of many of my characters are from people I know, and I do use two people I know as actual characters in the novel. Now they have both read my MS and they have given me the OK to use them in the novel, but still, I wouldn't have used them if I didn't at least think they would be okay with being in a work of mine.