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For Writers

gromit

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Mar 3, 2010
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Do you create characters based off of people you know or from your imagination? If from your imagination, how do you do it?
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

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May 11, 2007
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INTP
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When I write, I picture scenes happening and I just go with it. I have to be in the right mood. I don't think about it too hard. If my mood is right, it just flows.
 

Atomic Fiend

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Nov 16, 2007
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7,275
Usually people I know. Give them a little twist so they're not identical of course but I write them and all of their following actions so that they're true to the person they're based off of.
 

JocktheMotie

Habitual Fi LineStepper
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
8,491
Imagination. I tend to first identify the character's roles and mechanical reasons for being in the story, and then build them around that functionality, flesh them out in a particular way that's important, ascribe to them certain traits that'd make sense for their role.
 
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It's a mix, really. I usually start with the basic idea of the story, just a few sentences. From that I identify a very broad sketch of the main characters, again just a sentence or two. Then I flesh out the protagonist with traits from myself or people I know, and write a one page biography of him. Then I'll build the other characters in relation to the protagonist, and let the details of the plot come from the way these characters interact.
 

CzeCze

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Do you create characters based off of people you know or from your imagination? If from your imagination, how do you do it?

Almost always from imagination. Though I may take characteristics I've actually observed IRL. Edit: "inspired by real life" --> which is what all fiction is? Almost all?

It's always a mix I guess, but I rarely "base" characters I write about on anyone I know. I know many people do this, but to me it just seems kinda...cheap Easy. Just being honest.

Unless I'm purposely using a lot of tropes, then famous figures and celebrities are always up for grabs.
 

Fluffywolf

Nips away your dignity
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Mar 31, 2009
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I try to be original but then realize that is impossible. I think most of my characters are a mix of attributes from several characters or people I know. I'm even influenced by MBTI.
 

Malice

Boldly Gone
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Mar 3, 2010
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2W3
Usually people I know. It feels more intimate and personal that way.
 

bunnyhighbrow

New member
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
28
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INxP
I tend to avoid characters altogether ^^ I can get really lost within descriptive text so that people don't seem necessary. I find dialogue really hard to do, anyway. I remember vividly when I was 10, taking the Castaway plot (Tom Hanks) and just running with it for a good few pages without any dialogue whatsoever, hardly even an inner monologue (I realise in a longer story you would need some kind of inner conflict though).
 
A

Anew Leaf

Guest
Do you create characters based off of people you know or from your imagination? If from your imagination, how do you do it?

It tends to be a blend of both for me.

I try my best to make it as wholly imagined as possible with a swirl of someone from real life to lend them that extra bit of soul.

I find it too restrictive to try and base a written character off of someone I know... plus, you never know what may happen to that person... Funny story! In college I took a writing class for short stories. I was dating a guy at the time that I cared enough about, I tossed him into the main character role of my story. Then he breaks up with me on my birthday. I was very upset, to put it mildly, and had this dumb story to finish for my class. So.... I ended up changing a few details and made him end up miserable and alone. Revenge is a dish best served on paper.

The End.
 
0

011235813

Guest
You won't find me bucking the trend that seems to be developing in this thread. There are times when I feel utterly compelled to slip someone I know into my cast of characters. At other times, I sip happily from the flowers of my imagination.
 

gromit

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Imagination people: where does it come from? How do you develop them from nothing? I sometimes make up stories, but the characters seem to have to be like people I know, or actual people I know, and I guess I prefer writing creative nonfiction or poetry.

I try to be original but then realize that is impossible. I think most of my characters are a mix of attributes from several characters or people I know. I'm even influenced by MBTI.
That is interesting. So do you think that a character will be an ISTJ or whatever and then describe how you imagine an ISTJ would react to the situation?

It's a mix, really. I usually start with the basic idea of the story, just a few sentences. From that I identify a very broad sketch of the main characters, again just a sentence or two. Then I flesh out the protagonist with traits from myself or people I know, and write a one page biography of him. Then I'll build the other characters in relation to the protagonist, and let the details of the plot come from the way these characters interact.

Imagination. I tend to first identify the character's roles and mechanical reasons for being in the story, and then build them around that functionality, flesh them out in a particular way that's important, ascribe to them certain traits that'd make sense for their role.

You guys seem to have kind of similar styles.

When I write, I picture scenes happening and I just go with it. I have to be in the right mood. I don't think about it too hard. If my mood is right, it just flows.
Ha I feel that way about a lot of creative stuff, or just kind of make stuff until you get through the block or do something else until you feel ready or something.

It tends to be a blend of both for me.

I try my best to make it as wholly imagined as possible with a swirl of someone from real life to lend them that extra bit of soul.

I find it too restrictive to try and base a written character off of someone I know... plus, you never know what may happen to that person... Funny story! In college I took a writing class for short stories. I was dating a guy at the time that I cared enough about, I tossed him into the main character role of my story. Then he breaks up with me on my birthday. I was very upset, to put it mildly, and had this dumb story to finish for my class. So.... I ended up changing a few details and made him end up miserable and alone. Revenge is a dish best served on paper.

The End.
Haha take that GUY.
 

Mole

Permabanned
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
Smelling the fear

But Victor is just a figment of our imagination, after all.

Here of course we are writing about writing rather than writing. Why is this? It is because we are terrified of the moment, we are afraid of our feelings as they arise, so we distance ourselves by writing about them.

But our readers can smell our fear and despise us for it.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Apr 18, 2010
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I don't need to write to distance myself from my feelings.

My fictional characters usually start as a seed of something I have seen - either a real person, or a preexisting character - but then soon take on a life of their own.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Apr 18, 2010
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I control the start, as in broadly defining what role I want the character to fill (e.g. Jack's next door neighbor). As I start to flesh him/her out, it becomes almost like a negotiation. A character I envisioned as perhaps very quiet and waiflike in appearance will start to bluster through my imagination with good-natured bravado. I can force him back into my original vision, but often I follow the lead and see where it goes, and how to use it. The original waif may show up elsewhere.
 
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