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Lots of people who create books, movies, video games, and more base the fictional characters off people they know in real life, even if just loosely. I have this wonderful idea for a novel that I wish to pursue someday in the future, and I would like to base the main character partially on myself, and another character on my best friend. Of course I would only loosely base the character off her, however there is some concern.
Seeing as how in the story that character is the love interest of the main character. You see, it will start out as the lead character having unrequited feelings for his squadmate, who will be based off my friend. She doesn't know how he feels about her though, and he doesn't tell her, atleast not at this point in the story. Which is reminiscent of how I feel about my closest friend in real life. The resemblance will be minuscule at best. Would it be wrong to sort of use my own personal feelings and experiences as a plot element, as well as using a real life person as the partial basis of a character?
I've never met a writer who didn't base his characters off real-life people. And I've never met a reader who was related/close to a writer who didn't read the writer's book/s through the lens of people he/they knew - and often wrongly.
Our imagination is the sum as well of our personal experiences and how we relate to, and see the world. It's impossible to divorce yourself from that.
I think what is important to remember though is that taking some real life characteristics is completely different from taking your best friend's life and turning it into a biography. And I do think that if there are certain secrets a friend has trusted you with that are really big secrets, it wouldn't be right to use those secrets, even fictionalized.
But you describe your character as someone who isn't really you, but a cross between you, and someone else, and quite possibly, a figment of your imagination. So it isn't really you any more.
Well.......I might be inclined to say all accomplished writers, but that said I would only add that most beginning authors very much mine their own lives extensively for material.
Lots of people who create books, movies, video games, and more base the fictional characters off people they know in real life, even if just loosely. I have this wonderful idea for a novel that I wish to pursue someday in the future, and I would like to base the main character partially on myself, and another character on my best friend. Of course I would only loosely base the character off her, however there is some concern.
Seeing as how in the story that character is the love interest of the main character. You see, it will start out as the lead character having unrequited feelings for his squadmate, who will be based off my friend. She doesn't know how he feels about her though, and he doesn't tell her, atleast not at this point in the story. Which is reminiscent of how I feel about my closest friend in real life. The resemblance will be minuscule at best. Would it be wrong to sort of use my own personal feelings and experiences as a plot element, as well as using a real life person as the partial basis of a character?
No, it isn't wrong, and most writer's mine their own lives, relationships and acquaintances to build characters. I've taken writing workshops that address this, and it also comes up in writing conferences if they have a panel about legalities (you wouldn't want someone to be so identifiable and cast them in a bad light that they would have a basis for a lawsuit).
The fact of the matter that works in your favor is that very few people see themselves the way others do. An example that one of my workshop teachers gave was Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22. He based the character of a commanding officer on a C.O. he himself had been under while in the military. The guy was a complete bastard. After the novel hit the best-seller list, Heller got a call from his former C.O. During the course of the conversation, the man brought up the subject of the character in the book, and Heller held his breath waiting for the man to ask if the character was based on him. Instead, the guy said to Heller, "You know, I loved that character in your book. When I was first in the service, I had a commanding officer just like him, a total sonofabitch!" Never recognized himself in the least.
No, it isn't wrong, and most writer's mine their own lives, relationships and acquaintances to build characters. I've taken writing workshops that address this, and it also comes up in writing conferences if they have a panel about legalities (you wouldn't want someone to be so identifiable and cast them in a bad light that they would have a basis for a lawsuit).
The fact of the matter that works in your favor is that very few people see themselves the way others do. An example that one of my workshop teachers gave was Joseph Heller, the author of Catch-22. He based the character of a commanding officer on a C.O. he himself had been under while in the military. The guy was a complete bastard. After the novel hit the best-seller list, Heller got a call from his former C.O. During the course of the conversation, the man brought up the subject of the character in the book, and Heller held his breath waiting for the man to ask if the character was based on him. Instead, the guy said to Heller, "You know, I loved that character in your book. When I was first in the service, I had a commanding officer just like him, a total sonofabitch!" Never recognized himself in the least.
I took a screenwriting class a few years ago that addressed some of legal issues that result from basing characters on real people and the professor brought examples in which some people who were the basis for fictional characters didn't view themselves as how the characters were.
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