Janetter themes
In a way, it is - but more on that in a moment. One can easily argue that basing a character in your story off someone you love is perfectly fine. Can I get a yikes?Īnd that, my friends, is often where the problem lies. On the stark contrast, some writers hate someone enough to make the villain in their book after that person. This is still true for friends, but it’s mostly reserved for the people you’re bonded and closest to - a spouse, a child, a sister or brother, a grandparent, etc. And when you’re excited to share your work with people as a young novelist, why not flail over the fact that one of your characters is based off your friend and they should be grateful? *winks*Īnother reason people base characters off of real people is because they love someone enough that they want to include them. Moving on.), all the stories I wrote had me and my cousin/best friend Krissa as the two leading ladies. When I wrote fanfiction for The Hardy Boys specifically (yes, these were some interesting times. This is something I would do in my younger days - parents in stories would be based off my parents or other grown-ups I knew, and then all of my main characters would be based off myself, my closest friends, and my sisters. Characters are freaking hard to create, and the idea of creating one from scratch can be so overwhelming that it would just be simpler to craft one based off a close friend or family member. While at first glance writers (and even readers!) may think that it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, there are definitely some cons to this method of characterization that writers should be aware about…įirst and foremost, why do writers like to base characters off of real people? For beginning writers, it can just seem easiest. Today I wanted to discuss a widely controversial topic in the writing world - basing fictional characters off of people you know.