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How do you choose your characters for your novel?

Are your characters based on real life people, complete invention, or a mixture of both?
Are there particular books that have influenced your characters?

Asked by: Adrian Sroka

  1. Gilly Ansell on July 26, 2012

    Nice question. My characters are adaptations of people I've known/know and sometimes they are made up of several people I have come across as I've liked different things in them which I make up into a single character. I wouldn't say books have influenced mine but more that life has. I don't think these people would recognise themselves as my characters as I've added and missed out lots of things so they are quite ficticious. I also like 'people watching' in cafes which helps me get ideas.

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  2. Jonathan Hopkins on July 26, 2012

    I think Gilly hits the nail on the head.

    Except...there are bits of YOU in there, too, particularly in MCs.It's unavoidable. Once you get inside a character something of your own personality must rub off if that person is to be real. Even parts you usually manage to bury deep; things you wouldn't want your family to know.

    Good job it's only fiction :)

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  3. Gilly Ansell on July 26, 2012

    Lol I quite agree with Jonathan there, I must admit some of myself does go into my characters and sometimes they are who I would like to be, especially when they are bad and outspoken! :-)

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  4. Katie-Ellen Hazeldine on July 26, 2012

    I wrote a first draft entire, following my heroine. When I got to the end, I realised she was not really the hero. A minor character was, who outclassed and eclipsed her. I needed to start again.

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  5. Christopher Demetriou on July 26, 2012

    The MC of the story is always me. What I would do. How I would act react. A big part of me always goes into all of my MC's in all my stories.

    All the other people the MC interacts with are never actual, real people. It is always a mixture of real people + a bit of invention of my own, or a complete invention from scratch. It just works better that way for me.

    What I also noticed is that weirdly enough the villain of the story, the bad guy behind it all, is also me. That character is also usually based on me, but the evil me. What I would do if I was the bad guy, if I wanted to win. And that always seems to create a great clash between good and evil. The ultimate one I guess; the one inside us all.

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