Putting Real People (or their quirks) In Stories...The Good, Bad, and Really Ugly
I think everyone's heard of the infamous account given by JK Rowling of her portrayal of a *gasp* real person as Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets. An amusing tale, to be sure, and years old. The guy didn't recognize his own hubris in print. A caricature of a character. Gotta admit, that's pretty clever, the way she did it.
But. *And I hear wails of people with friends as quirky as mine* BUT. It's just not the done thing, taking people you know and putting them on paper. Seriously. Friendships can be damaged at best, and lawsuits can be drawn up at worst. As much as we'd like to say we're complimenting our 'oh so quirky and lovable' friends, we're not. Well, not if we're writing a Lockhart, or a Lolita, or a desperate househusband. Is it really that charming?
Imagine all of your 'lovable quirks' exaggerated into epic proportions, tacked onto your profession/calling/place in life (lawyer/tarot reader/shiftless college student) and having that version of you sent out in books across the world.
Sucks, right?
So, that's the really ugly.
The bad is when you take your favorite flaws and foibles from different people you know, to make a patchwork quilt type of character. Only, instead of sewing all these different pieces together neatly, you never learned the basics. So we go to the punk staples, right? Duct tape and safety pins.
It's an excellent look, but y' know what? It just doesn't do much to hold a character's personality together. So why do we have a binge-drinking practicing Muslim college student who reads tarot cards in his spare time and came from Britain? Are we ever going to figure out WHY we tossed all these adorable and not so adorable details into the mix without doing anything to make them fit?
It rarely works to say "I like this, and this, and this, and those three pieces of my most spectacular friends, too, and I'll make them all into SuperWonderfulCrazyBizarroCharacter! It'll fit!"
The good is taking one thing. Really, just one. You take one behavioral quirk that you find fascinating/irritating/hellish/praiseworthy and you put it into your character's personality CAREFULLY. This is a needle-and-thread, superglue sort of job. If it doesn't look right, either pick a different quirk, or pick a different character. Don't force it. Readers can feel that forced attempt.
So if you know someone who works at a music store, is functionally tone deaf, and won't eat anything that was 'cute' when it was alive...start digging. There's bound to be a quirk in there you want to refine for a story...and you won't f*** up a good friendship, either.
But. *And I hear wails of people with friends as quirky as mine* BUT. It's just not the done thing, taking people you know and putting them on paper. Seriously. Friendships can be damaged at best, and lawsuits can be drawn up at worst. As much as we'd like to say we're complimenting our 'oh so quirky and lovable' friends, we're not. Well, not if we're writing a Lockhart, or a Lolita, or a desperate househusband. Is it really that charming?
Imagine all of your 'lovable quirks' exaggerated into epic proportions, tacked onto your profession/calling/place in life (lawyer/tarot reader/shiftless college student) and having that version of you sent out in books across the world.
Sucks, right?
So, that's the really ugly.
The bad is when you take your favorite flaws and foibles from different people you know, to make a patchwork quilt type of character. Only, instead of sewing all these different pieces together neatly, you never learned the basics. So we go to the punk staples, right? Duct tape and safety pins.
It's an excellent look, but y' know what? It just doesn't do much to hold a character's personality together. So why do we have a binge-drinking practicing Muslim college student who reads tarot cards in his spare time and came from Britain? Are we ever going to figure out WHY we tossed all these adorable and not so adorable details into the mix without doing anything to make them fit?
It rarely works to say "I like this, and this, and this, and those three pieces of my most spectacular friends, too, and I'll make them all into SuperWonderfulCrazyBizarroCharacter! It'll fit!"
The good is taking one thing. Really, just one. You take one behavioral quirk that you find fascinating/irritating/hellish/praiseworthy and you put it into your character's personality CAREFULLY. This is a needle-and-thread, superglue sort of job. If it doesn't look right, either pick a different quirk, or pick a different character. Don't force it. Readers can feel that forced attempt.
So if you know someone who works at a music store, is functionally tone deaf, and won't eat anything that was 'cute' when it was alive...start digging. There's bound to be a quirk in there you want to refine for a story...and you won't f*** up a good friendship, either.